The Pisstakers
I am all for grappling with foreign tongues. Especially if it involves French kissing.
Ah, leave it to Lord Likely to leave an international spin on things! That cheeky devil!
You say cheeky, linda, I say the thought of Lord Likely's tongue wrapped around the French language makes my skin crawl. Maybe it is a guy thing!
I will give it to you that your diatribe is well-written; however, it is factually WILDLY inaccurate.
No English in Asia? Try telling that to the Singaporeans, whose economically significant nation has the official language of English. Now, this isn't some "only the college students speak a little English" situation. English is the language Singaporeans tend to use in their home, and they have been doing so since the end of the Spanish-American war. Additionally, you state, without any data, that English is not actually spoken in many countries in everyday life. Simply put, without any data to back this up, you are just making a wild guess. I, personally, have lived and worked in Japan. I speak fluent Japanese, but even if I didn't, it wouldn't be a problem. The English prevalent in Japan is not "I speakee the Inglish" as you put it (note your Ad Hominem Abusive fallacy here). I have been all over the rural areas of Japan, and for the most part I have encountered people that are able to communicate with me in English if they desire to do so.
Perhaps you are merely look at raw figures. English estimates are consistently around 400 million people worldwide using it as the native language. Additionally, you need to try considering actual measures of what a "global" or "world" language are. "World language" does not mean "everybody, everywhere speaks it." Instead of just guessing about what makes a language a global language, put some actual research into it. You speak of "global powerhouses" liking to think English is dominant, but it is exactly the powerhouses that determine dominance. Global language indicators include factors such as the economic and political prowess of the countries predominantly using it. This is why although Spanish is the official language of 21 countries, it is not considered a global language. All of those countries, with the exception of Spain, are considered underdeveloped with little or no economic and political clout. You can get nit picky and say that Venezuela has political power due to oil, but that power is extremely limited. So, you say nobody wants to speak English in Latin America for fear of reprisal, but this is the exact reason why Spanish is not considered a global language. The very fact that English is compulsory as a second language in over one-hundred nations in the world is evidence of it being the dominant global language. Note my lack of guessing here.
You touched on pop music causing the spread of English, but you seem to have confusion correlation with causation (another logical fallacy). It was the spread of English and Western hegemony that led to pop music often including short English phrases in its lyrics. Again, you need to put research into what you're saying, rather than saying, "what seems right."
So, here's what I'm saying. You have written what seems to be a persuasive argument. Perhaps if I came to this website and I read this article with no critical thinking, I would simply agree, since it is indeed well-written. But, the truth is that your arguments do not stand up to even moderate scrutiny. You are falling victim to arguing generalizations based on guesses of what "feels right."
Thanks for going to the trouble of replying.
I guess I got the same level of indignation from you as a linguistics professor at Bristol University aroused from his audience of English language teachers!
Without getting into too much of a nit picky debate, the underlying thrust of the diatribe is that English is the global language of the elite. Business corporations and university educated members of the world are one thing, but I guess I am talking from a general everyday perspective of what sounded right when I was where I have been!
Whilst the world is developing fast, millions do speak English, and the highly educated masses of Singapore would fall into that category, as well as Japan. but most people on this planet arent highly educated, and still dont jabber in English.
And what about Spain? A Western European "advanced nation", every one learns Englisg from a young age. You are talking really wild generalisations if you say that English is the big kahuna there.
In Nepal a few people speak English in tourist areas, but out in the sticks, one or two will. If that means you can say that you can get by without much trouble speaking English in Nepal, fair enough, but you cant say English is the universal language in that country as a whole.
As I say, it all comes down to the elitist idea. In Germany of course you can go to a corporation and speak English, but that doesnt mean they dont expect you to speak German. And if you go to a builders yard, I am sure you wont get too far speaking English to the lumber guy.
Anyway, remember, I am a pisstaker, so I have my contrarian ideas, and as I am no longer a thesis writing scholar, it is easy to rip into my articles if you want to. Hope to see you again, anonymous.
Have a good new year.
wow anonymous is kinda an ahole huh
Looks like I have missed your excellent past posts before my discovery of the Peon Whisperer!
Seems to me, Mr. Anonymous has escaped from his alternate P.H.D. (Piled High and Deep) universe through his Black Hole!
It's the indignant one again. Thanks for the reply, Ed.
I definitely can see your idea that English is the language of the elite, so now we can agree on something, provided we have defined the idea of what exactly a "global language" even means.
At any rate, yes, I most definitely analyze anything I find from a critical perspective. Truth be told, I'm not a language omajor. My fluency in language is due more to my having live overseas for several years. I'm actually a rocket scientist (I'm still not accustomed to saying that after all these years). So, you can probably see why I look at everything from a scientific standpoint and in terms of logic.
I'll add a little anecdote here... I do believe English is the global language, but I firmly believe everybody should learn more than one or two languages. In fact, I have a wonderful wife that I met while I worked on the H2B rocket in Japan, *because* I learned Japanese.
Commenting by HaloScan
