So, Geni, if you want all of these languages to die, what do you propose WE do about it? Just curious. Not that I agree with you, but for all this talk, we might as well see what your proposed plan of action is. Mark
On 11/09/2008, geni geniice@gmail.com wrote:
2008/9/11 Marcus Buck me@marcusbuck.org:
Geni, if you speak about nationalism, you have to look at the sources of nationalism. There are some nationalist tendencies in Catalonia. Why? Cause the Spanish tried to erase the Catalan language and the Catalans were forced to defend their identity. There are nationalist tendencies in Spain. The sucessful fight for autonomy of the Catalans takes away regions which were formerly seen as integral parts of the Spanish language area. The Spanish feel a threat for their identity. There are nationalist tendencies in the USA. Why? Cause the number of Spanish speakers rises and rises in the South (and not only in the South).
You are confusing cause an effect. Catalan language was defended because people saw it as a useful tool for their nationalism. Every group (Italians Irish whatever) new to the US has had issues with integrating language is just a way of expressing that.
People become nationalist when they realize, that their language/culture* is threatened or on the downward path. Wanting to abolish all the languages of the world except one will lead to a massive rise in nationalist tendencies.
No. Existing nationalist tendencies will oppose something that will weaken their cause.
- Please be aware, that language is not merely a medium to transport
information, it is information in itself. Language and culture are intertwined and cannot be separated. Shakespeare is popular in English speaking areas, Goethe in German speaking, Zola in French speaking, Groth in Low Saxon speaking and Si Mohand in Kabyl speaking areas. Their works can be translated and are translated, but translations rarely reach the depth of the original. They are out of their meaningful context. In a monolingual world there is no way for Germans to keep their German culture or Kabyls to keep their Kabyl culture. Goethe and Si Mohand are meaningless without the German and Kabyl language.
The languages that the Epic of Gilgamesh was written in have been dead since about the time of Marcus Aurelius. We get by.
There are 6000 languages in the world. Each of them has their own songs, traditions, tales etc. You would kill and make meaningless 99 % of that cultural production only to make it easier to write an encyclopedia?
You believe information exchange is limited to what appears in wikipedia?
By denying people access to a major language you deny them access to much of the world's science, technology, engineering and culture. Realistically we have no right to deny individuals the choice nor should we be supporting groups that attempt to maintain language barriers. Most of those 6000 lack a written form and have few speakers. By comparison there are 100 million books in English.
Now we do not have the power to kill languages but I would argue we should considered if we are artificially supporting a language.
If you are worried about reduplication of effort, please first start lobbying for a ban on Britannica and Encarta.
Why? Market forces are likely to kill them off anyway and they are adding to the easy to access information in a widely used language. -- geni
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