laesperanzapaz said:
4 - it is a physicallly linear, purely left to right language. compare this with [all?] asian languages, for example, where the structure is more in 'blocks' of syllables. This is important in terms of space and legibility. This is highly important to Internet, for example, URLs.
What are you talking about?
If by "structure in 'blocks' of syllables" you mean agglutinative languages, then the Asian languages that are like that are Japanese, Indonesian, and Malay.
Not Chinese.
Not Korean
Not Thai
Not Vietnamese
Not Laotian
Not Cambodian
Not Tagalog (language of the Philippines)
Not Mongolian
Etc.
laesperanzapaz said:
5 - English is already truly widespread around the world. Yes, we have British and Americanophile domination to thank for that, but would that really have had happened if English was not a pretty simple and easy language to learn?
How many here can name this logical fallacy?
laesperanzapaz said:
6 - this is a bit subjective, but i think Enlgish is very 'nice-sounding' and 'neutral.' Compare this with CHinese or SPanish, both of which are harsh and sharp.
Cantonese sounds harsh. But Mandarine sounds quite nice and flowing.
laesperanzapaz said:
9 - already, English has proven to be very flexible in both accepting foreign language words into ENglish vocabulary, and melding English vocabulary into foreign language. For all those whose first language isn't English, you know what i'm talking about.
I think that is one of English's greatest strengths, how easy it is to form new words, whether they are nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. We don't need an offical commitee to sit around and decide on a new word, its gender, what category of verb it is, how it's conjugated, etc. I'm looking at you, French!
laesperanzapaz said:
10 - This one's a bit subjective too but: there is something called a Sapir-Whorf principle, which states that our language is the thing that defines our culture, and defines our perception of the world. As most of the world's culture has historically been family-centered, community-centered, anti-rational, anti-individualism, conservative societies, the Americans have been one of the principle leaders in emphasizing individuality, independence, and rationality [ex: see point 3]. According to the SW principle, you see this in the English language, however miniscule or imperceptible it may seem. And although I have huge problems with American nationalism and general fuckedupness of today's AMerica, it is still far more open-minded and individual-centric than most of teh rest of the world.
I guess you are the English language's counterpart to the Japanophiles.
laesperanzapaz said:
11 - only 26 letters, with 5 vowels and 14 consonents, period.
Umm... Check your math. There's a lot more than 14 consonants in English.
A big problem with English is it's irregularity. As previously stated, there are a ton of exceptions to rules and spelling, and exceptions to exceptions to rules and spelling. One of the main reasons for that is that English is, in a sense, a mismash of so many other languages.
It is west Germanic in origin. It then mixed into it the language of the Anglos, the Saxons, and the Jutes. It then got a huge injection of French. Took in a shitload of Greek and Latin, and then stole words and terms here and there from where ever its speaker travelled to.
demon said:
languages with random gender assignments for words can go fuck themselves silly.
Quoted for truth!
aktham said:
English is already the most spoken in the world.
No.
Even factoring in people who speak English as a second or third language, Mandarin Chinese still has more speakers.
English is the simplest followed by German.
I have no idea what you mean by simple, but German is does NOT come to mind when I think of a language that is simple.