Food for thought

[Alan]

HI,

Comments on this?

A new book called: The Last Lingua Franca: English Until the Return of Babel

by Nicholas Ostler

[Torsten]

Well, I can't speak for Brazil but in Russia and all other parts of the former Soviet Union, the number of people who are leaning English as a second language has definitely been rising since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The same holds true for China where ESL is still a growing business.

It's a fact the many positive minded people around the world have been more active in learning languages and English is still one of the most popular languages to learn. I think it's not so much which single language is going to dominate in the future but how many languages we will be using. If someone is learning Spanish as a second language they will find it much easier to understand and use English and vice versa.

Interestingly enough, our chief web developer, Joel Milne from Canada has now started to learn Russian because he has been working with programmers from Siberia and other Russian speaking regions.

TOEIC listening, question-response: Do you know why the flight is delayed?

[Jamie (K)]

The presence of other languages in business and technology is no sign that English is receding.

People learn English for global purposes, but many people learn the language of the largest neighboring country for other purposes.

Most people in the world don't learn just one foreign language.

[Maliavkina]

Great for Mr.Joel Mine! Hackers from Tomsk University are well-known.Well done, Joel ! Maliavkina

[Our Tort System]

The preponderance of English in the world is evident, and I don't think that's going to change in the near, foreseeable future. There's no harbingers of that happening. Just take a look around - everything is in English, the best movies in the world are in English, all well-known programming languages use English words as commands. I'm sure there are many more examples. So, English popularity is certainly not on the wane, at least not now.

Other languages, such as Chinese or Russian, while quaint and peculiar in their nature, are not paticularly popular (though as we all know it Chineese holds the world record for the number of native speakers) and therefore won't be in the limelight anytime soon.
_________________
If it's not easy, don't do it!
That's how I got where I am.

[Alan]

OTS,

This sentence has got me beat. Can you expand on it? In particular the bit I have highlighted.

[Our Tort System]

Hello Alan,

By "therefore won't be in the limelight anytime soon" I wanted to say that those languages won't become popular (because they are not popular now, and there's no evidence that they ever will, they are sort of stale).

Doesn't "in the limelight" mean "popular"/"at the centre of attention"? Or am I in the wrong?

Thanks!
_________________
If it's not easy, don't do it!
That's how I got where I am.

[Alan]

Hi OTS,

Yes, that's exactly what that expression means. It was me being dim and it's a case of mea culpa as I now take a large helping of humble pie!

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Passive Voice

[Our Tort System]

I agree that it must not have been one of the most natural ways of conveying my thought.
Truth be told, I delight in composing complex sentences (just like I do in my native language), unaware that they (my sentences) may not come across as clearly as they do in my native language (for obvious reasons), and that I may befuddle native speakers time in and time out, so bear with me. Hehe.
But then again, I love challenge, and learning to get your point across loud and clear is quite a challenge!
=)
_________________
If it's not easy, don't do it!
That's how I got where I am.

[WhiteRussian]

In the very near future we will launch the Russian World Language Initiative supported by the Russian oil industry, the Russian military and the Russian wood exporters. Already in many regions in China, Mongolia and the Caucausus Russian is the predominant language. Russian software engineers, scientits and chess players are the best in the world. It is a question of time when Russian will take the lead as the world language.

You can go to any part of the world and you will find a large community of Russian speakers there. Go to the United States, to Canada, the UK or any other English speaking countries. There are lots of Russian speakers there. Every European country has a Russian speaking population. There are more Russian speakers in France that there are English speakers. Russian rules.

We pull the strings of all the world leaders because they need our oil and our know how. They cannot deal with the Taliban without our expertise. The Kalashnikov is still the most widely sold gun worldwide and our weapons are superior to any other nation.

If you want to stay in the game you must start learning Russian immediately. Any delay will throw you way back.

Россия правит миром!

[Our Tort System]

The problem with Russia as I see it, is they are way behind in development, compared to, say, the UK.
I've been to the UK, I've been to Russia, so I know what I'm on about.
Take for instance Russian education - the laboratories of a typical Russian colledge are usually under-equipped, and pale in comparison to the laboratories of London colleges, that are generally well equipped. This lack of modern equipment is counter-productive, it's not conducive to conducting successful studies by students. Hence some of students cannot reach their full potential.
Though Russia is catching up with the first world countries, I'll give you that much, they still have a long way to go, and I doubt that Russian will increase in popularity soon. Maybe in 50 years, but only God knows what will happen in 50 years.
But those are just my ideas, I do not intend to get all heated up and squabble over them, so take it or leave it.

PS:
The Kalashnikov automatic rifle, while simple, failproof and powerful, is not as accurate as, say, the M16 carbine, so it's not a very compelling argument in favor of Russia. I always hear that argument though when I talk to Russians. This implement of murder and mayhem seems to have become a symbol of Russian engineering thought, which is rather sad because murder is never an answer, in my book.
_________________
If it's not easy, don't do it!
That's how I got where I am.

[Jamie (K)]

Tortie, the Russians are and for decades have been geniuses at achieving high-tech results with cheap low technology, so it is worthwhile paying attention to them. And obviously, WhiteRussian was being a little sarcastic.

[WhiteRussian]

I forgot to mention that the Russians make the best vodka in the world and our папыросы are superb. On top of that we Russians rarely complain, we can survive the harshest conditions. We don't need any modern equipment to manufacture state of the art products and our birth rate is way above that of most EU countries so the future belongs to Russia and the Russian language.

You westerns think that White Russian is a drink. It's much more than that. It's a symbol of power.