2 ms·

> That is like claiming there should be no global Internet or no global trade. There is no such thing as a global internet. The internet is just a bunch of sep

> That is like claiming there should be no global Internet or no global trade. There is no such thing as a global internet. The internet is just a bunch of separate networks. Of course this being "hacker news" you wouldn't know what the internet is. There is no such thing as global trade. There are a bunch of trade relations between regions and countries. > People like to interact with one another, for various reasons: business, science, mere curiosity. People like to interact with their own for the most part. > Having the globe split into several mutually non-communicating regions would be weird, Where did I say this? It's amazing how people are so stupid that they think you need english for people to communicate with each other. Do you think japanese and chinese people didn't communicate each other before english? Or russians and germans without english? > And in absence of hard barriers in North Korean style, one dominant way of communication is likely to emerge. No. The historical norm is major regional languages. Not one dominant language enforced on the world primarily through military supremacy.

inglor_cz 2y ago
The first part of your answer is like saying that there is nothing like forest, just individual trees, shrubs and animals. Feel free to ignore the networking effects, but they still exist. Historical norm is indeed "major regional languages", but the historical norm is also "travelling with horse and buggy" and "a letter takes weeks if not months to reach another continent". These limitations is what limited reaches of any language to a single region or two. These limitations are now gone, and the Internet and fast travel methods like jets have connected previously separated regions into one huge region called the Earth. And the claim of military supremacy is bullshit. The vast majority of people decides to learn English because two billion other people speak English and a ton of useful information is published in English. It is economically advantageous to nearly anyone to be fluent in English. It helps that the script is easy to master, just 26 letters. That is a major downside of the Chinese script, it is really hard to master.

inglor_cz 2y ago

The first part of your answer is like saying that there is nothing like forest, just individual trees, shrubs and animals. Feel free to ignore the networking effects, but they still exist. Historical norm is indeed "major regional languages", but the historical norm is also "travelling with horse and buggy" and "a letter takes weeks if not months to reach another continent". These limitations is what limited reaches of any language to a single region or two. These limitations are now gone, and the Internet and fast travel methods like jets have connected previously separated regions into one huge region called the Earth. And the claim of military supremacy is bullshit. The vast majority of people decides to learn English because two billion other people speak English and a ton of useful information is published in English. It is economically advantageous to nearly anyone to be fluent in English. It helps that the script is easy to master, just 26 letters. That is a major downside of the Chinese script, it is really hard to master.