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I think that with global media we're much closer to having a generation where everybody at least understands English, than getting to the point where automatic
by carlob 11y ago
I think that with global media we're much closer to having a generation where everybody at least understands English, than getting to the point where automatic translation is pleasant enough that you could read Anna Karenina translated by a machine and find it enjoyable.
But then again robots can make cars, yet some people still buy hand-made supercars. So probably translators will have to stick around to translate art.
- vorg 11y agoWhen a Chinese, Japanese, and Korean talk to each other in English, they often can't understand an American who joins in the conversation. Perhaps Basic English, without nativisms like "stick around".
- mwcampbell 11y agoMaybe we native speakers should consider it an obligation to learn to speak and write in basic English without idioms, phrasal verbs, and other gratuitous features that make the language more difficult for non-native speakers.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoLike "consider it"
- panglott 11y agoSorry, native speakers with language privilege will never give up on the idea that they speak "real" English, and the the "bad" English non-native speakers speak among themselves is anything other than a bastard pidgin. What international business English would need is dictionaries, grammars, lesson courses, and people willing to have their kids speak it INSTEAD OF British- or American-standard English.