Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 22:07:08 +0200 From: Martin Karlsson <martin.karlsson@visit.se> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Dual language (was: cvs commit: src/sys/alpha/alpha clock.c) Message-ID: <20020527200708.GB441@foo31-146.visit.se> In-Reply-To: <3CF15CAD.C05C6BEE@mindspring.com> References: <20020522050350.GA266@lpt.ens.fr> <20020523124604.Z45715@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20020523061551.GA237@lpt.ens.fr> <20020523155541.H230@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20020523063222.GA470@lpt.ens.fr> <p0511170eb9127dabc846@[10.0.1.8]> <20020525075741.GC630@foo31-146.visit.se> <20020525175337.F84264@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20020526094106.GA345@foo31-146.visit.se> <3CF15CAD.C05C6BEE@mindspring.com>
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* Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> [2002-05-26 15.07 -0700]:
[...snipped good points...]
> Frankly, most people in the U.S. simply can't understand the ethnic
> based conflicts in various parts of the world. From the general
> population's point of view, it's impossible to tell an ethnic Serb
> from an ethnic Croat, unless one of them stands up at a podium and
> yells "_I_ am an _ethnic Serb_!".
=20
I can't (and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone in this) understand
how one can _not_ understand the ethnic based conflicts in various
parts of the world. The U.S. is perhaps something of a special case in this
respect, because its population is composed of people from
all around the world, with basically only two unifying factors, the
constitution and the English language.=20
BTW, did you know that Finns carry knives all the time and basically live in
the sauna, and that Norwegians are somewhat stupid? Well, of course
this is not true(?), but these are "truths" everybody knows in
Sweden. (And Finns asume all Swedish men are gay because... etc.
etc.)=20
Are there American myths of this sort about Canadians or Mexicans?
[...snipped more good points...]
> Eating the expense, which makes you ashamed because your country
> won't eat the same expense, is costing the U.S. billions upon
> billions of dollars in lost productivity, and is in fact
> entrenching the ghettoization of the people taught that way.
=20
To my way of thinking, a major part of who I am is my language.
Descartes said "I think, therefore I am", but I'd like to change
that to "I speak and share a language with my neighbors, therefore I
am". If you aren't allowed to communicate in your language, you
aren't allowed to be who you are.
Of course I think that if one migrates to a new country, priority
one is to learn the language of that country, but on the other
hand,... eh... er... I'm too tired for this, and I really don't know what
I think about this. I'll have to chew a bit on this one.
HAND
--=20
Martin Karlsson _
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