Should English stay the lingua franca of Europe?
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There were many lingua francas of which French was supposedly the first global lingua franca. That changed and it became English (from what I understand). We will probably see another language become the lingua franca, so my question is: should it be English? Are there better candidates out there? Why / why not?
We should start using Toki Pona.
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I’m learning German now and it’s insanely logical. I’m angry people dissuaded me as a kid from learning German. I truly love the language and Germans are also very kind.
Side note: are there any German communities on Lemmy you know of? I’d like to join. I’m a fan of Staiy and Spacefrogs.
Try the server: Feddit.org, there are some groups in German.
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It's horrible how many German nouns have a female or male gender. Like a lamp is female for some reason, but not if it's a spot or a chandelier or whatever. This is so stupid and has to be memorized. Why is a bottle female, but not if it's a flat flask.
... and French is even more silly.
The wrong use of "der/die/das" in German does not really bother. Everyone will understand the sentence if it's done wrong. Since there is no rule to be derived as to how to use the article correctly, you simply have to learn it with the word itself like in other languages, too. (Why is a car a "female" in French? "La voiture" - I won't ever understand, also in Swedish: "en" or "ett" words eg. "vatten" .) There are some rules in German, like ending on "-er" is often a "male" word, but not consistent... It's only a clue. But sometimes it doesn't matter at all: "der Joghurt", "die Joghurt", "das Joghurt" - all genders are correct, so just try.
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The wrong use of "der/die/das" in German does not really bother. Everyone will understand the sentence if it's done wrong. Since there is no rule to be derived as to how to use the article correctly, you simply have to learn it with the word itself like in other languages, too. (Why is a car a "female" in French? "La voiture" - I won't ever understand, also in Swedish: "en" or "ett" words eg. "vatten" .) There are some rules in German, like ending on "-er" is often a "male" word, but not consistent... It's only a clue. But sometimes it doesn't matter at all: "der Joghurt", "die Joghurt", "das Joghurt" - all genders are correct, so just try.
But it could be worse: "Czech, Slovak and Rusyn: Masculine animate, Masculine inanimate, Feminine, Neuter (traditionally, only masculine, feminine and neuter genders are recognized, with animacy as a separate category for the masculine)."
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There were many lingua francas of which French was supposedly the first global lingua franca. That changed and it became English (from what I understand). We will probably see another language become the lingua franca, so my question is: should it be English? Are there better candidates out there? Why / why not?
A common language serves common communication. As a happenstance of history that turned out to be English. Changing it would be enormously costly and hinder cooperation. Aside from that, learning English is useful as it's more or less commonly understood in almost every country in the world.
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The wrong use of "der/die/das" in German does not really bother. Everyone will understand the sentence if it's done wrong. Since there is no rule to be derived as to how to use the article correctly, you simply have to learn it with the word itself like in other languages, too. (Why is a car a "female" in French? "La voiture" - I won't ever understand, also in Swedish: "en" or "ett" words eg. "vatten" .) There are some rules in German, like ending on "-er" is often a "male" word, but not consistent... It's only a clue. But sometimes it doesn't matter at all: "der Joghurt", "die Joghurt", "das Joghurt" - all genders are correct, so just try.
It's definitely "der Joghurt" tho.
fite me
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We should start using Toki Pona.
I want to learn this. So cool
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I want to learn this. So cool
It's super easy to learn, but extremely hard to express stuff with.
To say "I love bricks" you'd say "poki loje lon sinpin li poki tawa" which translates directly to "red box on wall is lovely to me".
A vid by Half as Interesting on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d6bGAw5yt8
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There were many lingua francas of which French was supposedly the first global lingua franca. That changed and it became English (from what I understand). We will probably see another language become the lingua franca, so my question is: should it be English? Are there better candidates out there? Why / why not?
The Year of Esperanto is finally upon us! Bonan Matenon, Europe!
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There were many lingua francas of which French was supposedly the first global lingua franca. That changed and it became English (from what I understand). We will probably see another language become the lingua franca, so my question is: should it be English? Are there better candidates out there? Why / why not?
Having a big economy who's inhabitants never have to invest time into learn another language is a huge advantage for this economy. It's not a level playing field. Today there is no reason to still support English. In Europe we should use Esperanto or another easy to learn equivalent.
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A common language serves common communication. As a happenstance of history that turned out to be English. Changing it would be enormously costly and hinder cooperation. Aside from that, learning English is useful as it's more or less commonly understood in almost every country in the world.
It's not a happenstance, the British colonized half the planet and refused to conduct government business in anything other than English. Then the US decided to play world police and economic hegemon. Europe followed as a matter of financial necessity duo to globalization.
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There were many lingua francas of which French was supposedly the first global lingua franca. That changed and it became English (from what I understand). We will probably see another language become the lingua franca, so my question is: should it be English? Are there better candidates out there? Why / why not?
It never was
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It never was
You realise you wrote this in English don't you?
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It's not a happenstance, the British colonized half the planet and refused to conduct government business in anything other than English. Then the US decided to play world police and economic hegemon. Europe followed as a matter of financial necessity duo to globalization.
But it could've easily been French (or some other language) that ended up in the same position.
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It even existed in Old and Middle english, upto the 1500s.
Some nouns still have genders in english. But this is more an exception than a rule. Ie. a ship/boat is female (called “she”), while nature is also feminine (often personified as “Mother nature”).
a ship/boat is female (called “she”), while nature is also feminine (often personified as “Mother nature”).
This isn't gender though, this is just personification. The thing about grammatical gender is that it is *not* personification. For instance, Germans don't view a table has having some kind of male quality, nor do the French view a table as being somehow female.
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But it could've easily been French (or some other language) that ended up in the same position.
Thank god it's not French
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The Lingua Franca didn't change because someone decided to change it, it slowly happened. You could argue it would be nice for EU if the (local) Lingua Franca would be the language of a large member state, but I don't see it happening by force. Probably better to just leave it to be English, even if the Irish are the only native speakers in the EU.
Ireland has English and Irish.
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Don't kid yourself, if you would speak English over there, how come I barely understood this Australian who told me he's been "leggin' it barefoot since he stacked it near the servo and now he's flat out like a lizard drinkin' and tryin' to find a dunny before he cops a fair dinkum blue".
This is clearly fabricated, you're missing way too many swear words.
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There were many lingua francas of which French was supposedly the first global lingua franca. That changed and it became English (from what I understand). We will probably see another language become the lingua franca, so my question is: should it be English? Are there better candidates out there? Why / why not?
Given how western society is doing, Mandarin might not be a terrible call.
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But it could've easily been French (or some other language) that ended up in the same position.
I think that what started that snowball rolling was the Seven Years War. That started the Brits on the path of being the bigger global empire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Years'_War
For much of the eighteenth century, France approached its wars in the same way. It would let colonies defend themselves or would offer only minimal help (sending them limited numbers of troops or inexperienced soldiers), anticipating that fights for the colonies would most likely be lost anyway. This strategy was to a degree forced upon France: geography, coupled with the superiority of the British navy, made it difficult for the French navy to provide significant supplies and support to overseas colonies. Similarly, several long land borders made an effective domestic army imperative for any French ruler. Given these military necessities, the French government, unsurprisingly, based its strategy overwhelmingly on the army in Europe: it would keep most of its army on the continent, hoping for victories closer to home. The plan was to fight to the end of hostilities and then, in treaty negotiations, to trade territorial acquisitions in Europe to regain lost overseas possessions (as had happened in, e.g., the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle). This approach did not serve France well in the war, as the colonies were indeed lost, and although much of the European war went well, by its end France had few counterbalancing European successes.
In India, the British retained the Northern Circars, but returned all the French trading ports. The treaty, however, required that the fortifications of these settlements be destroyed and never rebuilt, while only minimal garrisons could be maintained there, thus rendering them worthless as military bases. Combined with the loss of France's ally in Bengal and the defection of Hyderabad to the British as a result of the war, this effectively brought French power in India to an end, making way for British hegemony and eventual control of the subcontinent.
