NationStates Jolt Archive

What do you believe should be the International language
I believe it should be English, seeing as how it is already known by more people than any other language and it is a blend of different languages.

What do you believe should be the International language
I believe it should be English, seeing as how it is already known by more people than any other language and it is a blend of different languages.

Why in the hell do we need to talk about this?

I mean no offense, but the international language is English and it isn't going to change any time soon.

I suggest sign language, since there wouldn't be any accents to disrupt it. It also looks really cool when a lot of people are using it at once.

english is also one of the most complicated.

I thought Mandarin was spoken by the most people. However, English is the most 'widespread' and the language of business. The 'lingua franca' I think it's called. Don't quote me on this though. :p

I believe that'd be: What language are we speaking right now? Alex

Click Stand;13602137']I suggest sign language, since there wouldn't be any accents to disrupt it. It also looks really cool when a lot of people are using it at once.

Sign language is not universal, every nation has its own (ie: american sign language, canadian sign language) and there are still accents, just not in the normal sense, their are slightly to extremely different signs from state to state.

Sign language is not universal, every nation has its own (ie: american sign language, canadian sign language) and there are still accents, just not in the normal sense, their are slightly to extremely different signs from state to state.

Fine, I will revise my statement. I suggest Latin sign language, since it would be interesting to make up.

"Chinese" is not a language.

English's ability to adapt other languages and coin new words in every single field of human knowledge at a phenomenal rate are huge advantages for its use as a global language, at least from a scientific and commercial viewpoint.

Latin, of course.

Latin, of course.

What about Attic Greek? Or Yola?

English would be the obvious choice. It's the international language of business & the internet and seems to be the most commonly spoken second language.

Dolphin.

Dolphin.

I hear Dolphinese grammar is rather complicated.

I hear Dolphinese grammar is rather complicated.

It's not the grammar, it's the f***ing clicking, drives you insane.

I say we communicate by smell, just like insects.



*fart*

It's not the grammar, it's the f***ing clicking, drives you insane.


Like Xhosa?

Incidentally, I was thinking of taking a class in Xhosa next semester.

Elven. It must be elven!

Like Xhosa?

Incidentally, I was thinking of taking a class in Xhosa next semester.

Completely different tones, get with the program.

All previous languages are rendered obsolete by my brilliant invention. Metrian: the metric language. I am busy inventing the ten letter metric alphabet.:p

Completely different tones, get with the program.

I'm not up on my languages as much as I'd want. But I still think we should all speak Attic Greek. We can all be like Socraties!

Without the hemlock.

All previous languages are rendered obsolete by my brilliant invention. Metrian: the metric language. I am busy inventing the ten letter metric alphabet.:p

Oh god, no.

Oh god, no.

If you don't like it maybe I should release the metric calender instead.

I'm not up on my languages as much as I'd want. But I still think we should all speak Attic Greek. We can all be like Socraties!

Without the hemlock.

I studied Ancient Greek at school, all they ever seemed to talk about was thing like 'Alexander crossed the river on his horse', 'Achilles ran towards the enemy with a long spear', sentences like that.

It must have been really boring to be an Ancient Greek.

I studied Ancient Greek at school, all they ever seemed to talk about was thing like 'Alexander crossed the river on his horse', 'Achilles ran towards the enemy with a long spear', sentences like that.

It must have been really boring to be an Ancient Greek.

Then that's how we should talk. We shall speak in simile and metaphor.

Now awayeth thy, you Taurus of Syracuse, for'est my spear rammeth into thy brest!

Then that's how we should talk. We shall speak in simile and metaphor.

Now awayeth thy, you Taurus of Syracuse, for'est my spear rammeth into thy brest!

All we are is dust in the wind.

All we are is dust in the wind.

A wee bit out of the time period, no?

A wee bit out of the time period, no?

Depends which version I guess, Neil Young should be about right.

Depends which version I guess, Neil Young should be about right.

I was thinking of Kansas.

English. It's the only language I can mangle and yet still be understood by other Englsh speakers.

Also, you can make yourself understood to non-English speakers if you speak English very slowly and very loudly while employing lots of hand gestures.

Within 500 years, almost everyone will speak English. Within 100 years, English will be the dominant language in Europe. It's too entrenched to be overturned by anything really thanks to the British Empire and the US. India will become a powerful English force. Europe is going to drop their languages in favor of English to unify (not without much reactionary anger). From there, it'll just be taking up root in more and more countries and places to the ending point when we all speak it and can go on to unify as one nation.

Within 500 years, almost everyone will speak English. Within 100 years, English will be the dominant language in Europe. It's too entrenched to be overturned by anything really thanks to the British Empire and the US. India will become a powerful English force. Europe is going to drop their languages in favor of English to unify (not without much reactionary anger). From there, it'll just be taking up root in more and more countries and places to the ending point when we all speak it and can go on to unify as one nation.

*points and laughs at delusional nonsense, remembers it's rude to point, continues laughing*

Elven. It must be elven!

NERD!

Obviously it should be Klingon.

it needs to be a completely synthetic language. one with LOGICAL syntax and a simple direct and consistant relationship, between spelling and pronounciation.

it also needs to be less eurocentric then esparanto was.
i mean it needs to favor NO single linguistic tradition nor group of them from any one segment of the planet.

amerenglish has become the default international language of bussiness, i beleive precisely because, it is such a convient language for facilitating deceit.

french once was for a time, for a number of reasons. the inovation of katakana was a logical one, but still with, while small percentage wise, its one or two flaws are not entirely insignifigant either. i would call it a step in the direction desirable.

something like a merrage of i.p.a. with katakana, only with unique, minimal complexity symbols in a complete set, rather then relying upon diacritical marks. perhaps somewhere between 32 and 48 symbols all told.

phonemes too close to each other to distinguish outside of morphological context need not reqire seperate symbology.

=^^=
.../\...

Music. Oh, yeah, it already is.

Why in the hell do we need to talk about this?

Because this is what we do on the forums. We bring up stuff and talk about it.

If you're so strongly against this sort of thing then why are you on the forum?

it needs to be a completely synthetic language. one with LOGICAL syntax and a simple direct and consistant relationship, between spelling and pronounciation.

it also needs to be less eurocentric then esparanto was.
i mean it needs to favor NO single linguistic tradition nor group of them from any one segment of the planet.

amerenglish has become the default international language of bussiness, i beleive precisely because, it is such a convient language for facilitating deceit.

french once was for a time, for a number of reasons. the inovation of katakana was a logical one, but still with, while small percentage wise, its one or two flaws are not entirely insignifigant either. i would call it a step in the direction desirable.

something like a merrage of i.p.a. with katakana, only with unique, minimal complexity symbols in a complete set, rather then relying upon diacritical marks. perhaps somewhere between 32 and 48 symbols all told.

phonemes too close to each other to distinguish outside of morphological context need not reqire seperate symbology.

=^^=
.../\...

I voted other because I was thinking Esperanto.

You're probably right in that it is too eurocentric, but it would be difficult to find somewhere to start in making a language that aims not to be anything-centric.

I honestly wouldn't mind Latin.

french once was for a time, for a number of reasons. the inovation of katakana was a logical one, but still with, while small percentage wise, its one or two flaws are not entirely insignifigant either. i would call it a step in the direction desirable.
HUH? 0_o When did French add a Japanese phonetic alphabet? :confused:

English currently is the lingua franca for most of the world, but chances are it won't stay that way. Another language will be along as the power of English speaking countries waxes and wanes. As for which language should be the international language, it's which every language proves to be the most effective for what people need it for. Today it's English, tomorrow it could be Mandarin Chinese or Spanish, or, yes, even Klingon.

I vote for Spanish because of it´s richness and because it´s my language. Of course, I also admit it´s not an easy language to learn and master.

Voted for "Other."

Latin is cool for Western Europeans whose language is based on it, but I think Esperanto is a better idea. It's easier to learn and has roots from most European language families, not just Romance languages.

Of course, speakers of non-Indo-European languages, like the Sino-Tibetan and Austronesian languages in eastern Asia or the Afro-Asiatic languages in the Middle East and North Africa, might have trouble with it, but not nearly as much as they'd have with English.

All previous languages are rendered obsolete by my brilliant invention. Metrian: the metric language. I am busy inventing the ten letter metric alphabet.:p

*LMAO* Will it have any vowels? :D

If you don't like it maybe I should release the metric calender instead.

*ROFL* Metric calendar! Will there be any weeks, and if so, how many days will make a week? I think Dan Aykroyd did a skit about this on Saturday Night Live in the '70s IIRC.

*points and laughs at delusional nonsense, remembers it's rude to point, continues laughing*

What's so delusional? I don't understand what's so "delusional" about Sel Appa's post, because he's right about English; it IS the "lingua franca", and it is the most geographically widespread language on Earth. More people speak Mandarin Chinese, but almost all of them are in China; English is spoken all over the world. If you want to see "delusional", read this next post:

English currently is the lingua franca for most of the world, but chances are it won't stay that way. Another language will be along as the power of English speaking countries waxes and wanes. As for which language should be the international language, it's which every language proves to be the most effective for what people need it for. Today it's English, tomorrow it could be Mandarin Chinese or Spanish, or, yes, even Klingon.

*points and laughs at delusional nonsense, remembers it's rude to point, continues laughing*

Gibberish, naturally. Everyone already knows how to speak it! The moment we all give up our cling to our primary languages and embrace gibberish is the moment the world unites!

Nevermind it'll unite in even worse miscommunication than present. Just DO IT!

I voted "Other" (Esperanto), just for the heck of it. It's easier to learn than other languages. Its real problem, IMO, isn't its Eurocentricness, but the fact that no rich, powerful nation encouraged other people to speak it. People spoke Latin because the Roman Empire did, and they spoke English because the greatest naval power of the last century spread it around the world, and the current superpower speaks it.

What's so delusional?

I was going to highlight the delusional bits, but it ended up looking like this:

Within 500 years, almost everyone will speak English. Within 100 years, English will be the dominant language in Europe. It's too entrenched to be overturned by anything really thanks to the British Empire and the US. India will become a powerful English force. Europe is going to drop their languages in favor of English to unify (not without much reactionary anger). From there, it'll just be taking up root in more and more countries and places to the ending point when we all speak it and can go on to unify as one nation.

Within 500 years, English won't even have the roll French has today - French being the last language that was what English is today. Linguae francae have come and gone, none have staid, English isn't in any way special in that respect. You have to be completely deluded and ignorant of history to think that it would be - just like the French were about French when they claimed it would never see its influence wane. So, yes I laugh. I laugh at the hubris and the nonsense. So, enjoy your little Anglo period - who knows, it may just make it through this century... while the rest of us, we'll do what we've always done: learn to speak the successor.

I was going to highlight the delusional bits, but it ended up looking like this:

Within 500 years, almost everyone will speak English. Within 100 years, English will be the dominant language in Europe. It's too entrenched to be overturned by anything really thanks to the British Empire and the US. India will become a powerful English force. Europe is going to drop their languages in favor of English to unify (not without much reactionary anger). From there, it'll just be taking up root in more and more countries and places to the ending point when we all speak it and can go on to unify as one nation.

Within 500 years, English won't even have the roll French has today - French being the last language that was what English is today. Linguae francae have come and gone, none have staid, English isn't in any way special in that respect. You have to be completely deluded and ignorant of history to think that it would be - just like the French were about French when they claimed it would never see its influence wane. So, yes I laugh. I laugh at the hubris and the nonsense. So, enjoy your little Anglo period - who knows, it may just make it through this century... while the rest of us, we'll do what we've always done: learn to speak the successor.

*cheers for Fass*

it needs to be a completely synthetic language. one with LOGICAL syntax and a simple direct and consistant relationship, between spelling and pronounciation.

it also needs to be less eurocentric then esparanto was.
i mean it needs to favor NO single linguistic tradition nor group of them from any one segment of the planet.

You should try Ithkuil. You'd have no one to speak with, though...

it needs to be a completely synthetic language. one with LOGICAL syntax and a simple direct and consistant relationship, between spelling and pronounciation.


http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/1667/lojbanni4.png

Oh, oh, wait, I have one. I do! LOL Cats speech. It ruins good grammar but it´s hilarious and it can be done in every single language. What say you?:D

Elven. It must be elven!

Sindarin or Quenya?

Math. Oh, yeah, it already is.
Fixed

I was going to highlight the delusional bits, but it ended up looking like this:

Within 500 years, almost everyone will speak English. Within 100 years, English will be the dominant language in Europe. It's too entrenched to be overturned by anything really thanks to the British Empire and the US. India will become a powerful English force. Europe is going to drop their languages in favor of English to unify (not without much reactionary anger). From there, it'll just be taking up root in more and more countries and places to the ending point when we all speak it and can go on to unify as one nation.

Within 500 years, English won't even have the roll French has today - French being the last language that was what English is today. Linguae francae have come and gone, none have staid, English isn't in any way special in that respect. You have to be completely deluded and ignorant of history to think that it would be - just like the French were about French when they claimed it would never see its influence wane. So, yes I laugh. I laugh at the hubris and the nonsense. So, enjoy your little Anglo period - who knows, it may just make it through this century... while the rest of us, we'll do what we've always done: learn to speak the successor.

As much as I hate to agree with you, I agree with you. The next global language will probably come from either Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, or English. Sometime over the next century

Esperanto

Meh, random. I´ll go with Pig Latin. Everyone knows how to speak PL. And if they don´t, they try. Everyone communicates, one way or the other, happiness is achieved.

I´m too hopeful.:p

Invent that universal translator already... problem solved.

If not - let us go for Interlingua.

Lojban (http://xkcd.com/191/).

(More serious link here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lojban).)

Edit: Damn you, CthulhuFhtagn!

Invent that universal translator already... problem solved.

If not - let us go for Interlingua.

When you say Interlingua I can´t help but thinnking about something like this: Watashi quiero one über gelatto, s´il vous plaît!

A mixture of Japanese, Spanish, English, German, Italian and French.:D

Sindarin or Quenya?

Now that would be the question that starts the next world war, won't it...