[Foundation-l] Klassical Chinese

[geni]

2008/9/10 Nikola Smolenski <smolensk at eunet.yu>:
> On Monday 08 September 2008 22:23:09 geni wrote:
>> 2008/9/8 Nikola Smolenski <smolensk at eunet.yu>:
>> >> Oh I don't know the level of English spoken in say Poland is quite
>> >> impressive.
>> >
>> > So?
>>
>> It means that when there isn't an nationalist region to oppose a
>> language which provides access to greater information and
>> opportunities it's use can become widespread.
>
> Well that just doesn't make any sense, given that Poland is quite nationalist.

Try speaking Russian in Poland. While there is a fair degree of
nationalism in Poland there isn't much in the way of opposition to
English


>Fact is, learning languages is difficult. In Serbia, English is taught through
>entire primary school, but not everyone has an A, and even those who do may
>not have good enough grip of language to be able to fully understand a
>lengthy text in it, or even if they do, to read at the same speed as their
>native language.

That is to be expected. Look at how lowland scots moved towards
english. At first only certain groups used english but over time more
switched towards english and the language itself became more english
like.

> But Serbo-Croatian is not a the Central South Slavic diasystem. Serbo-Croatian
> is a standard language, based on the Eastern Herzegovina dialect, which is
> generally considered to be Serbian.

Serbo-Croatian is also what most of the world calls the Central South
Slavic diasystem.
-- 
geni