Tlaxcala's Manifesto 1

[TheRambler]

>what is the language more spoken in the world: english or chinesse?

The 10 Most Widely Spoken Languages in the World
Here's a listing of the ten most popular languages spoken worldwide, along with the estimated number of primary or first language speakers for that language.
[tt]
1. Mandarin Chinese - 882,475,389
2. Spanish - 325,529,636
3. English - 311,992,760
4. Hindi - 181,780,905
5. Portuguese - 178,557,840
6. Bengali - 172,756,322
7. Russian - 146,327,183
8. Japanese - 128,278,015
9. German - 96,047,358
10. Wu Chinese - 77,998,190
[/tt]
The source for this data is the 2005 CIA World Factbook.
(Note: the CIA, not the CEA).

 

[TheRambler]

The 30 Most Spoken Languages of the World
[tt]
Pos Language Family Script(s) Speakers
(Millions)
1 Mandarin Sino-Tibetan Chinese 1051
2 English Indo-European Latin 510
3 Hindi Indo-European Devanagari 490
4 Spanish Indo-European Latin 425
5 Arabic Afro-Asiatic Arabic 255
6 Russian Indo-European Cyrillic 254
7 Portuguese Indo-European Latin 218
8 Bengali Indo-European Bengali 215
9 Malay Malayo-Polynesian Latin 175
10 French Indo-European Latin 130
[/tt]...

 

[buck2506]

In Texas it all depends on who you are talking to and in what part of the state. Dallas and north Texas have their own dialect, Austin, San Antonio another, south Texas different again. West Texas gets its own language(mostly involving the lack of rain) except for Midland-Odessa then the language involves oil.

But most have have words from spanish and german mixed in.

 

[KenCunningham]

lots of technologies born in USA, including internet! computers

Computers? Alan Turing perhaps? Next the US will be claiming to have broken the Enigma code ;-)

 

[GwydionM]

The internet had diverse origins, including the British Prestel, continued in France as Mintel and a great success among French-speakers. Who were not numerous enough to produce a global shift, hence the success of the internet.

As for Enigma, Turing did some good work on it, as well as inventing the concept of a computer. But the initial breakthrough on Enigma was by a Polish mathematician.

The best source on these matters is usually the Wikipedia.

------------------------------
An old man who lives in the UK

 

[snuv]

If they dont like english as the lingua franca, what do they propose to replace it with; and if no language is neutral, wouldnt it have exactly the same problem?

"If it could have gone wrong earlier and it didn't, it ultimately would have been beneficial for it to have." : Murphy's Ultimate Corollary

 

[CajunCenturion]

I fail to see the relavence of Alan Turing and the Enigma to Tlaxcala's Manifesto, although technology itself counteracts the effects described in the Manifesto with respect to imperialist languages.

Yes, it's true that Latin was spread by force through the Roman Legions, and it's true to a large degree that, "Nobody knows what suffering the peoples conquered by the Roman Empire endured, since there is no written record of their defeat, which meant the disappearance of their cultures." We will never know if there was no written record, or if that written record was destroyed. However, a major technological development in the 15th century provided a great deal of protection to the history of cultures and the preservation of language. The printing press then, and even moreso, the Internet today, provides a means to spread, disperse, and therefore protect the written historical record, and thus the languages, from predatory influence.

From a linguistic perspective, this Manifesto is not new, and in fact, because of it being basically a political statment, may hinder the efforts of linguistics who dedicate their careers to the study of language. If these people were truly serious and dedicated to the preservation of language, they would not do so by making policial statements.

-----------
Good Luck
To get the most from your Tek-Tips experience, please read FAQ181-2886
As a circle of light increases so does the circumference of darkness around it. - Albert Einstein

 

[KenCunningham]

I wasn't saying that Turing has any relevance to the discussion in hand, merely commenting on the US-centric world view expressed in Chacalinc's earlier post, as well as the gross misrepresentation of fact in the film U-571.

 

[flapeyre]

If they dont like english as the lingua franca...

<irony_alert>

Lingua franca = Latin for "French language".

</irony_alert>

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[snuv]

Im glad you liked it

;-)

"If it could have gone wrong earlier and it didn't, it ultimately would have been beneficial for it to have." : Murphy's Ultimate Corollary

 

[CRilliterate]

I am very surprised by this

9 Malay Malayo-Polynesian Latin 175

175million speaking this language?
Is this is how many Pharmaceutical workers out there?

________________________________________
I am using Windows XP, Crystal Reports 9.0 with SQL Server

 

[TheRambler]

[sarcasm]Didn't the English language start in England? Why not blame them? It's their fault anyway![/sarcasm]

Or maybe blame the Romans and French as well.

Proportion of English words of French, Latin, or Germanic origin
[ul]
[li]Latin, including modern scientific and technical Latin: 28.24%[/li]
[li]French, including Old French and early Anglo-French: 28.3%[/li]
[li]Old and Middle English, Old Norse, and Dutch: 25% [/li]
[li]Greek: 5.32%[/li]
[li]No etymology given: 4.03%[/li]
[li]Derived from proper names: 3.28%[/li]
[li]All other languages contributed less than 1%[/li]
[/ul]

 

[CRilliterate]

So we speak Latin, French and even Old Norse? And all this tossed salad called English? Do people in actual England know about it? I think they would be mad to find this out...


________________________________________
I am using Windows XP, Crystal Reports 9.0 with SQL Server

 

[chiph]

as well as the gross misrepresentation of fact in the film U-571.

Don't get me going on Hollywood's history "improvements."

U-571 had as about much relationship to the real events in the North Atlantic as John Wayne's "The Green Berets" had with Indochina.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[chiph]

Lingua franca = Latin for "French language".

See my earlier quote about alleyways and cribhouse whores.


Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[sleipnir214]

CRilliterate:
Yes.

Modern English basically a language with a largely Romance vocabulary and a largely Germannic grammar.



Want the best answers? Ask the best questions! TANSTAAFL!

 

[CRilliterate]

Modern English...what about old English? It had been, right?
How different it was? Would we understand any of it now?

________________________________________
I am using Windows XP, Crystal Reports 9.0 with SQL Server

 

[sleipnir214]

The best "in a nutshell" history of English I know of is here:

http://www.wordorigins.org/histeng.htm

Want the best answers? Ask the best questions! TANSTAAFL!

 

[GwydionM]

Regarding lingua franca, it actually means "Frankish language": Arabs classing all Europeans as 'Franks'. It was more Italian than French.

Throughout history, each cultural area has used some language as the 'hub' that allows people of different origins to communicate. The vast populations speaking Mandarin or Hindi are almost all from the same culture and country. Arab and Spanish reflect former empires, now broken up into many states. This too was the basis for English, but it is now spreding in places where English-speakers never ruled.

------------------------------
An old man who lives in the UK

 

[chiph]

This too was the basis for English, but it is now spreding in places where English-speakers never ruled.

Another problem with the activists is that their time-view is too short. They're only looking at *now*, and not 200 years from now.

I have no illusions that the current dominance of English as the language of business and politics will one day come to an end. It'll be replaced with some other language -- perhaps Mandarin, perhaps Russian.

Chip H.


____________________________________________________________________
If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first