English vs. [none] as World/Global Language

[Douglas G. Wilson]

... there is a variable undercurrent
of confusion, disgruntlement, shame and national pride against
English, even in places like Sweden where it is widely accepted.
During the Stockholm gay pride parade in August a Swedish gay
doctor organization's parade banner ... was written in English. Somebody in the
crowd shouted something along the lines of, "Yay for you guys,
but next time use Swedish."

... If English tends toward monopoly
and  exclusion in wanting to impose a global lifestyle, French
affirms itself open to all cultures ...

Anyone might ask the question "How can I speak to/with other people all
over the world?" If he means "how can I (conveniently) speak with
absolutely any individual?" of course the answer is "You can't." But
suppose I am an astronomer or a  linguist or a chemical engineer, and I am
asking how I can discuss matters of common interest with most of my fellow
specialists all over the world ... the age-old answer "You can't" is only
recently being replaced by "You can -- in English." I believe this is a
very fine development. It would be just as fine if the answer included
French/Chinese/Swahili/Esperanto/whatever instead of English -- but it
doesn't. The alternative possibility of "You can -- by learning English and
French and German and Russian and Chinese and Spanish and ..." is clearly a
non-starter.

The Swedish gay doctors might have been well advised to make a bilingual
banner for politeness' sake, but they want to speak to the world, so they
use English. Maybe they'll appear on CNN worldwide!

I don't think either French or English is so limited/limiting that its use
predisposes to a particular 'lifestyle', opinion or political stance. The
people of Madras or Singapore or Chicago can be exposed to the high points
of French culture in English; those who are particularly captivated may
choose to learn French for further enlightenment. All of the arguments
which can be put forth favoring universal French language instruction can
be made just as well for German, Chinese, etc., etc., but learning one's
family language plus one other (preferably English, in most of the real
world) is enough for most people.

My kids (in the US) are exposed to plenty of Japanese 'cultural
imperialism' on the TV etc. without needing to know any Japanese. I haven't
heard any noises from Japan (a larger country than France) about their
deplorable ignorance of Japanese.

The French can take comfort in the fact that originally-French lexical
items form a very large part of the new world language.

All of this may be moot within a hundred years. One's pocket computer or
whatever will eventually provide instant reliable translation, so that a
common language may be unnecessary in many contexts.

Just one man's casual impressions.

-- Doug Wilson