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International communication, why English?
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RedRose



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2735
Location: GuangZhou, China
PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 6:17 am    Post subject: International communication, why English? Reply with quote
Do you think that English is the best choice for an international language? Why? Why not?
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FeFena



Joined: 10 Sep 2005
Posts: 14
Location: Uniter Arab Emirates
PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 9:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I think there is no problem for English to be the language of communication for people around the world, but we all should realize that certain countries and entities r going to lose their own languages if they replace their own languages by Englsih......it iss so wonderful and benificial to learn another language, however it is important to keep your own identity...
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stellara



Joined: 02 Apr 2005
Posts: 583
Location: germany
PostPosted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
i think too, that it is, because it's by far the world language number 1. it's spoken both as first/mother language and as second language by many people (about 570 millions together), plus it's not only an official language but also a language that is often used in touristical communication in non-english countries. you can go in almost every touristic country and when you speak english you'll be understood Wink and it's also a scientific language.
by the way, chinese and hindi both have more native-speakers but not many second language speakers and are so not seen as world languages.

i think also that english is a good choice because the grammar is not as complicated as in many other languages, for example, french, german, chinese, and you can express yourself easily even if you're not so familiar with the grammar.

greets Wink
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RedRose



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2735
Location: GuangZhou, China
PostPosted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I think the main reason why recently English is an international language is because USA is the strongest in many fields like economy, military affairs, science... therefore, people have to learn the most advanced technology and science from USA, and have some business, trade with USA. in that case, English became an international language.

Fortunately, English is easy to learn. you can recite English vocabulary by certain rules, such like etyma; you can pronounce an english word even if you don't know what it means! because each word has its own phonetic symbols! that is why so many people are crazy about English, like me for example Wink

However, frankly some other languages are hard to learn for a beginner. for example, Chinese. if you see a Chinese character, and if you don't know what it means, it is hard for you to pronounce it.
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asterix



Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 1654
PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 8:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Because God is an Englishman.
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stellara



Joined: 02 Apr 2005
Posts: 583
Location: germany
PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 9:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
yeah, how could we forget this...
come on, get real, please! .. greets Smile
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RedRose



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2735
Location: GuangZhou, China
PostPosted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 3:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
asterix wrote:
Because God is an Englishman.


This is an international joke which fits in any country.
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stellara



Joined: 02 Apr 2005
Posts: 583
Location: germany
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:27 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
oh, okay Wink but I don't know it.. can you tell me?
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RedRose



Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 2735
Location: GuangZhou, China
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
stellara wrote:
oh, okay Wink but I don't know it.. can you tell me?


People always think God speaks their own language. for example, some Chinese people always playfully say :"God is a Chinese, so chinese language is so fair-sounding!" and other people from other countries says so Wink
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Bob S.



Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 3:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
RedRose wrote:
People always think God speaks their own language. for example, some Chinese people always playfully say :"God is a Chinese, so chinese language is so fair-sounding!" and other people from other countries says so Wink

A quote I once heard attributed to Samuel Clemens (I don't know if it is true, so please correct me if I'm wrong) goes:
In the beginning, God created Man in His own image. And Man, being the gentleman that he was, returned the compliment.
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