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At 05:20 PM 7/23/2007, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite="">There's a new post on the
<a href="www.uiuc.htm">Web of Language</a>:<br><br>
<br>
Psst, buddy, wanna save a buck? Stop speaking English --<br><br>
English is fast becoming the national language of Europe, but not
everyone approves. A German scientist wants to restore German at
least as the language of science in Europe, and a Swiss linguist claims
that dropping English for Esperanto could save Europe an easy $34 billion
a year. <br><br>
Five hundred years ago Europe shook off the yoke of Latin, and vernacular
languages thrived. But now, laments the German biophysicist Stefan
Klein, English is the new Latin, poised to take over not just Europe but
the world (“Dumber in English,” July 12, 2007,
signandsound.com). According to Klein, the goal of science is to
improve the world and, forgetting Germany’s fatal attempt to improve it
through eugenics, he would like to make the world a better place by
requiring German science students to take their exams in German and
“encouraging” German scientists to use their native language if they
want to their grants renewed.
<br>
<br>
The Swiss linguist François Grin has an even grander scheme to get the
European Community off the English-only bandwagon. Grin is well
aware that talk is not cheap, that Europe, with 23 official languages,
spends a large chunk of its budget on expensive and wasteful
translation. But the expanding role of English means that Europe
is pouring over 17 billion euros a year into British coffers for such
things as translation services and English lessons, and Grin sees
no reason for the British to get rich this way (L'enseignement des
langues étrangères comme politique publique, 2005,
cisad.adc.education.fr/hcee/documents/rapport_Grin.pdf).
<br><br>
...<br><br>
want to know more? read the rest of the post on<br><br>
<a href="www.uiuc.htm">the Web of Language</a><br><br>
<a href="http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage" eudora="autourl">
www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage</a><br><br>
<br><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">Dennis Baron<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">Professor of English and
Linguistics<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">Department of English
<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">University of Illinois <br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">608 S. Wright St.<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">Urbana, IL 61801
<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica"><br>
office: 217-244-0568<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica">fax: 217-333-4321<br>
</font><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica"><br>
</font><a href="http://www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron">
www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron</a><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica"><br>
read the Web of Language:<br>
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www.uiuc.edu/goto/weboflanguage</a><br>
<font face="Helvetica, Helvetica" color="#0000EE"><br><br>
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</blockquote>I will be reading email irregularly over the next week, and
so may not be able to reply<br>
promptly.<br><br>
In case of pressing matters related to the graduate program in
anthropology, please<br>
contact karen.phillips@yale.edu.<br><br>
Thanks for your patience.<br><br>
Joe Errington </body>
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