Alert Mongoose Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Something that's always confused me. We all started as the same so why did different languages evolve and in such a different manner (eg Mandarin)? In an attempt to resolve issues around immigration is there a time in the not too distant future where a universal language will appear? Presumably no one will want to give up their own so will this have to be a completely new language that everyone will learn from birth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny Danger Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Cundie and peh. Two words that should be incorporated into any new language. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiGi Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 English is a largely universal language. Children in most of the developed (and many developing) countries grow up learning it now. Because f**k learning Cyrillic, Nordic or Asian hieroglyphics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alert Mongoose Posted January 25, 2018 Author Share Posted January 25, 2018 English is a largely universal language. Children in most of the developed (and many developing) countries grow up learning it now. Because f**k learning Cyrillic, Nordic or Asian hieroglyphics. I agree to an extent but there must be large parts of the world who don't speak English. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionel hutz Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 51 minutes ago, Alert Mongoose said: Something that's always confused me. We all started as the same so why did different languages evolve and in such a different manner (eg Mandarin)? In an attempt to resolve issues around immigration is there a time in the not too distant future where a universal language will appear? Presumably no one will want to give up their own so will this have to be a completely new language that everyone will learn from birth? They tried a universal language called Esperanto, I remember cos my S2 French Teacher was asked the same question in class, his reply was that it was successful in growth for about 15 years then people couldn't be fucked with anymore edit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto It says there's 2 million speakers (I call bullshit on that), It's like when BBC ALBA claimed that there were 300,000 people learning Gaelic cos that's how many watched the Football on Alba Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GiGi Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 There are 6 languages used by the UN. English, French, Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Arabic. Basically one to include each shitey hieroglyphic based language from gubbins nations. English will be the most widely learned I reckon - due to the influence of the big English speaking countries UK, USA etc in most forms of media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The OP Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 We all speak different languages because folk made a massive tower and God got raging about it for some reason. Don’t you c***s know anything?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 3 times as many people speak English as a second language compared to native speakers. When a Spaniard talks to a Greek they'll normally use a simplified form of English. I could see this basic global English taking over from American/British English for most of the World. Can't see other languages getting dropped anytime soon though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alert Mongoose Posted January 25, 2018 Author Share Posted January 25, 2018 3 times as many people speak English as a second language compared to native speakers. When a Spaniard talks to a Greek they'll normally use a simplified form of English. I could see this basic global English taking over from American/British English for most of the World. Can't see other languages getting dropped anytime soon though. Does that mean 'in this moment' will become a proper phrase? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshbairn Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 4 minutes ago, Alert Mongoose said: Does that mean 'in this moment' will become a proper phrase? Shadapa you face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 14 minutes ago, welshbairn said: 3 times as many people speak English as a second language compared to native speakers. When a Spaniard talks to a Greek they'll normally use a simplified form of English. I could see this basic global English taking over from American/British English for most of the World. Can't see other languages getting dropped anytime soon though. I was at a party at the end of last year with a couple of Belgians, a Bolivian, a Colombian, some French, some Germans and some Swiss. Everyone spoke English fairly fluently apart from the Bolivian, who speaks impeccable German. And me, obviously, because the Weegie accent is understood by no one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tamthebam Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 4 minutes ago, Ross. said: I was at a party at the end of last year with a couple of Belgians, a Bolivian, a Colombian, some French, some Germans and some Swiss. Everyone spoke English fairly fluently apart from the Bolivian, who speaks impeccable German. And me, obviously, because the Weegie accent is understood by no one. A Bolivian who speaks impeccable German eh.. sounds a bit suspicious... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Blades Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 I was at a party at the end of last year with a couple of Belgians, a Bolivian, a Colombian, some French, some Germans and some Swiss. Everyone spoke English fairly fluently apart from the Bolivian, who speaks impeccable German. And me, obviously, because the Weegie accent is understood by no one. I had dinner with 12 others once in Russia & there were 12 different native languages on show. The only common denominator was myself & a guy from Texas.He announced at the beginning of the meal that, for ease “everyone should speak American” what a c**t he was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 16 minutes ago, Brother Blades said: I had dinner with 12 others once in Russia & there were 12 different native languages on show. The only common denominator was myself & a guy from Texas. He announced at the beginning of the meal that, for ease “everyone should speak American” what a c**t he was. Texas though. I know a few from Texas and a few from Florida. They definitely uphold the stereotypes of Americans. Most of the folk I have met from our US offices are from NY or Boston. They are all sound as f*ck. FWIW whenever I am out and about over here I always try and speak German or what little Swiss German I can. If it ends up drifting to English then I will go with it but I would never insist on speaking English even if I knew everyone else there did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunfermline Don Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 I agree to an extent but there must be large parts of the world who don't speak English. You have obviously been to central Fife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bold Rover Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 9 minutes ago, Ross. said: Texas though. I know a few from Texas and a few from Florida. They definitely uphold the stereotypes of Americans. Most of the folk I have met from our US offices are from NY or Boston. They are all sound as f*ck. FWIW whenever I am out and about over here I always try and speak German or what little Swiss German I can. If it ends up drifting to English then I will go with it but I would never insist on speaking English even if I knew everyone else there did. Well said, Ross. When abroad, I usually try and speak a few words in their language. I can say "I don't speak ....., do you speak English," in many languages. Try and speak Dutch in Amsterdam and the folk laugh at you, although I think it's appreciated in a small way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Blades Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 Texas though. I know a few from Texas and a few from Florida. They definitely uphold the stereotypes of Americans. Most of the folk I have met from our US offices are from NY or Boston. They are all sound as f*ck. FWIW whenever I am out and about over here I always try and speak German or what little Swiss German I can. If it ends up drifting to English then I will go with it but I would never insist on speaking English even if I knew everyone else there did. I never work anywhere long enough to fully learn the language but always try to pick up the basics, it really helps if you make the effort IMO.Yeah, understand the “South” attitude, although to be fair most I’ve met are really nice people on a personal level, just have a very insular view on how the rest of the world works. One incident springs to mind, in the last oil downturn, I was working in Congo & as the Gulf of Mexico started to shut down, the company (based in Houston) decided to farm out the rednecks & “good ol boys” to the outer reaches.We got two Texan directional drillers, speaking to them in the hotel, they asked where we normally ate in the evenings. They were shocked to learn that we walked a mile or so to a local bar. They were so apprehensive to come with us, but did.They were shit scared, so at dinner I asked one of the guys which countries he had worked in previously- his answer astounded me.“I’ve never been out of Texas before, infact I ain’t been out of my county more than 3 times”This guy was early 50’s!Within a week they both had Congolese “girlfriends” and wanted to come back every trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dorlomin Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 2 hours ago, Alert Mongoose said: Something that's always confused me. We all started as the same so why did different languages evolve and in such a different manner (eg Mandarin)? If we did not have an adaptable language we would never have gotten past speaking about things like birds and flowers. We are or at least until recently were thought to have a hardwired capacity for certain rules of grammar. But the sounds for each idea are malleable. So the idea of a verb like different types of birds exists innate in us, but the sound we make for a sparrow vs a finch can change. So as human populations drift apart geographically our words and the way we structure the underlying "innate grammar" changes. But the advantage is as we developed ever newer technologies we could find words for them and as we developed ever more abstract theories about the world around us we could put it into words. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 If the Germans had won WW2 they would have done away with this shite and got us all to speak German. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted January 25, 2018 Share Posted January 25, 2018 6 minutes ago, Richey Edwards said: If the Germans had won WW2 they would have done away with this shite and got us all to speak German. Es war eine sehr gute Idee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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