LL-L "Language politics" 2012.05.18 (01) [EN]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 18 May 2012 - Volume 01
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From: Paul Finlow-Bates wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk
 Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2012.05.17 (03) [EN]

Hi Mark,

Two reasons really;

1) It hampers learning other languages.  With the best will in the world,
at beginner level anyone I attempt to speak to will probably speak English
better than I speak their language and will soon switch just for
convenience.  Even at a more advanced level, people are so bent on learning
the World Language, they'd rather take the opportunity to practice with a
native speaker. There are exceptions - German speakers will let you battle
on until you get stuck, then put you right. The other extreme are
Scandinavians; any of my attempts to speak Danish or Swedish are virtually
ignored.

2) Culturally. If you speak Finnish, you're most likely a Finn; likewise
for Japanese, Italian, Zulu or Dutch.  Even German is dominantly spoken by
specific nationalities. Around 400 million people speak English and another
600 million think they can.  About 5% of those are actually English (we're
mostly in the second category :D). I don't even have an identifiable
regional dialect like the Geordies or Scousers.  The nearest comparison I
can think of is Spanish, where Spanish people are also a minority of the
language's speakers. I'm curious to know how they feel.

All in all, I look forward to Global Mandarin.

Paul

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From: Mike Morgan mwmbombay at gmail.com
 Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2012.05.17 (03) [EN]

Mark asked Paul:
> It probably should be obvious to me how you would be hampered by speaking
> the World Language as a native, but I can’t think of it. Would you please
> tell me why you feel that way?

Well, as a field linguist and language learning lover, I cannot tell
you how many times I have had to fake not knowing a word of English in
order to get people to "cooperate" in the language
learning/researching process. It is the only way sometimes to stop
people from switching to English (although I KNOW by doing so they
THINK they are being helpful!)

AND, of all the languages I have tried to learn, the one where English
has proven the greatest hamper is in learning Nederlands ;-)

mwm || *U* C > || mike || мика  || माईक || マイク || மாய்க் (aka Dr Michael W
Morgan)
sign language linguist / linguistic typologist
academic adviser to "Nepal Sign Language Training and Research Centre"
project
NDFN, Kathmandu, Nepal

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From: Jacqueline Bungenberg de Jong Dutchmatters at comcast.net
 Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2012.05.17 (03) [EN]

Re ‘Bildung’: From one well-rounded individual ( or should I say
‘well-built’? ) to two others:

Yes Marlou; What a frightening picture you paint. Throw in some Heidegger (
Das alltägliche Sein zum Tode ) and off we go from the cradle to the grave,
like the look-alike cogs of a chain. Perfect!!!!

Jacqueline BdJ
Seattle US

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From: Hellinckx Luc luc.hellinckx at gmail.com
 Subject: LL-L "Language politics"

Beste Marlou,

You wrote:

Oh, I forgot the One Great Distinction: making money. Things that make
money are no digressions of course; you may do such things before you die.


http://tinyurl.com/7rb9ur7

Besides, procreation is another pastime our species sometimes indulges in
before passing away. Not only do significant others tend to hail more and
more from distant communities, but people are also more mobile than ever.
There are more awkward options than English as a lingua franca in this
respect methinks.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx, Halle, Belgium

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