Is English the best marketing and communication tool?
According to the latest figures supplied by GlobalReach (see
http://www.glreach.com/globstats/index.php3>), during the year 2000, English
content of all Internet messages worldwide (web queries and mail) dropped
below
50%. It is clear that, as
Something touched a nerve with Alain LaBonté <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, who I
assume wrote the following since no author or source was cited:
> The new language Gestapo that patrols the Internet to blast traces of
> languages other than English, along with its counterparts in science,
> technology and
Alain LaBonté wrote:
> Is English the best marketing and communication tool?
This diatribe would perhaps have more force (though not be
as widely intelligible) were it written in something other
than English.
> 70% of
> the world population has no knowledge of it
Reliable figures in this f
There was an interesting, less inflammatory article on this subject in
the November issue of the Atlantic Monthly. It argues that the notion
of English as a global language is quite off the mark.
Alex.
Ar 06:56 -0800 2000-12-20, scríobh Alain LaBonté :
>Is English the best marketing and communication tool?
But I suspect he didn't write it. It looks very much like the kind of thing
an enthusiastic second-year university student would write as a term paper.
>Yet, it is surprising to find out tha
Everson opined:
> But I suspect he didn't write it.
> It looks very much like the kind of thing an enthusiastic
> second-year university student would write as a term paper.
If Alain wrote that diatribe, he should have said so to avoid any such
questions. Otherwise, it should not have been
À 11:13 2000-12-20 -0500, John Cowan a écrit:
>Alain LaBonté [in fact, not me] wrote:
>[author unknown]
> > Is English the best marketing and communication tool?
[John]
>This diatribe would perhaps have more force (though not be
>as widely intelligible) were it written in something other
>than En
Alain,
ok, but why is this pertinent to this list and what is it you
are asking Unicode to do or stop doing?
tex
"Alain LaBonté " wrote:
>
> À 11:13 2000-12-20 -0500, John Cowan a écrit:
> >Alain LaBonté [in fact, not me] wrote:
> >[author unknown]
> > > Is English the best marketing and commu
À 15:26 2000-12-20 -0500, Tex Texin a écrit:
>Alain,
>ok, but why is this pertinent to this list and what is it you
>are asking Unicode to do or stop doing?
I answered this at 15:12 but you probably did not see it yet.
Alain
Alain LaBonté scripsit:
> Just as
> an indication, Québec, a 7.5-million-people island of French speakers
> which is surrounded by an ocean of monolithically English-speaking
> community of 300 million users of this language public-wise (I mean
> outside of homes), does not speak English (a
aplan
Trigeminal Software, Inc.
http://www.trigeminal.com/
- Original Message -
From: "Alain LaBonté " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Unicode List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2000 12:18 PM
Subject: Re: [langue-fr] L'anglais est-il une langue
À 10:29 2000-12-20 -0800, Rick McGowan a écrit:
>In any case, I would have been happier had Alain provided an introduction
>to say why on earth he posted it to the Unicode list.
[Alain] Because Unicoders should be happy about it when it speaks about
DNS internationalization and the like. Simpl
On 12/20/2000 02:08:03 PM "Tex Texin" wrote:
>Alain,
>ok, but why is this pertinent to this list and what is it you
>are asking Unicode to do or stop doing?
Assuming for the moment validity of the points presented, it is probably
best seen as a request for Unicode and those connected with it to
À 16:21 2000-12-20 -0500, Keith Knightson a écrit:
>Alain,
>
>Je suis complètement perdu.
>
>Où voulez-vous en venir?
>
>L'idée principale que vous voudriez debattre, c'est quoi exactement?
>
>Salut.
[Alain] Je crois avoir assez répondu. Je ne croyais jamais que cela
susciterait une telle tempê
À 13:07 2000-12-20 -0800, Michael \(michka\) Kaplan a écrit:
I have not seen a posting from you that would
answer Tex's questions. The
entire post was inflammatory, and given the fact that you do
apparently
associate it with your own feelings vis-a-vis French/English in Quebec
it
even becomes to s
The question that I keep asking is who wrote this missive, and if Alain
didn't write it, where did he get it? That's the most basic question I
had.
Rick
Unicode List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2000 1:08 PM
Subject: Re: [langue-fr] L'anglais est-il une langue universelle ?
> À 13:07 2000-12-20 -0800, Michael \(michka\) Kaplan a écrit:
> >I have not seen a posting from you that would answer Tex's
À 15:45 2000-12-20 -0500, John Cowan a écrit:
Alain LaBonté scripsit:
> Just as
> an indication, Québec, a 7.5-million-people island of French
speakers
> which is surrounded by an ocean of monolithically
English-speaking
> community of 300 million users of this language public-wise (I
mean
> outs
Forgive me for responding in English; I would be afraid to try out my
impoverished (and never rich) French after so many years of neglect. There
are figures (not necessarily reliable figures) for English use and knowledge
in David Crystal, *English as a Global Language.* From what I remember, 30%
You know, here in America, the silly season usually starts some time in
summer. When the air conditioners break down.
Sarasvati, are your fans moving enough CFM?
-
Mark Leisher
Computing Research LabCinema, r
Mark Leisher kindly inquired:
> Sarasvati, are your fans moving enough CFM?
It's been so cold in California of late that I had Dave disconnect
my fans last night in a vain attempt to warm my freezing diodes.
Obviously a rash move.
Dave, please reconnect my faa...
Daisy iz az Daisy duhz
At Wed, 20 Dec 2000 13:08:52 -0800 (GMT-0800), Alain LaBonté <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>[Alain] I had no intent of asking anything, but since you provoke me,
> I
>found something with which I wholeheartedly agree:
>>International forums and discussion groups should welcome contributions
>in
Is the suggestion of multilingual forums
really that different than having off-topic
threads in a forum? The threads/languages just become self-selecting
groups.
My only concern would be that subjects would be in a different
language from the body and it would be hard to know which
messages to re
Alain LaBonté <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> À 10:29 2000-12-20 -0800, Rick McGowan a écrit:
>> In any case, I would have been happier had Alain provided an
>> introduction to say why on earth he posted it to the Unicode list.
>
> [Alain] Because Unicoders should be happy about it when it speaks
Alain:
I usually lurk, but I would like to throw in my two cents now.
For the record I am getting frustrated with your postings, NOT
because I don't think there Anglophone bigots in the world (I know
there are) BUT because I don't think the Unicode list is where they
"hang out."
The people a
À 05:45 2000-12-21 -0800, Elizabeth J. Pyatt a écrit:
>So again, I ask - other than pointing out that there are non-English
>speakers in North America and around the world, what message would you
>like to send to Unicode?
[Alain] I did answer this question many times since yesterday. Reread my
- Original Message -
From: "Alain laBonté" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>I add that it is not my text but I can
>see that in addition to the provocation it perhaps contains truths that
>many do not want to see at all...
If this is your conclusion, then you did not understand the responses you
re
À 13:26 2000-12-20 -0800, Rick McGowan a écrit:
>The question that I keep asking is who wrote this missive, and if Alain
>didn't write it, where did he get it? That's the most basic question I had.
[Alain] I'm still trying to know myself. I don't have the answer. If I get
it, I'll let you kno
If you don't know who wrote, then why was it posted?? I truly doubt a
native English speaking person wrote it I wouldn't trash myself, so
why would that person trash their self??? Besidees, this discussion has
gone on long enough in what is suppose to be an Unicode forum. how
about w
À 12:01 2000-12-21 -0500, Dennis L. Goyette Sr. a écrit:
If you don't know who wrote, then why was it
posted?? I truly doubt a native English speaking person wrote
it I wouldn't trash myself, so why would that person trash their
self???
[Alain] You could be surprised to see how many people b
-Original Message-From: Alain LaBonté
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2000 2:00
PMTo: Unicode ListSubject: Re: [langue-fr] L'anglais
est-il une langue universelle ?À 15:45 2000-12-20 -0500,
John Cowan a écrit:
Alain LaBonté scripsit:> Just
"Carl W. Brown" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> My vote is for Portuguese. Because it was re-latinized it is closer to the
> Latin roots that any other Romance language. Thus it makes a great linga
> franca. Learning French unfortunately is learning two languages, the
> written and the spoken. N
Alain LaBonté <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> poste un message très longe:
> Is English the best marketing and communication tool?
Le texte dit un chose, le choix de langue, un autre.
>For instance, Slavs like Serbs or Bulgarians might feel more comfortable
>in Russian next to their own native tongue.
Peu
- Message d'origine -
De : "Erland Sommarskog" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Alain LaBonté <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> poste un message très longe:
> > Is English the best marketing and communication tool?
> Oh, but it is not only the English speakers. May I present some
> nine millions Swedes to assis
> >> A Korean will master Japanese in very little time.
>
[Hohberger, Clive] I doubt that very much. I speak just enough
Japanese to know that the spoken language is quite different from spoken
Korean, as I found out when I subsequently visited Korea. And the Japanese
written Kanji is
on 26/12/2000 04:42, Hohberger, Clive at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
A Korean will master Japanese in very little time.
>>
> [Hohberger, Clive] I doubt that very much. I speak just enough
> Japanese to know that the spoken language is quite different from spoken
> Korean, as I found out wh
"Patrick Andries" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> May I add that this is precisely the reason that makes so many
> Scandinavians and Dutch unsufferable : they cannot imagine speaking anything
> else than English to a foreigner (often not even their own language).
How true. An English-speaking pers
>"Patrick Andries" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>> May I add that this is precisely the reason that makes so many
>> Scandinavians and Dutch unsufferable : they cannot imagine speaking anything
>> else than English to a foreigner (often not even their own language).
>
I've held my tongue in th
- Message d'origine -
De : "Elliotte Rusty Harold" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
à : "Unicode List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Envoyé : 29 déc. 2000 20:52
Objet : Re: [langue-fr] L'anglais est-il une langue universelle ?
> >"Patrick Andries"
Bon jour Alain,
I honestly had not the strength to read your whole email. But there are several
marks I recognize. One that you are from Quebec and that Quebec has a french
history. Second that your name sounds really french. So I imagine that you are
native french speaking human being on this pl
At 7:23 PM -0800 12/29/00, Patrick Andries wrote:
>However, the questions -- as I see them -- are : should they all speak
>only English as a foreign language, why do they learn only one foreign
>language (just next to them there are 100 millions native German
>speakers...)
If people have the i
On Sat, 30 Dec 2000, Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:
> I'd like to see that claim backed up a little. You're coming from
> Canada, and Quebec in particular, which is possibly the most
> universally bilingual place in the Americas.
Actually not. Officially bilingual countries like Canada and Belg
- Message d'origine -
De : "Elliotte Rusty Harold" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> At 7:23 PM -0800 12/29/00, Patrick Andries wrote:
>
> >However, the questions -- as I see them -- are : should they all speak
> >only English as a foreign language, why do they learn only one foreign
> >language
On Fri, Dec 29, 2000 at 07:23:11PM -0800, Patrick Andries wrote:
>
> However, the questions -- as I see them -- are : should they all speak
> only English as a foreign language, why do they learn only one foreign
> language (just next to them there are 100 millions native German
> speakers...)
À 13:19 2000-12-30 +0100, Darya Said-Akbari a écrit:
Bon jour Alain,
I honestly had not the strength to read your whole email. [...]
Now it would be unfair from me when I would go into a deeper discussion
with you,
until I really understand what you mean. So please tell me in four five
sentences,
À 05:36 2000-12-30 -0800, Elliotte Rusty Harold a écrit:
And yet the claim has been made in this thread
that even there 70% of the population can't speak English well enough to
carry on a simple phone call. (I'm not sure I believe that statistic
either, though.
[Alain] I wrote that and it is the
Hello,
I'm an American with a Gaelic surname, part Cherokee, from Anglophone Texas, east of
Austin.
The horror of dealing with many native English speakers is their worship of English
and their intolerance towards other languages. Linguistic intolerance also affects
American Protestants---
Alain LaBonté <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>> It's certainly not my experience of Quebec where so far I've met
>> exactly one person whose English was worse than my French, and he was
>> a recent immigrant from Africa.)
>
> [Alain] Then I can only say that you have never been East of the
> St-Lau
À 13:18 2000-12-30 -0500, [EMAIL PROTECTED] a écrit:
>« Important notice: The official language of this site is English/Anglais.
>Any posts or comments en francais will be deleted. Sorry. For further
>information, see the FAQ page. »
>
>H!!! another Aussie who received culture in British Colu
Elliotte Rusty Harold <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> I've held my tongue in this flame-fest so far, but I'm afraid I can't
> keep silent any longer. Unlike citizens of some larger countries the
> Danes and the Dutch have no illusions that the world is going to
> speak their language. They willingly
On Sat, 30 Dec 2000 06:16:38 -0800 (GMT-0800), John Cowan
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>On Sat, 30 Dec 2000, Elliotte Rusty Harold wrote:
>
>> I'd like to see that claim backed up a little. You're coming from
>> Canada, and Quebec in particular, which is possibly the most
>> universally bilingual
At 10:28 AM 12/30/00, Alain =?UNKNOWN?Q?LaBont=E9=A0?= wrote:
>[Alain] Then I can only say that you have never been East of the
>St-Laurent boulevard in Montréal or have traveled in a bubble outside of
>Montréal if you did so.
I'm reminded of an incident in the Jardin de Botanique in Montréal-
Ar 07:48 -0800 2000-12-30, scríobh Patrick Andries:
>> School curricula are quite crowded
>> already. Every extra language you add is less time for math or
>> history or science or the native language. And where do you find the
>> teachers for all these extra languages?
>
>I would like to see any
Hello Alain,
after your explanation I dont know what we should discuss now. Did you
expect such a reaction from all the friends in this list? They all like
to tell their experiences to each
other. And once you read them you can find a lot of interesting stories.
Stories that I have read in englis
At 10:53 AM -0800 12/30/00, Elaine Keown wrote:
>The horror of dealing with many native English speakers is their
>worship of English and their intolerance towards other languages.
>Linguistic intolerance also affects American Protestants---there's a
>weird obsession with the 1611 English Bibl
At 4:53 AM -0800 12/31/00, Michael Everson wrote:
>Ar 07:48 -0800 2000-12-30, scríobh Patrick Andries:
>
> >> Trilingualism and more is I'm afraid just too
>>> much to ask of most people who aren't full-time language
>>> professionals or naturally gifted with languages.
>
>Actually, all human b
on 31/12/2000 18:12, John H. Jenkins at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> At 4:53 AM -0800 12/31/00, Michael Everson wrote:
>> Ar 07:48 -0800 2000-12-30, scríobh Patrick Andries:
>>
Trilingualism and more is I'm afraid just too
much to ask of most people who aren't full-time language
pro
À 05:40 2000-12-31 -0800, Darya Said-Akbari a écrit:
Hello Alain,
after your explanation I dont know what we should discuss now. Did you
expect such a reaction from all the friends in this list? They all like
to tell their experiences to each
other. And once you read them you can find a lot of
On 12/31/2000 11:47:37 AM Alain LaBonté wrote:
>À 05:40 2000-12-31 -0800, Darya Said-Akbari a écrit:
>Hello Alain,
>
>Now think there would be one guy from Iran and this guy would say that not
>english or french but farsi should be the real universal language. Think
that
>farsi is spoken in Ira
Hi,
Why do we discuss the issue whether english is the universal language or not.
Unicode stands not for english as the universal language but for all people on
this planet to talk in any language they like. Let the Chinese read the
internet in Chinese, the Iranians in Farsi and so on. I really d
On 01/02/2001 10:26:30 AM Darya Said-Akbari wrote:
>Why do we discuss the issue whether english is the universal language or
not.
I agree that we don't need to be discussing that.
>Unicode stands not for english as the universal language but for all
people on
>this planet to talk in any langu
At 4:53 AM -0800 12/31/00, Michael Everson wrote:
>Ar 07:48 -0800 2000-12-30, scríobh Patrick Andries:
>
>>> School curricula are quite crowded
>>> already. Every extra language you add is less time for math or
>>> history or science or the native language. And where do you find the
>>> teache
>>>I would like to see any statistics tending to prove that pupils learning
>>>more languages have worse results in maths or science than the unilingual
>>>ones (let's say a comparison between HK pupils and the US ones ;-)).
>>
>>There won't be. All evidence (and there's lots of it here in Irelan
Ar 21:53 -0800 2001-01-02, scríobh Asmus Freytag:
>>>There won't be. All evidence (and there's lots of it here in Ireland where
>>>we have English-medium and Irish-medium schools) shows that, in general,
>>>children who are bilingual do BETTER in school than monolingual children.
>
>My own person
>>I would like to see any statistics tending to prove that pupils learning
>>more languages have worse results in maths or science than the unilingual
>>ones (let's say a comparison between HK pupils and the US ones ;-)).
>
>There won't be. All evidence (and there's lots of it here in Ireland wher
>> Ar 2001-01-02 21:53 -0800, scríobh Asmus Freytag:
There won't be. All evidence (and there's lots of it here in Ireland
where
we have English-medium and Irish-medium schools) shows that, in general,
children who are bilingual do BETTER in school than monolingual children.
>>
Paul Keinanen wrote:
> In Finland in order to become a civil servant, get an academic degree
> or even pass the matriculation exam you have to pass tests in both
> Finnish and Swedish [...].
Being able to pass tests in non-native languages does not count
as bilingualism, as any American who mana
Elliotte Rusty Harold <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> When I was in Denmark, one evening I ate dinner in the hotel next to
> a couple of French businessmen. They communicated with their Danish
> waiter in English, quite easily, then went back to conversing in
> French. Scenes like that are repeated
: Re: [langue-fr] L'anglais est-il une langue universelle ?
Elliotte Rusty Harold <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> I've held my tongue in this flame-fest so far, but I'm afraid I can't
> keep silent any longer. Unlike citizens of some larger countries the
> Danes a
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