Date: Sat, 25 May 2002 14:24:00 +0200 From: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> To: Martin Karlsson <martin.karlsson@visit.se>, Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> Cc: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr>, "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog@FreeBSD.ORG>, Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>, Annelise Anderson <andrsn@ANDRSN.STANFORD.EDU>, Jamie Bowden <ragnar@sysabend.org>, Alexey Dokuchaev <danfe@regency.nsu.ru>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/sys/alpha/alpha clock.c Message-ID: <p05111701b9153139e9ea@[10.0.1.11]> In-Reply-To: <20020525075741.GC630@foo31-146.visit.se> References: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10205211257490.26365-100000@andrsn.stanford.edu> <p05111712b9107dce9658@[10.0.1.4]> <3CEAE187.FC1CC966@mindspring.com> <p0511171eb910959a28f6@[10.0.1.4]> <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>
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At 9:57 AM +0200 2002/05/25, Martin Karlsson wrote:
> Do you think the "weaker" language in such situations will exist in,
> say 50 years?
I would say that Dutch and Flemish are likely to continue to
exist for a long time, whereas I have more questions about French.
The reason is that both old and young speakers of Dutch and
Flemish tend to be pretty multi-lingual, and while they may speak,
understand, read, and write English as well as or better than many
"native" English speakers, they also have a strong interest in
keeping their language alive.
In contrast, I have met many older French speakers that could not
speak English at all and apparently had no interest in doing so, but
many younger French speakers tend to speak English pretty easily but
also seem to be less interested in keeping to the strict rules
dictated by l'Academie Française (or the equivalent in their
country), and seem to be less interested in keeping the French
language itself alive.
I think that Dutch and Flemish are likely to survive for quite
some time to come, because they recognize that their language is a
minority and are willing to adapt their personal communication habits
to accommodate a majority language (such as English) while also
making a concerted effort to keep their minority language alive.
OTOH, many older French-speakers seem to be less willing to
recognize that their language is no longer the "Lingua Franca" of
the world and continue to live in blissful ignorance, while other
French speakers no longer seem to care and are more willing to
abandon their language.
It'll be really interesting to see what happens in fifty years.
In the meanwhile, we can only prognosticate.
--
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles@skynet.be>
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.
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