Job Discussion Forums

johnslat

Is this for real?

http://www.englishclub.com/esl-forums/viewtopic.php?f=220&p=348858

MO39 · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:21 am Post subject:

Could this be a slightly early April Fool's Day hoax?

johnslat · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 2:55 am Post subject:

You know - I do believe you've got that right.

zeke0606 · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:14 am Post subject:

Johnslat --

I opened that link and this is all I found. I copied it below. No topic at all. Maybe my computer didn't like what was written there? I know that my computer has hurt feelings once in a while in that it can only use three languages and wants more, but I have trouble with two of the three that it uses perfectly.

Zeke

ESL Forums
Discussion for ESL learners & teachers

Advanced search
� Board index
� Change font size
� FAQ
� Register
� Login
Information
The requested topic does not exist.
� Board index
� The team � Delete all board cookies � All times are UTC
Powered by phpBB � 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group

johnslat · Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:54 am Post subject:

Dear zeke0606.
True - if you click on the link above, that's what you'll get now. But if you Google the title "UN to Ban Unnecessary languages", you'll get this hit, which took me to this page.
Hope it works.

http://eslblogs.englishclub.com/blog/news/un-to-ban-non-english/

It HAS to be April Fool's.
Regards,
John

zeke0606 · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 11:33 am Post subject: what?

johnslat --

What do you think of this article?

From English to Panglish? The Possible Future of a Language
Posted by ESL Daily at 3/30/2008 and is filed under Spencer McCall,esl reform
Dickens is probably turning in his grave. For purists of the English language, the thought of the language of Shakespeare or Dickens becoming a diluted language for world's masses is a nightmare. But Panglish, as experts are calling the new English, is already here. The folks at Oxford English Dictionary must be having strokes.

Linguists are now saying the English spoken around the world as a Second Language today will soon become it's own vernacular in the coming decades as the population of non-native English speakers increases from its present number of just under 2 billion. By 2010, the number of native English speakers will only reach 300 million. Native speakers are just outnumbered.

The new, simplified form of the language will be similar to the English spoken around the world as a second language. Experts say, in some cases, the pronunciation of "the" will become "ze," "friend" will be "frien" and the phrase "he talks" will become "he talk." These sounds are often difficult for non-native speakers.

But as the pronunciation, spelling, and perhaps even the grammar of the English language change, it will not be in unison and it is likely the language will splinter into regional dialects unintelligible from one another. Braj Kachru, of Ohio State University - one of the world's leading experts in English as a second language - says, "There have always been mutually unintelligible dialects of languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Latin," he said. "There is no reason to believe that the linguistic future of English will be any different."

No one is certain of the language's future, but in a hundred years it is expected English will be as different from our time as it is now from the Victorian era of Dickens and Thorueau.

For more info, refer to the DailyMail or the London Telegraph.

By Spencer McCall

arioch36 · Joined: 21 Jan 2003 Posts: 3589

Actually, I would suggest the opposite. As more countries and more people speak english, change will be less, not more. Standardization will become more and more important. Tests of english become more important. Change will be less then in the past

johnslat · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:21 pm Post subject:

Dear zeke0606,
I suppose anything's possible where the future of any language is concerned, but I think this quote:

"There have always been mutually unintelligible dialects of languages such as Arabic, Chinese, Hindi and Latin," he said. "There is no reason to believe that the linguistic future of English will be any different."

ignores the fact that the main reason "mutually unintelligible dialects" arose in the past was because of geographical distance. Today, with the Net, the world is a much smaller place.
Regards,
John

MO39 · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:06 pm Post subject:

johnslat · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:34 pm Post subject:

Dear MO39,
I would agree, but that really wasn't the main point of my posting.
Regards,
John

zeke0606 · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:06 pm Post subject: what?

johnslat,

I think we think alike as I agree with 102% of all the different posts that you have on all these forums - at least all them that I've found.

Zeke

MELEE · Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:12 pm Post subject:

I was taught that the difference between a language and a dialect was a government.

johnslat · Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 4:19 am Post subject:

Dear zeke0606,
Thank goodness I hid all those lousy posts.
Regards,
John

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

jwbhomer · Joined: 14 Dec 2003 Posts: 876 Location: CANADA