dagblog - Comments for "Could You Repeat That in English? We're Global."

HI PAIGE! HOW ARE YOU? OH

quinn esq — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 23:48:57 +0000

In reply to While I totally agree that

HI PAIGE! HOW ARE YOU? OH YEAH....

*SMACK!!!!*

There's that pie I owed ya!

Another disqualification of

acanuck — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 07:28:50 +0000

In reply to My grandson is studying

Another disqualification of Chinese as a global language is that it's really at least three mutually incomprehensible spoken languages. The written form, being ideogrammatical, helps the Chinese to understand each other, but it's way too complex to appeal to foreigners.

English, on the other hand, is amazingly flexible. Nouns become verbs or adjectives, and vice versa, in the blink of an eye. Coin a word in your basement computer room, post it, and -- if it catches on -- it's English! Sooo democratic. As a consequence, the vocabulary is maybe 10 times its nearest competitor. English would be a perfect world language, except for its archaic, illogical spelling rules.

My grandson is studying

trkingmomoe — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:45:34 +0000

In reply to They probably figure we'll

My grandson is studying Chinese in high school and loves it. But there are thousands of characters to learn. I just don't see it being a global language because it don't lend itself well to technical terms.

You call that English?

quinn esq — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 00:30:55 +0000

In reply to "Where the world comes to

You call that English?

They probably figure we'll

AmiBlue — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:06:24 +0000

In reply to Could You Repeat That in English? We're Global.

They probably figure we'll all be speaking Chinese in the future and won't need even English.

While I totally agree that

CaliforniaPaige — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:04:07 +0000

In reply to Could You Repeat That in English? We're Global.

While I totally agree that there's plenty of irony in that situation, I think foreign language education in the US suffers for far more practical reasons: there's no natural way to maintain what little skills you develop in a year or two of college language classes. Languages (for me, at least) don't "stick" unless you, at least occasionally, need to use them in order to buy a loaf bread.

Of course, even if you forget every phrase, the exercise of studying a language has significant benefits: better understanding English, awareness of another culture, and improved ability to learn other languages.

I'm currently living in a country the language of which, completely by coincidence, I studied for a year and half in college (which was over a decade ago). Did that year and half turn out to be useful now? Somewhat. I had forgotten almost everything, but I think it's been easier to learn the second time around.

Also, one of the most surprising things I've learned from living in Europe is that English really is a global language.

O Fortuna! Miser nobis!

Donal — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:01:44 +0000

In reply to Could You Repeat That in English? We're Global.

O Fortuna! Miser nobis!

"Where the world comes to

Michael Maiello — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:27:38 +0000

In reply to Could You Repeat That in English? We're Global.

"Where the world comes to speak English." TM