LL-L "Language use" 2011.04.03 (01) [EN]

Sun Apr 3 22:52:19 UTC 2011

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L O W L A N D S - L - 03 April 2011 - Volume 01
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From: Sandy Fleming <fleemin at live.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2011.04.02 (04) [EN]

> From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

> Subject: Language use

> The Arabic phrase appears to be reversed. It ought to be أهلاً و سهلاً(Ahlan wa sahlan).

Well, that offers some insight into what goes on behind the scenes in making
up these posters (we see them at tourist locations in the UK, too, for
example at the Bird Centre in North Berwick, Scotland).

I'd guess that the phrases were looked up on the Internet and then the
Arabic was pasted into a left-to-right formatted area without changing the
text direction?

Sandy Fleming
http://scotstext.org/

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From: Elsa Primo <elsa_primo at yahoo.com>

Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2011.04.02 (04) [EN]

ENGLISH & SPANISH are IMPORTANT but so is former colonial FRENCH...and
GERMAN speaking countries have had so MANY 'guest workers' since the End of
Cold War that I would recommend that RUSSIAN & ARABIC & CHINESE CHARACTERS
be added to the above as a means of 'covering' all the bases. Most SOUTH
EAST ASIANS can read CHINESE and INDONESIANS & FILIPINOS most probably
'savvy' the idea. HINDI/URDU covers all the rest. Everyone else speaks
ENGLISH except the ITALIANS & FRENCH but they can read SPANISH. Basically
the only POSSIBLE non-speakers of a MAJOR LANGUAGE not represetned would be
TURKISH and or FARSI. Others? They 'don't travel'!

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>

Subject: Language use

Sandy wrote above:

I'd guess that the phrases were looked up on the Internet and then the
Arabic was pasted into a left-to-right formatted area without changing the
text direction?

Quite so, Sawny-o! I’m afraid that this is one of the signs of the times,
and I expect more to come as people gain more and more access to both the
technology and information but lack the education to properly process and
disseminate the information

It reminds me of the Welsh sign someone once mentioned, a sign on which the
Welsh text consisted of an e-mail message ... Oops!

Good to hear from you again, Elsa! I quite agree that several languages
besides English and Spanish are widely used in the United States, depending
on region and social circles. Here in Seattle (and I use public transport a
lot) I expect to hear, besides English and Spanish, ...

At least once daily: Arabic, Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Somali,
Tigrinia

At least once weekly: Amharic, Farsi (Iranian Persian), Japanese, Minnan
(Fukienese), Oromo, Panjabi (Punjabi)

At least once monthly: Hindi/Urdu, French, German, Italian

If I happen to go to the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle (which, mercifully,
is not often) I expect to hear at least one Scandinavian language variety
spoken per trip. I also hear Modern Hebrew spoken once or more often per
week, but this only because I move in Jewish circles (and I am not counting
biblical and liturgical Hebrew).

In addition, I hear lots of other languages used. Only yesterday I heard
people speak Mongolian near me, and I hear Tibetan once in a while.

Elsa, you wrote:

Most SOUTH EAST ASIANS can read CHINESE

Not so. With rare exceptions, this applies only to those that are
*Sino*-Indonesian,
*Sino*-Malaysian, *Sino*-Singaporean, *Sino*-Vietnamese, *Sino*-Laotian, *
Sino*-Thai, *Sino*-Burmese, *Sino*-Cambodian, *Sino*-Filipino, etc., i.e.
South East Asians with Chinese ancestry *and* Chinese education ... and the
Chinese education part is dwindling ...

But, yes, Elsa, I agree with your point that these days the USA are far more
unabashedly multilingual than most people elsewhere assume they are.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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