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Yes, my comment is for real. I disagree that the language of choice should be Chinese or Spanish, because as far as I can tell more relevant content exists in
by jnky 10y ago
Yes, my comment is for real.
I disagree that the language of choice should be Chinese or Spanish, because as far as I can tell more relevant content exists in English.
If however a standard language would be chosen and it was Spanish or Chinese, I would still be in favor of it.
- 0x0 10y agoI remember trying to look up documentation for nginx in its early days. Almost everything was in Russian, and with links and discussion boards also in Russian. That was an eye-opener for me, realizing how it feels when important software/internet information wasn't available in any of the languages I understand, and also that there really are huge parts of the internet that you normally don't see as a mostly-English reading person. Particularly Russian, Japanese and Chinese.
- sdfin 10y agoI'm a Spanish native speaker and I think that one of the pros of English is that it's simpler. English grammar is much easier. Also English is the main language of scientific publications and the most used language on the Internet. I think that a language is just a tool and I would evaluate it only by it's effectiveneness for sharing ideas.
- programLyrique 10y agoI am not a native speaker of English neither Spanish, but I have learnt both languages. I don't think English grammar is easier than Spanish (but that is debatable). But I think every body can agree that the pronunciation of Spanish is much easier, as Spanish is pronounced as it is spelled. Why not using an artificial language specifically built for simplicity, such as Esperanto?
- danieldk 10y agoWhy not using an artificial language specifically built for simplicity, such as Esperanto? There are barely any users and there is only a small amount of content available. I do agree that it's probably one of the easiest languages to pick up, since it is so regular (largely one suffix per word class, regular inflection, etc.).
- ArtDev 10y agoAt the end of WW2 Indonesia needed an official language. Instead of picking Javanese, they picked a language spoken by relatively few people because of its simplicity. Indonesians are all bi or trilingual. Indonesian is the worlds simplest language. It should be the official world language!
- billforsternz 10y agoThere is something delightfully charming about this idea, I love it. I had a friend who spent some time in Indonesia and told me how it was possible to pick useful language skills in days.
- ArtDev 10y agoAfter high school, I saved up and spend 4 months traveling across Indonesia. I was almost fluent in it by the time I made it to Sumatra.
- sdfin 10y agoYes, Spanish is very easy to pronounce, unlike English. I think English grammar is easier because it has simpler verb tenses. Esperanto or Ido may be the ideal languages. Still many people are attached to their languages and cultures, and I think the only chance for a standarized world-language to be successful would require coordinated efforts and willingness by various governments, which is extremely unlikely to happen.
- cortesoft 10y agoThe reason that most relevant content exists in english 'as far as you can tell' is because that is the only content you have looked for. If I only spoke Chinese, I would be able to make the exact same claim; that more relevant content is in Chinese. It would be all the content I would see (since I would never be searching for english content, and couldn't read the stuff i did find)