"Killer Languages" strengthen their grip

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kalmisto
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"Killer Languages" strengthen their grip

Post by kalmisto » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:28 pm

"Killer Languages" strengthen their grip :

http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/ ... 6153713329

Is it a bad thing if small languages disappear? And is it a bad thing if some dialects disappear? I do not think so. Why would it be bad? Tell me, I am stupid !



"Killer Languages" strengthen their grip

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GaryK
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Re: "Killer Languages" strengthen their grip

Post by GaryK » Mon Sep 06, 2004 11:39 pm

kalmisto wrote:"Killer Languages" strengthen their grip :

http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/ ... 6153713329

Is it a bad thing if small languages disappear? And is it a bad thing if some dialects disappear? I do not think so. Why would it be bad? Tell me, I am stupid !
If I had to do some opposition research here, I think one of the main arguments for the people who want to preserve small languages is that it's "culturally important." They might claim that there's vocabulary and expressions in these smaller languages that's somehow unique.

My own view is that e.g. English can be easily adapted to any culture, and "local" terminology can be implemented in a dynamic fashion. English as the main language for all the people of the world, I say :wink:

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Hank W.
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Post by Hank W. » Tue Sep 07, 2004 9:39 am

Some Finns wouldn't mind the Swedish language disappearing :wink:
Cheers, Hank W.
sitting here like a lemon looking for a gin.

kalmisto
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Post by kalmisto » Tue Sep 07, 2004 11:31 am

Americans do not have a national language of their own. Are they poorer than we ( Finns ) in some way? Australians, Canadians, Austrians and the Swiss do not have a national language either. Does that mean that the people in these countries have a poorer culture than we Finns have? Do they feel inferior to us because of this? Of course not. They do not even think about it.

If Finnish disappeared we Finns would not only lose something, we would also gain something and the gain would probably be greater than the loss.

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Dan
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Post by Dan » Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:44 pm

Stone the crows, whaddaya gibberin' about cobber? Of course we have our own language. Just ask Peter.
;)
[img:1n9ojkdk]images/pics/flags/au.gif[/img:1n9ojkdk]

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Post by dusty_bin » Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:54 pm

Language represents programming for the brain. It is why there are concepts represented by words in some languages that are just not availabe in another language.

If we lose a language, we lose at teh same time a way of thinking, perhaps only a small way of thinking, a small difference, but a loss nonetheless. A reason why I regret not being able to speak Finnish, is that I will never fully understand Finns without that knowledge. (Ok so nobody fully understands Finns, but I would like to get closer!)

English is a very unusual language in that it does work well to absorb other words and modes of thought, but it would be a loss if we all spoke English and presumably a single dialect of it. For this reason, I think that the amount of English used in Finalnd is not entirely a good thing.

Just a thought for the English and French folk here:

How would a French guy tell his mate that he fancied a woman walking by them? How would he tell his same friend that he really fancied the friend's sister? How indeed would he tell the same friend that he really fancied Catherine Zeta Jones?
To the best of my knowledge this concept, and its breadth does not exist in French. I had a terrible time with this many years ago as a teenager in France!

PeterF
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Post by PeterF » Tue Sep 07, 2004 12:58 pm

Dan wrote: Just ask Peter.
;)
There is the official..
http://www.anu.edu.au/linguistics/nash/aust/
And the un-official
http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html


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