[Foundation-l] Klassical Chinese

[Marcus Buck]

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).

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.

* 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. 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? If 
you are worried about reduplication of effort, please first start 
lobbying for a ban on Britannica and Encarta.

Marcus Buck