Should there just be one language in the world?

[Valmy]

Historically, you haven't been able to achieve one people/one language without either of it.

But we are not talking about history.  We are talking about a future with mass media.  The power of the state these days is usually trying to protect languages and cultures from these influences.

Sure in the 19th century it was very unnatural for there to be one language.  But those conditions do not exist anymore.

[Eddie Teach]

We could all be Yi. 

What's this "could be" noise?

[Jacob]

My point is, if your Chinese business/government counterparts are already speaking English with you, you don't really need your own Chinese translator.

Occasionally it's useful to be able to understand the local language and culture when doing business.

[Duque de Bragança]

.
Well, humans are what... 10-12 000 years old since the first civilizations?
We certainly have reduced the number of languages & dialects over the years.
But as soon as an empire crumbled, people in the area reverted to their old dialects mixed with the new language.  From German & French emerged English.  From Latin came Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French (not counting Occitan and Basque language and a few others maybe).

I don't see a unique language for everyone without some kind of coercitive measures.
It is the same with a nation.  Each one has their differences, for better or for worst.
The same way you protect your own difference, your own individuality, other people protect their cultural identity.  If you speak French in Flanders, no one will talk to you until you make it clear you are neither French nor Belgian.  They feel threatened by assimilation, by losing their collective identity, wich is also a part of their individuality.

/nitpicking

Occitan (Langue d'Oc) is actually closer to Latin than Parisian/Langue d'Oïl/Francien i.e all forebears of current Standard French.
As for speaking French in Flanders as a Frenchman, it's possible as long as you're a French tourist wanting to buy a waffle or something. 

[viper37]

Historically, you haven't been able to achieve one people/one language without either of it.

But we are not talking about history.  We are talking about a future with mass media.  The power of the state these days is usually trying to protect languages and cultures from these influences.

Sure in the 19th century it was very unnatural for there to be one language.  But those conditions do not exist anymore.

predicting the future without looking at the past is a certain failure.  You have to base your predictions on something.  The past is no future's guarantee, but it gives you an idea about what happenned.  Otherwise, people start predicting flying cars and week-end trips to the moon for the year 2000.

[viper37]

Occitan (Langue d'Oc) is actually closer to Latin than Parisian/Langue d'Oïl/Francien i.e all forebears of current Standard French.

Duly noted, sir!

As for speaking French in Flanders as a Frenchman, it's possible as long as you're a French tourist wanting to buy a waffle or something. 

Ah ok, it's only for Belgians
I remember a newspiece where the reporter had to stress they were Canadians to get the people to speak French.  Otherwise, they spoke only Dutch.  And if a Belgian TV crew approached them, they were switching to Dutch.

[viper37]

We could all be Yi. 

What's this "could be" noise?

I forgot 
We are all Yi.

[jimmy olsen]

 

http://www.realclearworld.com/2011/08/26/decline_and_fall_of_the_french_language_127031.html

The Decline and Fall of the French Language?
by Gary Girod 08/25/2011

It's been indisputable for some time that English is becoming the 'universal language'. As the number of living languages has steadily decreased, the use of English has expanded on every continent. And though English has not — despite predictions — crushed all other languages (German, Russian, and Spanish, to cite the prime examples, all remain strong), one language does seem to be undergoing the predicted cataclysmic collapse. English may not yet have won the globe, but French has definitely lost it.

The reasons for the decline of French are many, including geography. Francophone regions are spread out: think of France, Vietnam, Quebec, and Guadeloupe, to start. Many of these regions are without direct connections to other French-speaking countries. The result is that many of the people choose to abandon French for more useful languages within the region. In contrast, German, Russian and Spanish speakers are based in numerous adjacent countries, each supporting the others.

French has been most visibly hurt in the last few decades in Africa. In North Africa, French has had to compete with Arabic, a language which Arabs are now clinging to as proudly as the French have traditionally clung to French. South of the Sahara, countries which formerly had large French-speaking populations are making the switch to English due to its relevance in Southern Africa, as well as internationally.

In Algeria, after the Algerian War, French was mostly expunged. Its decline has continued, including the recent closure of French schools, as Arabic and English become the standard.

More dramatically, in Zaire, in 1997, fueled by anti-French sentiment, the French language was replaced with native languages. And in nearby Rwanda the president has pushed for the abandonment of French in favor of English. It is questionable whether any Africans will be speaking French in a few decades.

English, meanwhile, is becoming the most important Western language in Africa, replacing both French and Portuguese. An English derivative is the majority language of Sierra Leone, and remains an important language in South Africa, of course, as well as Nigeria, and various other smaller countries.

Former French-speaking colonies beyond Africa have been hostile to the French language. French has been collapsing even faster in Asia than it is in Africa, due to the isolation of French-speaking populations. In Vietnam, students have protested having to learn French, stressing the need to learn English instead. And in the Middle East, the Lebanese have been shucking off French in favor of English.

French has also seen a drastic decline in North America. In the U.S., between 1990 and 1995, college applicants for French class declined by twenty-four percent. In Canada, the number of French students enrolling in English classes is rising rapidly, while the overall percentage of French speakers across Canada is falling.

Across Europe, French has gradually declined from being the lingua franca to falling behind German and English. English is spoken by 41% of Europeans, while only 19% speak French. English is now the language of business in Europe, a fact which even French ambassador for international investment Clara Gaymard was forced to admit. And French has fallen so far behind in Eastern Europe, in particular, that it is the third-most studied language, behind English and Spanish.

While once the language of culture, French has been pushed off the global stage. Perhaps the most symbolic example of this was in 2008 when Sebastian Tiller, the French representative at the Eurovision contest, planned to sing 'Divine' almost exclusively in English. That the French singer did not choose to represent the jealously guarded language of his country internationally came as a shock to many. This cultural decline was mirrored when New York's Metropolitan Opera decided to reject the libretto of the musical star Rufus Wainwright (who was raised in Canada), because he chose not to translate his opera into English.

The calamitous decline in French seems irreversible, even to the French. In 2008, the budget of La Francophonie, the governing body of the French language, was six million euros; in contrast, the British Council announced it would spend 150 million euros in efforts to advance English.

In any Darwinian model, a characteristic can become prominent, or it can be driven out of existence. Use of the French language has been globally dispersed, and French culture is without historical significance in many of its colonies. These are not the characteristics that increase a language's chances of survival.

[Neil]

Why would the British spend money to advance English?  English sells itself.

[Camerus]

Mono is just being himself.  There are plenty of advantages available to a foreigner who speaks Mandarin.

Chinese can and does easily add new words too, by the way.  They just do it by combining characters to create a literal meaning or by combining characters to create a phonetic sound.

[Siege]

No. Humans are perfectly capable to learn multiple languages. You can gain all the advantages you name by just teaching everybody English as a second language.

Only in truly bilingual fashion, i.e. from kindergarden or first grade.
As second language it will create a second class citezenry in a truly globalized and/or unified planet.

I say English as a first language for everybody, and your local tribal-speak as a second or bilingual language.


The reality though, is that the old-men-in-power will refuse such a project using the cultural argument as an excuse, because this project will diminish their power, and will make them accountable at a larger scale, removing their acomodation to power in their local banana republics.

There is also the issue of learning new skills, something the old-men-in-power are allergic to.
There is a reason why we still use QWERTY as oppoussed to a more effective keyboard layout.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

  If you speak French in Flanders, no one will talk to you until you make it clear you are neither French nor Belgian.  They feel threatened by assimilation, by losing their collective identity, wich is also a part of their individuality.

dude, if you speak french in flanders we'll speak french back, if you're walloon or Bruxellois you might "that look"* though. If you speak broken dutch in flanders we'll applaud you for your effort and switch the french too (unless you're a walloon politician, in which case you might rotten veggies thrown after you :p). And we're less afraid of the assimilation as that we're totally fed up with the francophone arrogance, quasi-communist profitariate and truly pre-war francophone territorial ambitions (including corridors. They're not living in fucking Danzig!). But problems with speaking french as such? I don't think so.

*"that look" meaning you dirty racist francophone, or a variant on it

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Occitan (Langue d'Oc) is actually closer to Latin than Parisian/Langue d'Oïl/Francien i.e all forebears of current Standard French.

Duly noted, sir!

As for speaking French in Flanders as a Frenchman, it's possible as long as you're a French tourist wanting to buy a waffle or something. 

Ah ok, it's only for Belgians
I remember a newspiece where the reporter had to stress they were Canadians to get the people to speak French.  Otherwise, they spoke only Dutch.  And if a Belgian TV crew approached them, they were switching to Dutch.

probably a walloon/Bruxellois? they lie when it comes to Flanders. Or rather: they project their own pathologies on the flemish as if we'd just be like them. We're better though as we haven't taken away a single right of the francophones. Unlike what they did (and do still). Just search for the term "Nolsloketten" (Nols being an FDF-mayor in Brussels a few decades ago -but the mentaily is still very much alive- and "loketten" being counters like in the post-office or so)

[Razgovory]

Why would the British spend money to advance English?  English sells itself.

Yeah, that seems puzzling.

[OttoVonBismarck]

The French should be killed.