Topic started by Rakesh (@ 195.229.241.228) on Sat Jun 7 04:23:01 .
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Just thought of sharing something that had crossed my mind. See, I love English. In fact I cant write my mother tongue as well as I write English (though my parents did waste a lot of time, money and energy trying to teach me). The case is similar with many others.
Is this because of the British Empire that existed? Or is it b’cos the ppl saw that English had just 26 letters and was easier to absorb? Wont this lead to extinction of other languages.. other great classics? Ppl are accepting English everywhere. That is good because there would be some uniformity in the world. Even the Chinese are now learning English as part of national planning.
Wont all this lead to death of other languages, slowly other cultures…???
Regards
Rakesh

Responses:

• From: English-lover (@ dclient80-218-16-146.hispeed.ch) on: Sat Jun 7 05:29:19 EDT 2003
  
  Don't worry Rakesh! No such thing will happen!
  
  
• From: Idiappam (@ cache138.156ce.maxonline.com.sg) on: Sat Jun 7 06:28:40 EDT 2003
  
  Let's start a 'anti-english agitation'. hehehe
  
  BTW, I heard there were numerous such agitations in the past espectially in the north. Anyone have any pointers to some information on the Web?
  
  
• From: Rakesh (@ 213.42.2.6) on: Sat Jun 7 07:02:31 EDT 2003
  
  Well.. why not?? See.. many a place Parents see that their child learns english even if they themselves do not know it.(well and good) but when the fellow grows up, goes abroad n'stuff.. he cant write to them... and this gap comes.
  And see this... when the child gets more comfortable with eng.. the "dude... coool!.."etc type of speaking creeps in...... ah its the same thing.
  So u c maybe not in the near future..but gradually... chance eh??
  
  
• From: Rakesh (@ 213.42.2.6) on: Sat Jun 7 07:02:48 EDT 2003
  
  Well.. why not?? See.. many a place Parents see that their child learns english even if they themselves do not know it.(well and good) but when the fellow grows up, goes abroad n'stuff.. he cant write to them... and this gap comes.
  And see this... when the child gets more comfortable with eng.. the "dude... coool!.."etc type of speaking creeps in...... ah its the same thing.
  So u c maybe not in the near future..but gradually... chance eh??
  
  
• From: subbu (@ cache-frr-aa08.proxy.aol.com) on: Wed Jun 11 03:46:42 EDT 2003
  
  Hi Rakesh,
  
  No,It wont happen.English is very importnat now not only to communicate but also to work in abroad.But at the same time no language can die because we speak other languages.People are still there who make their children speak in their mothertongue and I am seeing children too very enthusiatically try to learn reading and writing in their MT.
  
  The parents should know the intersting way to make their children to learn their MT.
  
  It would be great to have websites for learning Tamil too. [like nickjr.com].
  
  
• From: Shakthi (@ 203-195-199-244.now-india.net.in) on: Wed Jun 11 05:44:47 EDT 2003
  
  It will not happen, ppl wont let their own mother tongue die that easily!
  
  Esp languages spoken in highly populated countries WONT become extinct .
  
  Even if spoken english becomes popular and children gradually stop speaking mother tongue, THE LITERATURE wont die soon.
  
  
• From: English-lover-Observer (@ cvg-65-27-251-73.cinci.rr.com) on: Wed Jun 11 08:54:35 EDT 2003
  
  Observing the english lovers.
  
  
• From: mita (@ 61.3.194.1) on: Sat Jun 14 05:32:55 EDT 2003
  
  hi there
  i think its the responsibility of every person to preserve his own language and if every person is dose his own part of saving the languages then our languages will never die
  more over its not easy to kill the languages
  in a country where language changes every 25 kilometers
  tell me how will a language die in a country where most of the population live in village and many of the don't even know abc of english
  the only need is to be aware .... and make our comming generation aware abt all this
  
  
• From: mita-vaadi (@ dclient80-218-19-32.hispeed.ch) on: Sat Jun 14 09:19:21 EDT 2003
  
  looks like mita has only 'read' about India, never been there!
  
  
• From: mita-vaadi-Observer (@ cvg-65-27-251-73.cinci.rr.com) on: Sat Jun 14 10:44:43 EDT 2003
  
  Observing english fans.
  
  
• From: RAJESH (@ ppp-219.65.116.105.chn.vsnl.net.in) on: Sun Jun 15 04:00:04 EDT 2003
  
  Yes english is having a big sword.it will kill other languages.stupids.then why do you post in english.fools.
  
  
• From: Rakesh (@ 213.42.2.7) on: Thu Jun 19 05:05:13 EDT 2003
  
  mita,
  the world is getting smaller and smaller...
  lesser and lesser people will think of preserving the language... and how much do you think languages spoken in remote areas like swahili.. or some of our Indian languages too.. will survive.
  Also give me a reason why even in many a remote area, the signboards showing stuff is written in english..(no objections) but the local language version is not there, not even in smaller size!!
  by the way, I too want all 2 go along happily...
  regards
  
  
• From: andrew (@ cpe-61-9-192-171.nsw.bigpond.net.au) on: Tue Jun 24 12:41:00 EDT 2003
  
  Still mandarin is still the most spoken language :)
  ...China
  
  
• From: sherri (@ xdsl-gw1-pool-66-186-234-235.eatel.net) on: Fri Jun 27 12:50:06 EDT 2003
  
  I was born in America and English is the only language I know. It really isn't all that beautiful, but I am trying to learn other languages like Japanese, Spanish or maybe something else. I feel that the English language takes away from ones connection with their heritage and culture. As for myself I have lost all contact with who my people are and where my family originated from.
  
  
• From: Rakesh (@ 213.42.2.7) on: Sat Jun 28 02:34:01 EDT 2003
  
  Phew!! Atleast someone understanding what I meant ... thanx
  
  
• From: kentuckyman (@ flanders.la.psu.edu) on: Tue Jul 1 13:22:16 EDT 2003
  
  english cannot kill other languages. provided in places like india where there are hundreds of languages spoken, it may not be that they are just learning english. it may be they learn state langugages. like in karnataka, there are languages like tulu and koraga which have a small number of speakers. the groups may through time learn to speak kannada because that it is the largest language in that state. these people may learn english. keep in mind that india is still mainly rural where knowing english won't anyone too far so there areas will native languages will stay. even in urban areas like madras, mumbai, delhi people still learn and appreciate tamil, mahrathi, and hindi. also keep in mind india is just one country. mandarian is the largest spoken language and i don't think that anyone says that mandarian will be replaced by english anytime soon.
  
  if you wanna talk about the ifluence of english langugage in india, you also have to talk about the influence of other dominant languages and european languages in different part of the world. Look at latin america, native american langugages have been replaced by spanish and portguese. in africa, dominant languages are replacing minor languages and people may often learn the language of the former colonial ruler so they learn french, portuguese, spanish, italian and english just like indians learn english.
  
  what i'm trying to get at is that english alone will now kill other languages. dominant languages including english will kill other languages. you can't place the entire blame on english. last summer, i came accross several articles saying that there are 6,000 languages in the world, 3000 of which will be become extinct in the next 50 years or so which doens't suprise me. if you look at a lot of these languages you realize that some may be only spoken by 200 people in papua new guinea or 15 people on a indian reservation in wyoming. Larger asian indian languages like tamil, telugu, hindi, bengali will still exist, smaller one will probably go extinct unless people make an effort to retain their langagues and teach it to their children and grandchildren.
  
  
• From: nallinakkan (@ 166.121.36.7) on: Fri Jul 4 23:48:16 EDT 2003
  
  Dear friends,
  
  No language will be die off as long as there is inter-generational transfer. To put it simply - as long as parents speak the language to their childrren - and ensure that their children speak their language to each other too.. Of course it is perfectly OK and even beneficial to maintain a bilingual environment in our homes with our Mother Tongue (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada etc...) and English. Let us not forget English is the language which comes closest to being the International Language..........let us master it........but it does'nt have to be at the expense of our Mother Tongue!
  
  
• From: norin (@ cache-dtc-aa15.proxy.aol.com) on: Fri Mar 26 18:07:18
  
  Scientists are working on a digital chip, which wound be interted just under the human skin.This chip can be used for a varity of purposes:such as providing identification,locting lost or missing individuals,tracking the loction of valuable property,and monitoring medical conditions of at-risk patients. This system is unlike anything ever created before.When implanted within a body,the device is powed electromechanically through the movement of musles, and it may be activated eiher by the monitoring facility.
  
  
• From: ashrafali (@ cache-dk09.proxy.aol.com) on: Fri Mar 26 18:27:27 EST 2004
  
  Scientist are working on a digital chip,would be interted just under the human skin.The chip can be used for a varitey of purpose:such as providing identification, locting iost or missing individuals,tracking the locaton of valuable property, and monitoring medical conditions of at-risk patient.This system is unlke anything ever creatd before. When implanted wihtin a body,the device is powerd electromechanically through the movement of musles,and it may be actived eiher by the idividual or by the monitoring facility.
  
  
• From: ashrafali (@ cache-dk09.proxy.aol.com) on: Fri Mar 26 18:29:39 EST 2004
  
  Scientist are working on a digital chip,would be interted just under the human skin.The chip can be used for a varitey of purpose:such as providing identification, locting iost or missing individuals,tracking the locaton of valuable property, and monitoring medical conditions of at-risk patient.This system is unlke anything ever creatd before. When implanted wihtin a body,the device is powerd electromechanically through the movement of musles,and it may be actived eiher by the idividual or by the monitoring facility.
  
  
• From: ashrafali (@ cache-dk09.proxy.aol.com) on: Fri Mar 26 18:29:46 EST 2004
  
  Scientist are working on a digital chip,would be interted just under the human skin.The chip can be used for a varitey of purpose:such as providing identification, locting iost or missing individuals,tracking the locaton of valuable property, and monitoring medical conditions of at-risk patient.This system is unlke anything ever creatd before. When implanted wihtin a body,the device is powerd electromechanically through the movement of musles,and it may be actived eiher by the idividual or by the monitoring facility.
  
  
• From: unmaivilembi (@ 166.121.37.7) on: Fri Mar 26 23:11:23 EST 2004
  
  Will English kill other languages?
  
  Yes it will kill the languages which are being neglected by the descendants of their native speakers.
  
  Please allow me to focus on the Tamil Language. It is dying in some countries to which Tamil speaking people migrated many generations ago. eg Mauritius, South Africa. It is still surviving in countries like Malaysia and Singapore - but we don't know for how many generations more.
  
  We see English terms slowly creeping into the Tamil conversations of people in Tamil Nadu - even in villages, which are supposed to be the stronghold of native languages.
  
  The situation in cities and district towns is even more worrying. Toddlers begin their education in LKG learning English nursery rhymes. Should'nt they be starting their educational journey in their mother tongue. Any educational psychologist will tell you that the mother tongue is the best medium to provide basic education. It will be less stressful for the child. The mother tongue can then be used like a springboard to launch the child's learning of other languages like English.
  
  English is the language which come closest to being an International Language. Please master the English Language. BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO PAY YOUR OWN LANGUAGE AS THE PRICE.
  
  

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