Why English language is so popular ?

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#283
poynton said:
Every schoolchild in Wales is forced to learn Welsh, even if, for example, from Asia with English as a second language.
Andy
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Hi and thanks for the interesting information.
From wikipedia ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_language

... The 2011 UK Census counted 3.1 million residents of Wales.
Of these, 73% (2.2 million) reported having no Welsh language skills ...
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This tells me that most of Welsh people are de facto integral part of the English community.
They are in a way more English than Welsh ?
And maybe among younger people the % is even higher i do not know.
I think that humans are social and a language that allows to develop more this social attitude wins.
Regards, gino
 
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#286
jan.didden said:
It's not like, 150 years ago, people in Indonesia sat down with a language catalog and said, right, lets pick a language we like best
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Quite right. And that's the reason that Spanish, English and French are so widely spoken. But as a second language? English is certainly doing well even in places where the Anglophones didn't settle. Why? Hollywood and the ease of learning English? It's a powerful combo.
 
#287
Pano said:
Quite right. And that's the reason that Spanish, English and French are so widely spoken. But as a second language? English is certainly doing well even in places where the Anglophones didn't settle. Why? Hollywood and the ease of learning English? It's a powerful combo.
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Yes indeed. We used to send our troops oversees, but sending Big Brother series is sooo much simpler and equally as effective to subdue the masses. And no blood spilled - a win-win! 😉

Jan
 
#289
Let me show you what makes Lojzek froh.
 

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#290
Pano said:
Quite right. And that's the reason that Spanish, English and French are so widely spoken. But as a second language? English is certainly doing well even in places where the Anglophones didn't settle. Why? Hollywood and the ease of learning English? It's a powerful combo.
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Germany has a very powerful actor's union and so all foreign language movies or TV programmes have to be dubbed in german.
That only leaves the latter and the school system.
 
#292
ginetto61 said:
Hi and i think you could be very right.
But still i understand that former Colonies have a big respect for their Colonizer.
If this can be confirmed this must mean something.
I guess that the relations between UK and former British colonies are good nowadays.
Regards, gino
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I'd say the relations to most are decent to good as most of them make up the Commonwealth of Nations. There were a few suspensions and withdrawal though.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations
 
#294
Charles Darwin said:
I'd say the relations to most are decent to good as most of them make up the Commonwealth of Nations. There were a few suspensions and withdrawal though.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations
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And this is for me very important in the end.
And again a same language has been key to develop this sense of community.
I mean that Anglosaxons has also promoted civilization in countries that were far from that. They have not only taken but also given.
If not they would be hated and it is not the case.
Actually i think the contrary. Respected and taken as a model.
Regards, gino
 
#295
Charles Darwin said:
dubbed in german.
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The WDR (Dritte) used to broadcast movies with original sound.
Alas, no more (including Rockpalast).

I watched German tv in the afternoons on week days for years, nothing on NL tv.
Kids stuff like e.g. animated cartoons as 'Wickie' and 'Es war einmal' (the French series 'Il était un fois', dubbed in German) at the ZDF channel.
Always interrupted by tv commercials, an endless repeat of the same commercials : Schmusewolle, das macht Perwoll aus Wolle ('Wickie' Leandros)

Does wonders for learning a language, enhancing vocabulary, and improving pronounciation skills.
Same story for Spanish, Italian, and French (TV5 and the 2nd Belgian channel RTBF), I've also watched many episodes of 'Il était un fois' in the original version.
Plus the BBC, by the time I went to secondary school I handled 4 languages reasonably well, straight A's all the way for English with zero effort.

To improve my fluency in street-Papiamentu, I chat online with Curaçao folks on a weekly basis.
The younger generation speaks differently, leaves words out, also writes differently, not something to learn from a book.
All of them also play online games (I get invites on a daily basis), the ones under 30 also do it in English with other folks, often simultaneously.

My son spends more time playing online games at the web than school, hardly watches tv.
Every day he chats with folks he plays the games with, part of the time in English.
In the evenings, he does his game thing in the livingroom, so I get to listen in.
This evening's highlight was 'abort mission'.

Same same as my tv afternoon days, though he's bound to never get passed a 2nd language, and will never reach my level.
But who cares with online translators, I'm a relic of the past generation.
 
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