Date: Sun, 26 May 2002 09:31:57 +0200 From: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> To: "Greg 'groggy' Lehey" <grog@FreeBSD.org>, Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> Cc: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: English dying out? (was: cvs commit: src/sys/alpha/alpha clock.c) Message-ID: <p05111707b9163caa175b@[10.0.1.11]> In-Reply-To: <20020526105823.A43084@wantadilla.lemis.com> References: <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> <p05111701b9153139e9ea@[10.0.1.11]> <20020525131723.GA3092@lpt.ens.fr> <p05111702b9156e964b77@[10.0.1.11]> <20020525181133.GA1210@lpt.ens.fr> <p05111703b915c7110858@[10.0.1.11]> <20020526105823.A43084@wantadilla.lemis.com>
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At 10:58 AM +0930 2002/05/26, Greg 'groggy' Lehey wrote:
> The older English-speaking people seem to be inflexible and unwilling
> to learn French (or any other foreign language), while the younger
> English-speaking people seem to care a lot less about the English
> language (as a whole).
>
> So what's the trend?
Are the younger English-speaking people not paying as much
attention to the language? Are they tending to learn other languages
instead of spending extra time learning English? Are they tending to
ignore the rules by which the language has "lived" for hundreds of
years?
While I might concede the first point, I certainly will not
concede the other two, yet I see those things happening with French.
> Most people in any country don't look on their language as
> something special. They're certainly not overly interested in
> learning another language, and that's the reason that very few of
> these languages are going to die out.
From what I've seen, the Dutch, Flemish, and Danish people in
particular are extremely sensitive to the fact that there are so few
people in the world that speak their language, and they tend to learn
other languages, as well as going well out of their way to keep their
own language alive. Indeed, they will frequently learn multiple
dialects of their language.
It is this concerted effort by the masses (young and old alike)
that I feel will be sufficient to help ensure that these languages
don't die out. And this is precisely what I *don't* see happening
with French -- while the old people may be trying to keep the
language "alive", the young people largely couldn't seem to care
less, and certainly there is no concerted effort by the masses to
keep it "alive".
The Dutch, Flemish, and Danish people seem to consider their
language a point of pride, whereas the French-speaking people (that
is, the ones who care) seem only to be largely offended by the fact
that it is no longer the "Lingua Franca" of the world.
One is a positive feeling towards their language and the place it
has in the world, and one is a negative feeling. Generally speaking,
people are attracted to positive feelings and repelled by negative
feelings.
If population A is small but vigorous and adaptive, and
population B is larger but sluggish and indifferent, which do you
think is more likely to survive when assaulted by an external and
extremely powerful force?
Sure, it may take some time for population B to finally die out,
and there is the chance that it might wake up and take a more active
approach towards survival, but if nothing else changes then it will
only be a matter of time before they are gone or so completely
assimilated as to be effectively gone.
--
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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