4 ms·

British empire was (almost) 1/4 - it was never close to 1/3 of the world. Even at its peak, English language wasn't as widespread as now. The French language w

by rofo1 7y ago

British empire was (almost) 1/4 - it was never close to 1/3 of the world. Even at its peak, English language wasn't as widespread as now. The French language was, especially in 18th and 19th century, having substituted Latin. After WW2, US absolutely dominated the world coming off as the only victor in WW2 (that's my personal opinion) and used their position to place English language as #1 language of the world (over time), undisputed. The end of the cold war cemented this even further. We can argue that British imperialism helped somewhat, that I agree with.

rocqua 7y ago
> and used their position to place English language as #1 language of the world I doubt it was intentional. Seems like it was a nice side-effect at most.
- rofo1 7y ago
  Why do they call it cold war, what do you think? They had wars either through proxy or through propaganda (aka. "culture"). Movies, music and books were big part of that war. Billions and billions went into the production and placement of them. If that doesn't show intent, then I don't know what would :) Don't get me wrong, I am actually impressed by it and gotta hand it to Reagan - winning a war without even firing a single shot. Edit: I don't want to downplay the factor of oil and, but I feel like it's off topic here so that's why I don't mention it.
  - usrusr 7y ago
    Hitchcock, almost the entirety of pre-hiphop popular music, a very big chunk of the "cultural pressure" behind the success of the English language did not come from America but from a small island nation that lost WW2 in all but name. American cultural influence is wildly overrated.
gumby 7y ago
> The French language was, especially in 18th and 19th century, having substituted Latin. Hence the use of the Latin term “lingua franca”
- derriz 7y ago
  Not exactly - "Lingua Franca" was originally a trading argot/pidgen used by mediterranean traders with more of an Italian basis. Later it came to mean a generic term for "common language". Only centuries later did French became a lingua franca for European diplomacy. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca

by rofo1 7y ago

rocqua 7y ago

> and used their position to place English language as #1 language of the world I doubt it was intentional. Seems like it was a nice side-effect at most.

rofo1 7y ago
Why do they call it cold war, what do you think? They had wars either through proxy or through propaganda (aka. "culture"). Movies, music and books were big part of that war. Billions and billions went into the production and placement of them. If that doesn't show intent, then I don't know what would :) Don't get me wrong, I am actually impressed by it and gotta hand it to Reagan - winning a war without even firing a single shot. Edit: I don't want to downplay the factor of oil and, but I feel like it's off topic here so that's why I don't mention it.
- usrusr 7y ago
  Hitchcock, almost the entirety of pre-hiphop popular music, a very big chunk of the "cultural pressure" behind the success of the English language did not come from America but from a small island nation that lost WW2 in all but name. American cultural influence is wildly overrated.

gumby 7y ago

> The French language was, especially in 18th and 19th century, having substituted Latin. Hence the use of the Latin term “lingua franca”

derriz 7y ago
Not exactly - "Lingua Franca" was originally a trading argot/pidgen used by mediterranean traders with more of an Italian basis. Later it came to mean a generic term for "common language". Only centuries later did French became a lingua franca for European diplomacy. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca