Hey... I was having a conversation with this guy from Peru who was from the jungle. (nop, not tarzan) He was telling me about the fact that many of the native languages spoken there , were dissapearing because of the spread on american companies and the spread of english over those areas. Little boys are been encouraged to learn english because of a better future in the usa . Do you really think that those native languages are going to dissappear??? Are economic factors that important to let you own culture dissapear? Is there an attitude towards the spread of english? I believe that economics factors are really increasing the pressure on poor people in less developed country but I think that those people need to realize where they have come from and the importance of having a personal indentity... What do you think? It would be nice if you could clear some of my doubts Thanks David
Depends on their self-esteem. I mean... abandon a life in paradise to live in USA!? Gimme a break! :bugeye:
I think that culture is only as important as you make it and it's entirely up to the culture as a whole to decide how important their culture should be. So, if these Peruvians don't feel like their language used by .000001 percent of the planet is important, then their language used by .0000001 percent of the planet isn't important. Thats my opinion anyway.
It doesn't really matter. Language naturally evolves and some languages need to die. I only think its important to keep records of definition for history & science.
Hasn't Gaelic pretty much disappeared from Ireland? Well, same shit, different day. More to the point, people will slash n' burn the rain forest, grow cocoa, they'll do whatever ... you think dropping a vestigial language is too much?
Gaelic is still 'alive'. It is not spoken by a lot of people, but I think it is still on the thousands, or something like that... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
English just happened to be the language of the technologically superior countries when instant, international communication became feasible. It's an inevitable byproduct of these advances. If a pilot has to fly to 15 different countries in two days and they speak 10 different languages he/she is screwed (not to mention all the passengers), a common tongue is NECESSARY in a lot of fields. For the same reasons science became dominated by english, it could have been any language. We were just in the right place at the right time. As far as cultures declining or becoming diluted as a result? I'm of two minds, on one hand it'd be kind of pointless and boring to travel if every country became similar. On the other hand "cultural purity" is tied with "religious purity" for "the most dangerous and destructive concept in human history" award. Frankly I'd give up an interesting vacation to have a little peace. Perhaps we'll create flawless and instant translation technology and the pendulum will swing the other way one day but until then a single language HAS to dominate if we want to trade and communicate as quickly and efficiently as society, science and politics presently demand.
I think, a unversal language is handy in various situations. Since English is widely spread thanks to the old British empire and commonwealth as well as the employment of this language in modern technology, it is apparent that it is suited to be this universal language. As another factor, English is quite easy to learn. I have no problem with the spread of English, but I hate the assimilation of English words into the German (or any other language for that matter, I just happen to be German) vocabulary. These words are not pure English, rather they are imbedded into the German grammatic. These leads to a very strange mix of languages and a rift between the younger and older generations. Thus I think the mother tongue should be kept the way it is, and English used as a second tongue, a interbreeding of these two does not seem useful. The spread of English is good, but it should not limit or mutilate the culture of people or their original language.
Dream, English takes in words from German, not to mention pretty much every other language in the world. I also don't know if I'd consider particularly easy to learn, given that pronouncition makes almost no sense.
I think that the less languages that are spoken, the easier global communication becomes. In Europe, they teach often young people three languages, one being usually English, their parent's language and a third optional one. If I were to speak my "culture" languages, I would speak French, English, German, Norwegian, and a couple of others. Instead, I speak only French and English. These are the main languages in my area. It's hard to say which languages are easier to learn. I found English easier than French because French has complicated verb conjugations. I think it is positive to encourage people to have a good future by being able to communicate with the top countries in the world. WHy do they tell them to go to the USA? Come to Cananda.
The norse or northmen(iceland,sweden,Norweigen,danish) some called viking, raided many lands in the 800's?? and even took over england andGermany. These people even spread to modern day russia. In turn spread norse culture/language. Aside from old influences can anyone here tell me who wrote the song people get married to in USA?
