Same difference

Originally posted by AlphaHumana

Originally posted by Astyanax
language is not an instrument of control; it is an instrument of liberation.

It's not always used in such a way - the clearest example that comes to mind is the RCC's corruption of Latin. This made it so the commoners and even the more learned class could not read the Bible themselves and had to rely on the interpretations (ahem, "control") of the clergy...

...and we all know what happened to Christianity once people were able to read the Bible for themselves {in their own language}...

Actually, we're in exact agreement, AlphaHumana

The first line of my previous post was

When language is used as an instrument of control, the control is usually exercised by restricting access to the language.

Your post gives an example of that restriction (preventing access to the Bible by lay persons who couldn't read church Latin), followed by an example of how language works in its natural function as an instrument of liberation.

If the common folk had been able to read church Latin, the Reformation may have happened earlier. Or it may never have happened, the perceived need for it not having arisen.

The reason that english is so wide spread is a simple matter of expedience. It is easier to work in english in the modern technologica; world than in most other languages. English is a language with multiple bases to pull from that is easily adapted to new ideas. A few of these are latin, german, french and spanish.
A simple example is the word hammer. Every language has it, but when you are using different types of hammers it gets complicated. Claw hammer is a common type that most people recognize as the one used to pound in nails. But a translation of another language for claw hammer could run long. For example ' the hammer for inserting and removing nails from wood'. This isn't as extreme as it looks.
Other languages are more static. They have a base only in themselves, and little provision for technological change. That isn't to say that they don't evolve, but they do so at an extremely slow rate. English, with it's multiple base is almost perfectly designed for quick changes of technology and ideas. If we don't have a word for something, we look at the base languages and invent one. We don't usually have to fall back on description for clarity, we have a word or name for everything.
The down side to this is that it makes it a difficult language to learn. Even fluent speakers rarely know the entire language, as there are technical areas that they won't be involved in.

going back to the OPs original question. this might sound metaphysical, but language does control mentality to some extent. I know this because I speak several foreign languages. If there are no words to express a certain concept, people simple dont know or understand this concept. Thats why me and a friend of mine use words from different languages that dont exist in others...in order to make something more clear.

If you travel a lot, you will also notice that language influences peoples behaviour and outlook on life.

Absolutely. All around the world tiny cultures, and sometimes larger ones, are dying. Look at China. Extremely rich history. Most powerful nation on the planet at one time. Amazing culture. Now, they're manufacturing fake Colgate that contains antifreeze. Their culture is dying. The same thing is happening all over the world, just different ways.

One world language, hmm.

I think one world language exists already.

I would say English language is strong and well. I myself love English lanuage.

If it wasn't for the British world-sailing men, British Empire, this language wouldn't have reached its popularity.

As far as English being the world's language a thing that one should look at is how other countries and languages almost morph to embrace English.

I remember when I was in Germany, I saw that a lot of company's have English slogans. A friend of mine said that they do this because people like the quickness of English sayings and English isn't as cumbersome as German would be.

People are also taking English words and adapting them into their languages. A lot of the older generations hate when kids will be speaking in Spanglish, Genglish, or Hunglish (English-Hungarian).

Hopefully you understand what I'm saying!

Shalom,
Tom

Originally posted by quintar
I was just pondering how it's pretty much accepted that English is the international language of the entire planet

We're speaking an interpreted version of the new one-world-language as we have this discussion, binary-code.

Whether your mother tongue is English, Urdu, Russian etc, the machines at which we sit at and type encode our various linguistic inputs and translate them into 1's and 0's for others to translate back into their preferred language to read and understand, no matter what language the message was originally written in

Through the spread of the British colonies to foreign continents, they helped to spread English as a means of communication for countries that they conquered. I wouldn't necessarily say "English" is the international language, because there are many spoken types of "English" in the world.

Though it is true that basic English is the international language in the business community. I haven't met any foreign businessman who didn't know how to communicate with me in English, but some of my colleagues not know how to communicate with them in their own language.

[edit on 27-10-2007 by DJMessiah]

Prior to WW2 German was the European language spoken and understood widely across the continent. Except for France of course, their language dominated the balkans and the Midle East, and still does. English was left for the isles and their empire.

The allied victory started an American imperialisme in both politics and culture, in good and most bad, it spread to any corner of the globe.

Ask a Thai who Elvis Presley was, and everybody will know. Ask who Hank Williams was, and most people, at least all the elderly people will know. Ask who Beatles was and you'll be lucky if one out of hundred can answer.

BTW, Spanish is the most spoken tongue in the world today, Han-Chinese number two and English comes in as third. Han-Chinese is bound to become the most dominent language in a not very distant future. Microsoft are already developing their applications in Chinese as the first language.

Yeah, "you better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone"