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I have a feeling that the right timing of English-speaking political dominance in 19th and 20th century combined with global information technology boom has con

I have a feeling that the right timing of English-speaking political dominance in 19th and 20th century combined with global information technology boom has contributed a lot here. It could have been French (and in a sense was) if they had had movies and Internet earlier. To me English doesn't feel logical at times (maybe a subjective observation) but at least we all can agree that the ortography with its historical baggage is not optimal. Personally, I think the most helpful thing has been the cultural dominance of English language movies and TV series in my youth. Also, much of today's computer technology coming from the US, all that material is in English. It could have been any of those languages, because I don't strongly believe in that languages are intrinsically difficult to learn. They are just different. And typologically, English is quite distant from my native language.

lucozade 9y ago
I think your point about cultural dominance, and specifically youth culture, is the key one. I travel a fair bit and it still surprises me how often I hear English, usually lyrics, regardless of the local language. English isn't particularly logical. This is partly because it is a hodge-podge of Germanic and Latin roots. I think its also because it's so widely used. It's accepted a ton of vocab from around the world and usage seems to have a "natural selection" effect on grammar. I'm not sure I agree about French. It was the main diplomatic language before American hegemony but I'm not sure it ever really took off much as a second language. I actually think that German was the natural choice if things had turned out differently. The reason is that, in the 20s and 30s, German was the lingua franca of science and technology. Germany was also a pioneer in film. These were only just starting to dominate culture at that time and, without the upheaval of WWII, could easily have spread from there.
- oblio 9y ago
  French did take off in many places. In Romania for example we even borrowed something like 20% of our current vocabulary from it. However English became popular in the age of mass literacy, mass transport mass media and the Internet. Huge expansion vectors for a language. Also English had multiple support points instead of 1 (France): UK, US, British colonies.
- tuomosipola 9y ago
  Yes, German is perhaps a better recent example (late 19th, 20th century), having similar technology and science reasons that work for English today.
icebraining 9y ago
It could have been French (and in a sense was) if they had had movies and Internet earlier. Earlier? The French invented the movie theater.
- whatyoucantsay 9y ago
  They isolated themselves right off with Minitel, though.
- tuomosipola 9y ago
  I was thinking like 17th up to 19th century earlier when French was the dominant international language in many domains :)

lucozade 9y ago

I think your point about cultural dominance, and specifically youth culture, is the key one. I travel a fair bit and it still surprises me how often I hear English, usually lyrics, regardless of the local language. English isn't particularly logical. This is partly because it is a hodge-podge of Germanic and Latin roots. I think its also because it's so widely used. It's accepted a ton of vocab from around the world and usage seems to have a "natural selection" effect on grammar. I'm not sure I agree about French. It was the main diplomatic language before American hegemony but I'm not sure it ever really took off much as a second language. I actually think that German was the natural choice if things had turned out differently. The reason is that, in the 20s and 30s, German was the lingua franca of science and technology. Germany was also a pioneer in film. These were only just starting to dominate culture at that time and, without the upheaval of WWII, could easily have spread from there.

oblio 9y ago
French did take off in many places. In Romania for example we even borrowed something like 20% of our current vocabulary from it. However English became popular in the age of mass literacy, mass transport mass media and the Internet. Huge expansion vectors for a language. Also English had multiple support points instead of 1 (France): UK, US, British colonies.
tuomosipola 9y ago
Yes, German is perhaps a better recent example (late 19th, 20th century), having similar technology and science reasons that work for English today.

icebraining 9y ago

It could have been French (and in a sense was) if they had had movies and Internet earlier. Earlier? The French invented the movie theater.

whatyoucantsay 9y ago
They isolated themselves right off with Minitel, though.
tuomosipola 9y ago
I was thinking like 17th up to 19th century earlier when French was the dominant international language in many domains :)