Why English language is so popular ?

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Van Halen LOL

when I visit(ed) Europe I wanted to experience the different cultures in all their glory. Instead when I sampled the youth music on TV what did I see, copied versions of USA inner city dress and music. global music indeed. I reckon I needed to get out into the countryside, but aren't they just considered behind the times within their own culture. IDK... hence my comment about invading and dominating your culture through TV and internets
next time Paris via Las Vegas haha
 
When I moved to the deep French countryside in 1982, almost no one my age (young) spoke English. But they all wanted to ask me about Iron Maiden and AD/DC. Head banger French farmers.

I translated the lyrics of a lot of hit songs for curious country folk. They were mightily disappointed at the banality of English song lyrics, I can tell you. 😀
 
My Russian wife's grandson came to UK for his first summer visit a few years ago. A qawky 14 year old with (apparently) very little English.

He gravitated to the TV/video in the den at every opportunity. I once found him laughing out loud at a Simpson's joke and queried how he could understand it (it was not just visual). It turned out he had every Simpson's DVD at home, dubbed in Russian, and knew every plot and gag backwards!

So he was just laughing with the memory of what was happening! Not surprisingly, by his third annual visit his English was fluent and prolific. It helped him get into a good Moscow Technical school.
 
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Minimizing accent may be important for professional speakers. Not so much for day to day business. If I went out one morning and everyone I made contact with spoke like William F Buckley I would think I was living a Twilight Zone episode.
It is true that some accents are easier on the ears than others.
 
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I don't see what the big deal is,

Yes we should all be able to speak a common language..

Its not important what language it is..as long as its all human kind..everyone can speak it..

However if something drastic happened we should all be able to communicate as a species to save ourselves.
Having to have interpreters is so medieval..dark ages..

What's the point of culture and dogma if we have such barriers?
Yes preserve it for culture... however I think its just another barrier..

Just for fun can you imagine standing in front of an alien species and we can't even talk to each other without an interpreter..


Regards
M. Gregg
 
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"Neighbours has been sold to over 50 countries"....

I used to watch it dubbed into French and got to rather like it. Going back to English was difficult. One thing lacking in the dubbed version was all the little incidental sounds. Apparently they were mixed with the original dialog track and were not replaced.

One day a very strange show came on TV, dubbed into French. I couldn't figure out if it was strange on purpose, or just bad dubbing. It was called Twin Peaks. That was a surreal experience.
I was in Denmark a few years ago and watching satellite tv.
Flipping channels I came across a scene that looked like Australian bush.
Next thing Kylie Minogue came on screen speaking perfect German....that was surreal for me.

Dan.
 
that was surreal for me.
bet you couldn't get that out of your head
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I was at the north end of Boston (Lynn, MA actually) on an unusually warm fall day. I decided to go to the beach. On the boardwalk, I asked a group of local passersby, "Pardon me. Is there a water fountain around here?" They looked at me like I was speaking Cantonese. Up there they pronounce it more like, "wadah fewtuhn."
I'm more sensitive to more severe language mangling. "Bar-ee" instead of "borrow" or "i-dill" in place of "idea."
 
Perhaps,

people use English because its been a mix of so many other languages.

Ie it isn't really English as such England was invaded by so many other cultures and we borrow many words from other cultures. Just look at Boudica and the romans. These days its modified even more.

In theory you have the UK and just in that small space English/Welsh/Scottish and its dialects.
However when you walk down the street you hear virtually every other language except English..😀

Oh listen that was English er no mistaken..LOL

Look at old English..😀 :knight:

You only have to listen to old black country English and Geordie accent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5Sa_QkbcS0

Shame we don't speak like the Elves in Lord of the rings..😀

English gets even more interesting when you hear someone speaking there native tongue (Foreign language) with a black country accent..😀

Regards
M. Gregg
 
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