One spoken language on Earth?

Shayper · 15 Jul 2012 at 18:59

Efour2 said:
Ever seen the SciFi series Firefly? They speak a mix of Chinese(Cantonese?) and English, mixing the 2 all the time its actually quite funny, swapping mid sentence.

That's quite a weird way of doing things. I do love FireFly

As to the OP, we would lose a great part of our English culture if that happened...

For one, the Great British past time of failing to learn the language of the country we visit, and instead just raise your voice and speak in really slow, patronising English with some stereotypical foreign words chucked in

StriderX · 15 Jul 2012 at 19:05

Shayper said:
That's quite a weird way of doing things. I do love FireFly

As to the OP, we would lose a great part of our English culture if that happened...

For one, the Great British past time of failing to learn the language of the country we visit, and instead just raise your voice and speak in really slow, patronising English with some stereotypical foreign words chucked in

Which will be lost anyway when Universal translation is perfected.

Shayper · 15 Jul 2012 at 19:07

StriderX said:
Which will be lost anyway when Universal translation is perfected.

True

needforspeed · 15 Jul 2012 at 19:13

I speak to my mum in Hakka.

darubio · 15 Jul 2012 at 19:23

I dont think the french will agree to it.

Silent UK · 15 Jul 2012 at 19:41

Some great responses and counter arguments made so far.

One of the main reasons behind my initial question though, is do people think that until the world can be united under one main (L1/L2) language (however long this takes). We as a species are getting held back?, as some of the main barriers of gaining knowledge from someone else is caused by where those two people live, and what language they understand.

InKursion · 15 Jul 2012 at 21:00

Having a monoculture and a monolanguage would bring us one step closer to the heat death of the human cultural universe. Having diversity is the best, by far. There are certain attitudes and sensibilities deeply encoded in a language that do not translate either on the literal or figurative level to other cultures. This is fantastic, and we should protect it and cherish it.

If everyone was speaking English is however-many-years time, the world would be a far worse place for it.

Somnambulist · 15 Jul 2012 at 21:04

Sefirosu said:
Let's learn mother****in Marain.

Fixed.

Twirlywoos · 15 Jul 2012 at 21:15

Silent UK said:
Was thinking about this the other day and thought I'd ask to see what everyones opinion is. Not really sure how to word the question, but to give it a shot...

Do you think that one day Earth as a whole with have one universal language that would be classed as "Earth", instead of "English"/"Chinese" etc.

Now I'm not sure on the overal stats of how many people out of the 6 Billion speak English to some degree. But would it be correct to say that currently "English" is the most spoken language on Earth? Either as a first or second language?

The problem with the English is that they want everyone to be English. Why would you want to assimilate other languages so that there is one common spoken?

The lazy English attitude needs to change and people need to learn other languages themselves. I find it a disgrace that English people only speak English and then they don't even speak that well.

My European cousins speak 5 languages fluently and my Auntie speaks 7. I think that attitudes need to change and people should start higher learning to teach themselves other languages instead of looking for an easy way out.

Castiel · 15 Jul 2012 at 21:21

majnu said:
The problem with the English is that they want everyone to be English. Why would you want to assimilate other languages so that there is one common spoken?

The lazy English attitude needs to change and people need to learn other languages themselves. I find it a disgrace that English people only speak English and then they don't even speak that well.

My European cousins speak 5 languages fluently and my Auntie speaks 7. I think that attitudes need to change and people should start higher learning to teach themselves other languages instead of looking for an easy way out.

Sweeping judgement much!!.........I know plenty of English people who speak multiple languages. I also know plenty of Europeans who only speak their own native tongue and very little else.....

robgmun · 15 Jul 2012 at 22:03

Tefal said:
i reckon it'll be like firefly with a combination of Chinese and English.

with one being your dominant language depending on where you're born.

Yup, i think this is what will happen in about 100 years.

StriderX · 15 Jul 2012 at 22:09

To be honest, one language is enough for me, i shall substitute a Universal translation for the rest as it comes along.

I wont waste my time learning something, that will become redundant by the most universal of all languages, math.

(Of course this is a personal opinion)

Twirlywoos · 16 Jul 2012 at 00:09

Castiel said:
Sweeping judgement much!!.........I know plenty of English people who speak multiple languages. I also know plenty of Europeans who only speak their own native tongue and very little else.....

You know a handful of people. I bet my bottom dollar if there was a survey done by the ONS on how many languages people in England speak taking into consideration age groups and ethnicity I bet that the percentage who speak 1 language will be around 80% or higher.

Castiel · 16 Jul 2012 at 00:14

majnu said:
You know a handful of people. I bet my bottom dollar if there was a survey done by the ONS on how many languages people in England speak taking into consideration age groups and ethnicity I bet that the percentage who speak 1 language will be around 80% or higher.

I suspect that is true across across a whole cross section of Countries and people's. The only difference being that English is the common Lingua Franca and therefore more people will have at least a rudimentary exposure to it. It isn't anything to do with laziness, and everything to do with necessity.

I would suspect that there is currently a good proportion of the UK population who speak very little or no English for example.

I also know substantially more than a handful of people who know more than their native tongue.

Trusty · 16 Jul 2012 at 00:46

MisChief said:
I still disagree, however I don't have any facts as my opinions are just based on my own experience and the people I/my family know over there so I won't challenge you on this

You are correct, Mandarin is the simpler and traditional version of "Chinese".

4 tones within Mandarin, 7 tones within Cantonese. Mandarin speakers can be understood by cantonese, it doesn't work the other way round though.

If you speak fluent mandarin, you have a good chance of being understood by the whole population of the "chinese"

Hitman_Leon · 16 Jul 2012 at 01:29

Tefal said:
i reckon it'll be like firefly with a combination of Chinese and English.

with one being your dominant language depending on where you're born.

If there were eventually one universal language; a Latin alphabet language has all the advantages that would bog down the Chinese languages. Unless of course they adopted a Latin alphabet based system which would be one hard thing to do. They have the building blocks in place but so many different spellings for tonal variation, imagine teaching spelling to a population who never heard of such a thing, the mandarin population for one.

needforspeed · 16 Jul 2012 at 02:29

What are museums for anyway?

James24 · 16 Jul 2012 at 06:43

Orcvader said:
I suppose so, but I do know quite a few mainlanders who has taught themselves Cantonese before moving to the UK. I suppose originally the main Chinese emigrates were from Hong Kong since it was a British colony, and their main language was Cantonese. Then that kinda stuck...

That is pretty much rubbish. My girlfriend is Chinese and speaks Mandarin (+ Wu dialect) and English.

She cannot speak Cantonese and none of her friends have learnt it before coming here. She didnt feel any need to learn Cantonese to use as her main Chinese language :/

The reason more chinese people living in western countries speak Cantonese is due to history, Hong Kong etc...

However the same can be said for Taiwan. I lived in Vancouver for a year and most chinese people there spoke Mandarin.

Mark A · 16 Jul 2012 at 06:56

majnu said:
The problem with the English is that they want everyone to be English. Why would you want to assimilate other languages so that there is one common spoken?

The lazy English attitude needs to change and people need to learn other languages themselves. I find it a disgrace that English people only speak English and then they don't even speak that well.

My European cousins speak 5 languages fluently and my Auntie speaks 7. I think that attitudes need to change and people should start higher learning to teach themselves other languages instead of looking for an easy way out.

Rubbish! We just point and speak a bit louder if we aren't understood abroad

.

It's not that we're lazy, its the fact we don't need to speak other languages. People aren't going to put in all that effort if they don't need to.

estebanrey · 16 Jul 2012 at 07:31

majnu said:
The problem with the English is that they want everyone to be English.

Do we? I can't remember that question being in the census.

majnu said:
Why would you want to assimilate other languages so that there is one common spoken?

I dunno if anyone does, the OP is asking if it will happen, not demanding it should and even then he isn't saying it should be English.

majnu said:
The lazy English attitude needs to change and people need to learn other languages themselves. I find it a disgrace that English people only speak English and then they don't even speak that well.

My European cousins speak 5 languages fluently and my Auntie speaks 7. I think that attitudes need to change and people should start higher learning to teach themselves other languages instead of looking for an easy way out.

First of all, when I was at school it was compulsory to learn at least one foreign language and you had the option of doing two if you wanted.

But what you are forgetting is why a lot of non-English speakers learn English. It's not because they are energetic enthusiastic linguists, it because they want to be able to enjoy Western media and improve their job prospects.

Went I went to Sweden after Uni they could all speak really good English but that was because all of their movies are in English (sure they have subtitles but they are not dubbed so every time you go to the cinema you are effectively being giving a Rosetta Stone style English lesson), when they go on the internet half the pages they view are in English. Most of the music they listen to is in English etc etc etc.

So it's not that we are lazy and they are not, it's that they are being exposed to our language on a daily basis and it becomes impossible not to pick it up and improve.

We don't have that kind of exposure to other languages. Fact is, globally speaking English is a dominant language in the sense there won't be a Westernised country on Earth that isn't hearing it and seeing it written down everyday.