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I think you're confusing with having a united Canadian identity/culture/nation (à-la-PE Trudeau). Also, nowadays, you probably want to speak more than two lang

by mgbmtl 9y ago

I think you're confusing with having a united Canadian identity/culture/nation (à-la-PE Trudeau). Also, nowadays, you probably want to speak more than two languages, or at least have some understanding of more than two languages. I'm always amazed by how many people in the US speak either French or Spanish or both (although, sure I have a very biased experience, being in tech circles). Tear down walls, speak multiple languages, it's 2017 and we have a global economy, adapt.

jobigoud 9y ago
Why exactly would you want to speak several languages, if your interlocutor speaks English? I'm French and I'm not religious about the French language itself. Everything would be so much simpler, including sharing cultural differences if all of humanity just spoke the same language. English is the interop layer of human communication. It has imperfections but one imperfect standard is better than hundred or thousand of them. Our common global culture is mostly shared in English. I wish the next generation, or the one after that, all speak English, maybe dialects incorporating local cultural differences. Then we could move forward as a species. I don't think the friction brought by having so many different languages is worth it.
- sametmax 9y ago
  One language. One money. One metric system. That would be great. People are afraid that local identities would be lost. Be the reason people stopped speaking their local language is because most of them don't see a benefit in it. We need to stop the romantic tale and get real.
  - jobigoud 9y ago
    Global unit system prospect is looking good for the long term I think, we only have a handful of them, if only the US could get its game together on this one it'd be a done deal… We still have way too many electrical plugs plus combos for voltage/frequency, also a pain. Just had to buy a new hair clipper this morning because my European one didn't like the US mains. It seems the stuff that involves direct human interactions is the worst, like having around two hundred different currencies. This one is fairly stupid in hindsight, since there is very little cultural value there. But language, the one thing that we use the most to interact with one another, tops everything with thousands of non-compatible variations… sigh.
- mgbmtl 9y ago
  Heh, I agree in theory. In practice, people speak very broken English, and it helps to understand where they come from. Of course, that goes both ways. As someone from Montreal/Quebec, I rarely meet someone from France who spoke good English, just saying. (and I'm sure they think the same of my French, even if it's my first language ;-)

by mgbmtl 9y ago

jobigoud 9y ago

Why exactly would you want to speak several languages, if your interlocutor speaks English? I'm French and I'm not religious about the French language itself. Everything would be so much simpler, including sharing cultural differences if all of humanity just spoke the same language. English is the interop layer of human communication. It has imperfections but one imperfect standard is better than hundred or thousand of them. Our common global culture is mostly shared in English. I wish the next generation, or the one after that, all speak English, maybe dialects incorporating local cultural differences. Then we could move forward as a species. I don't think the friction brought by having so many different languages is worth it.

sametmax 9y ago
One language. One money. One metric system. That would be great. People are afraid that local identities would be lost. Be the reason people stopped speaking their local language is because most of them don't see a benefit in it. We need to stop the romantic tale and get real.
- jobigoud 9y ago
  Global unit system prospect is looking good for the long term I think, we only have a handful of them, if only the US could get its game together on this one it'd be a done deal… We still have way too many electrical plugs plus combos for voltage/frequency, also a pain. Just had to buy a new hair clipper this morning because my European one didn't like the US mains. It seems the stuff that involves direct human interactions is the worst, like having around two hundred different currencies. This one is fairly stupid in hindsight, since there is very little cultural value there. But language, the one thing that we use the most to interact with one another, tops everything with thousands of non-compatible variations… sigh.
mgbmtl 9y ago
Heh, I agree in theory. In practice, people speak very broken English, and it helps to understand where they come from. Of course, that goes both ways. As someone from Montreal/Quebec, I rarely meet someone from France who spoke good English, just saying. (and I'm sure they think the same of my French, even if it's my first language ;-)