English as a Global Language

I had the idea of starting this thread after seeing some of the posts in the thread Americans in GCC. It would be interesting to see what people think about this idea. Below are some thought provoking questions you may want to answer in your post.

1. What is the current English-speaking situation in your country?
2. What are your thoughts about the future of your language?
3. Should English be made a compulsory foreign language in all schools? Would that do us good?
4. Should the EU adopt English as their working language, instead of spending millions on translation?

I don’t think it would be better if everyone spoke the same language. It would be more practical, perhaps, but why not one of the other more spoken languages? I think that different languages have a history; a background that shouldn’t be forgotten. Each language is a treasure and the result of a long evolution shouldn’t be lost, but be preserved as something really valuable.
I also don’t think that English be the EU’s working language. It would go against the diversity, plurality and equality of all languages in the Union. A decision like that would be against the Unions principles themselves. It would leave unemployed a good amount of translators, and uninformed a fair amount of non-English speaking Europeans.

Well, I don't think he means that you need to get rid of all the other languages, it is nice to have some diversity, but I think that it may be a good idea to have everyone learn the same language. it would probably cost less too. That way everyone could communicate together. Already the default language for shortwave radio is english so a lot of people in different countries know some.

But then again, Chinese is a larger language than English, so why not have people learn that? And English is a very hard language to learn.

In Canada, English is the most prominent Language, with French being the second. I am currently learning french (J'aime du Zelda!), and I have learned that some French feel resentment towards the rest of Canada because only one province (Quebec) is a French speaking province. Thus the referendum (Quebec almost became it's own country in 1995). That leads me to believe that a global language probably wouldn't work, but it's still a good idea.

Originally Posted by Jazz Man

But then again, Chinese is a larger language than English, so why not have people learn that? And English is a very hard language to learn.

Because Chinese is only spoken by so many people due to China's hige population. English is far more widespread.

Having everyone speak English would be interesting, but I can't really see everyone in the world just rolling over and allowing their native tongue to be rendered pointless. Especially everyone in America - they'd probably never agree to learn English, and teaching them would be more trouble than it's worth.

btw - that last sentence was a joke. I don't actually think Americans are that bad.

As for the state of English in my country, if you can't guess by the flag, then you're blind and can't read what I'm typing anyway. Or you don't recognise the Union Jack.

Eh, I think it's fine that people from all over the world know at least a little English.

I think we'll be fine the way we're headed. English doesn't have to be the big badass language for everyone to learn. I believe people will learn it if they see need for it; no point in pushing them. I agree on EU changing to English, though.

And I am from America, so it kind of gives how many people speak it here. We speak American, though, not really English.

In my opinion everybody should learn a little English in school, and I’m well aware of the non-English speaking countries with no school, but still. This would actually make it much easier. If everybody knew at least a little English we would overcome the language barrier. This would for example make it more popular to go to another country as an exchange student. It would make it a whole lot easier to communicate with just about everyone. How can that be bad?

And speaking of that Hitler comment! There are something called an interpreter. And it's not like you are killing anyone by learning them English! I think it would be a great idea to launch English as a language everyone should know.

But why English? Why not another language? I know English is a very widespread language, but some countries with a strong resentment toward the U.S. may not agree with it. Perhaps another widespread language?

I guess I'm just trying to see from someone else's perspective. Many teenage canadians hate having to learn french. If you were all of a sudden forced to learn... say... German for example, would you be very happy about it? Well, I like language so I couldn't care less but some might feel it's a waste of time for some reason.

P.S. Quick Grammar Question: Do you have to capitalize languages (e.g. english or English?)

Well, we here understand each other better because we write in english. I think it's good that there is a language that is so widespread and so, but it isn't an excuse to ignore all the other languages.
(I wouldn't do much in the world if I just kept speaking finnish, for allmost no one outside Finland can speak it, but I think it's great that I can speak both my mothertongue and english. Makes life a bit easier )

Originally Posted by Jazz Man

But why English?

Easy! Have you ever seen the grammatical schemes of the germen language?
And would you say that there is any logic in French? It's a sound language if you know whet i mean. The language is made to sound fancy not to be written! It's a cool language though.

Anyway! English is a pretty easy language compared to most others! That’s why English is preferred! At least by me!

Spanish would be good for a universal language since so many people speak it and it's so widespread.

English is the language of everything because of Great Britain's near control of the world for so long. No real reason other than that, I think.

A global language would be nice, but I somehow doubt people will embrace such an idea for at least another century. I don't much care what language becomes the "global language," but since English already is pretty widespread, it, or a minor variation of it, would probably be it.

If people don't like the US... It is "English," afterall... the name comes from "England."

To answer the grammar question in PS above, yes. English, French, German, Swahili, and every other language is capitalized in English. So are nationalities, such as "Canadian."

In Canada, English is the most prominent Language, with French being the second. I am currently learning french (J'aime du Zelda!), and I have learned that some French feel resentment towards the rest of Canada because only one province (Quebec) is a French speaking province. Thus the referendum (Quebec almost became it's own country in 1995). That leads me to believe that a global language probably wouldn't work, but it's still a good idea.

Quebec doesn't feel resentment towards the rest of Canada its the other way around.

1. What is the current English-speaking situation in your country?
2. What are your thoughts about the future of your language?
3. Should English be made a compulsory foreign language in all schools? Would that do us good?
4. Should the EU adopt English as their working language, instead of spending millions on translation?

The english speaking situation in Canada is that every Province speaks english the most except Quebec.I was born in Italy so Italian is my first language.Then I moved to Quebec and learned French.Then I learned English.To those people who said English is an easy language to learn you only say that because that was your first language it wasn't easy for me.I think that the Italian language will live for a long time just like all the current languages.English should not be a compulsory language because what Americans don't understand is that not every country wants to be Americanized.Everyone learning english wouldn't do us all good it would just do good for english speaking countrys.Europe should not adopt english as their main language because it would just be conforming to meet the American's standards.It wouldn't be making everyones lives easyer just the Americans. Different countrys speak different languages get used to it.

Originally Posted by rvdvrvd2003

Quebec doesn't feel resentment towards the rest of Canada its the other way around.

Oh... I thought it all started when conscripion was passed in WWI and French-Canadians were forced to go to war with Britain when they didn't even feel ties with Britain...

Anyway, I just think that a lot of countries would prefer to not to learn anything but their own language. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, just it wouldn't logically work if put into play. A lot of countries would feel "Americanized" or assimilated. I think that if a country wants to learn English, then they should do it on their own terms. The only way I can describe it is through Canadian history terms, but when America was "discovered", the Europeans tried to assimilate all of the Native Peoples already living there into the European culture and Language. I think that non-English speaking countries would feel very afraid that people would stop using their native language and eventually become absorbed right into European cultures. I may be wrong. That's my opinion though.

And as far as English being easy, it's only because it is my (and many other's) first language. Among other countries it is regared as one of the hardest languages to learn because it has the most different exceptions and rules, etc. Oh, and the German global language thing from an earlier post I made... It was only an example. It could have been Spanish, or French, or Swahili, Chinese... you get the point.

And thanks for the grammar help!

Originally Posted by Tiroth

As for the state of English in my country, if you can't guess by the flag, then you're blind and can't read what I'm typing anyway. Or you don't recognise the Union Jack.

Still, there are people here whose grasp of the mother tongue is so awful I want to beat them with pointed sticks. Like my boss, who can't spell or use an apostrophe, and chavs who just can't speak properly anyway!

Eh, I say let people learn English if they want to. I don't really think it should become the global language. That doesn't seem very fair to me.

Aw heck, lets all speak Latin. Or we could start moo-ing. I don't think anyone has prejudices against cows, right? Then everyone would be willing to learn Cow.

But then, somehow, we might offend a vegeterian. Or the Bison would feel left out. Hmm...you just can't make everyone happy, can you?

Originally Posted by Jazz Man

Oh... I thought it all started when conscripion was passed in WWI and French-Canadians were forced to go to war with Britain when they didn't even feel ties with Britain...

That may be true my knoledge of Canadian history isn't the best but all I know is that Quebecois people don't hate the rest of Canada.

... Guess you're right.

If the Quebecois hated the rest of Canada that much, the 1995 referendum would have been passed and Quebec would be a separate company.