You mean like "-chen" or "-l" in German?
What I would want to add to English is a distinction between "you" singular and plural (hoping that it doesn't turn into the sociological mess of Sie vs. du or vous vs. tu); Southerners recognize this and have "y'all" (singular) and "all y'all" (plural). New Yorkers will sometimes distinguish second person plural with "youse guys."
The other thing which would be nice is a nonspecific gender (as opposed to the neuter "it"), so that when one is talking about a gendered noun where the gender is unknown or unspecified, there's a more elegant way to say it rather than the cringeworthy "they." E.g., "So this person came over and they said that they were unhappy with me." Horrible.
My understanding from dealing with Chinese through work is that there are several distinct languages in China. Which one would be used?
Due to the difficulty of learning Chinese, I suspect it will never be used as a universal language as English currently is.
I believe English became the universal language initially due to the vast British Empire ("The sun never sets on the British Empire.") prior to WWII.
Following WWII, the USA became the largest commercial exporter in the world, resulting in the replacement of British English with American English.
Due to the difficulty of learning Chinese, I suspect it will never be used as a universal language as English currently is.
I believe English became the universal language initially due to the vast British Empire ("The sun never sets on the British Empire.") prior to WWII.
Following WWII, the USA became the largest commercial exporter in the world, resulting in the replacement of British English with American English.
English is the international language of business, soon to be replaced with Chinese 🙂
In Ireland it was compulsory to learn Irish in school, you didn't have a choice so it was just that useless language you had to learn to pass a few exams, but nobody actually uses it. I honestly cant speak a word of it, never had to, never will have to.
When my father was in school he had to learn Latin, which he never had to use, and never will.
Optional languages when i was in school were French and German, i dabbled a bit in German which was useful when i went there on holiday, and searching ebay.de for car parts. Smart move, would be to include Chinese as an optional language for the kids of today. Or if your American learn Spanish.
In Ireland it was compulsory to learn Irish in school, you didn't have a choice so it was just that useless language you had to learn to pass a few exams, but nobody actually uses it. I honestly cant speak a word of it, never had to, never will have to.
When my father was in school he had to learn Latin, which he never had to use, and never will.
Optional languages when i was in school were French and German, i dabbled a bit in German which was useful when i went there on holiday, and searching ebay.de for car parts. Smart move, would be to include Chinese as an optional language for the kids of today. Or if your American learn Spanish.
Yes, very much like the german -chen or -lein but just -l is southern dialect and I don't really speak bavarian. I find bavarians harder to understand than the dutch and they officially speak a different language.
The point is that you can attach these to ANY noun.
I also quite like the distinction in german between Sie and Du.
A very nice thing is how English can allow for communication between people from different countries very easily ..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6YUEz9uecA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6YUEz9uecA
Hi and thanks a lot for the very interesting information
But did you find English easier to learn than Irish ?
Because i think that this can be an important factor for the success of a language. At least to reach a survival level of course.
I see people taking English lessons quite happily.
German instead is not user friendly at all. IMHO of course.
Thanks again, gino
First off, Chinese is not a language. Cantonese and Mandarin are the 2 main languages. English is everywhere because the English invaded and subjugated 60% of the planets population. The kids love it because it's the language of the internet
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I think you may have sussed out where I learned German. 😀 I say zwo instead of zwei, Gruss Gott instead of Guten Tag, Bissl instead of Bischen. I found Austrians very easy to understand.
Subjugated economically and culturally, too. The language popularity may share origins with that of denim jeans.
Ahh...denim jeans.
The most american of all trousers ie little bits from all over Europe. First made by a bavarian jew using Serge de Nimes as material and named after the french word for Genoa.
Btw: Subjugation or not but I'd take almost any bet that if a businessman from Spain deals with one from Finland they'll be conversing in english.
cbdb,
The history is not the issue, it's that people get offended and then
there is confrontation which leads to insults. If only people could
control themselves sufficiently, there wouldn't be any restrictions.
The history is not the issue, it's that people get offended and then
there is confrontation which leads to insults. If only people could
control themselves sufficiently, there wouldn't be any restrictions.
It could be an important point, that melting pot aspect of American history. It may have made for easier acceptabilty and greater popularity.
For a non English speaker, the language is very hard to learn. Especially when so many words are pronounced rather differently compared to the way they are written. In many (older) local languages the words are pronounced exactly as written.
Simple example of confusion for others is how 'knife' and 'Nike' are pronounced. Alphabets are silent often and there are plenty of exceptions that we have got used to over the years. Newcomers find this tough. An additional problem is how words are pronounced by Britishers ( who speak the 'Queens' language!) and Americans . Asia generally uses the 'Queen's' language because they were taught that way for over a 100 years by the British colonizers. However nowadays that is getting diluted by bad English due to poor teachers. Additionally some people speak it anyway they want ( using grammar from their mother tongue ) and no one seems to want to correct them.
And of course English keeps borrowing from other languages ( eg: moolahs !) and in a 100 years will probably be quite different from now and spoken by the vast majority of the people on the planet. A common language is the best thing for mankind. It doesn't matter what it is . Just don't make me learn Mandarin now ! It's too late for me. 🙂
Simple example of confusion for others is how 'knife' and 'Nike' are pronounced. Alphabets are silent often and there are plenty of exceptions that we have got used to over the years. Newcomers find this tough. An additional problem is how words are pronounced by Britishers ( who speak the 'Queens' language!) and Americans . Asia generally uses the 'Queen's' language because they were taught that way for over a 100 years by the British colonizers. However nowadays that is getting diluted by bad English due to poor teachers. Additionally some people speak it anyway they want ( using grammar from their mother tongue ) and no one seems to want to correct them.
And of course English keeps borrowing from other languages ( eg: moolahs !) and in a 100 years will probably be quite different from now and spoken by the vast majority of the people on the planet. A common language is the best thing for mankind. It doesn't matter what it is . Just don't make me learn Mandarin now ! It's too late for me. 🙂
I am shocked, shocked! that a man from Baltimore would get this wrong. From a New Yorker I could understand. Y'all is plural. All y'all is a wider, more inclusive plural. Y'all is never singular, despite what you might hear in the movies.
Do agree about the use of "they" for a neuter gender. I cringe.
At least French spelling is consistent. Bizarre, yes - but consistent. English spelling is a mess and a big barrier to learning the language.
I'm not sure about no inflection in English. Think I could find some good examples.
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