The English Language (641 hits)
Category: NoneRating: -0.88 on 10 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by <quatatoe_king.at.hotmail.com> (View user info) at 2004-09-05 15:14:51 EDT
English is, quite undeniably, the most widespread language in the world. I won't say that the msot people speak it, because of those damned Chinese, but people are pretty much forced to learn it in many countries. The attitude is basically that if you don't speak English, you'd damned well better learn or you're going nowhere (whether that's true or note I can't say).
It seems odd that English was fated to become such a universal mode of communication. When you think about it, English is one of the most unreliable and dynamic languages ever, making it harder to learn. Languages like French, Spanish, and German are extremely structured, and unless I;mmistaken, new words aren't accepted into the fold nearly as easily as in English, where it's almost fashionablet to invent your own words (someone told me that "hizzle" or "shizzle" is now in the Webster's. What the fuck?) These languages are predictable, and while they are difficult and complicated, the rules are followed for the most part, and the system is adhered to.
Not so in English. One of the classic examples is the "I before E except after C" rule. What it SHOULD be called "I before E except after C unless it's...." and the list would go on forever. This isn't the only rule that's broken all the time, but it's a classic example. Another one would be that nearly every verb is irregular, and the past tense is as varied as Britney Spears' tit size.
Really, the only reason English is used world wide is that we've had two successive Enlish-speaking world superpowers in a row. THe UK a couple hundred years ago, and (unfortunately) the USA today. The USA has mroe of an economic stranglehold on the world as compared to the territory-grabbing British navy, but still, it does the trick because they're infiltrated nearly every world market and without English, Japanese/German/etc. businessmen would have to rely on translators.
This is just like when the French controlled a bunch of Europe. The Russian royalty actually spoke French during this time (as described in War and Peace). Whatever country is in the forefront will have a greater say in which language is used in their areas of influence. Not to say that this always happens: Lithuanian is onyl spoken in Lithuania, even though they controlled msot fo Eastern Europe for a long time a few hundred years ago.
So, when you think about it, if Hitler hadn't fucked up in the Battle of Britain (although I'm thankful that he did), this post could very well have been in Deutsch.
User Reviews
Submitted by StonedSilly (user info) at 2004-11-28 09:36:38 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
NURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!
Submitted by EchoBoxing (user info) at 2004-09-05 19:11:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Spiral_Abraxis (user info) at 2004-09-05 16:07:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/44098 <-------------------- naked women!
Submitted by Despiadado (user info) at 2004-09-05 15:59:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
By the way, posting about boring shit is stupid.
Don't bother comming back on Thursday.
Submitted by Despiadado (user info) at 2004-09-05 15:58:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Next time you write a post about the English Language, try to use correct English spelling and grammar, and see if you could check your facts about the other languages too.
'The attitude is basically that if you don't speak English, you'd damned well better learn or you're going nowhere (whether that's true or note I can't say).'
Now just what in the fuck is that supposed to mean? You said it, but you have no way of knowing if it's true. So why say it? Why did you even both posting? Come back on Thursday.
I'm living in Germany right now and speaking German every day, and you can take it from me that there are plenty of execptions to rules in German. I can't speak for other languages though...
Submitted by vajokki (user info) at 2004-09-05 15:36:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
English is really unreliable only because of our grammer exceptions and how unstructured that is. Otherwise our word structure is pretty simple. (Unlike Hungarian or Finnish..structured yet still difficult.)Its not that hard of a language to learn.(The misconception being English the hardest second language to learn, not true,)
Id rather speak German though.
Minus the Hitler winning part.
Submitted by 01011010 (user info) at 2004-09-05 15:28:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Acht. Das niche güt.
Submitted by yidele (user info) at 2004-09-05 15:27:24 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
read mervyn bragg's "the adventure of english".
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1559707100/qid=1094412417/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/102-5646517-6694507
Submitted by Commie_bastard (user info) at 2004-09-05 15:21:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
What was the point of this?
Submitted by strwbryfanatic (user info) at 2004-09-05 15:16:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Boring with a side of double boring.