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It might have something to do with the installed base of the language, so to say. Large languages like French, German, Japanese and Chinese may have an expectat
by mixmax 18y ago
It might have something to do with the installed base of the language, so to say. Large languages like French, German, Japanese and Chinese may have an expectation that people should learn their language.
Small countries like Iceland, the Netherlands and Denmark can't possibly expect anyone to learn their petty language that can't be used anywhere else, and thus realise that they have to learn English if they want to communicate outside their borders.
- wheels 18y agoI think it's that plus literary tradition. The Netherlands isn't actually that small population-wise, but it has a long tradition of its best minds (e.g. Spinoza, Erasmus) writing in the lingua franca of the day. Even though there are only four times as many people in France as the Netherlands, I'd guess there's more than twenty times as much written and published in French. Edit: Interesting note -- if Dutch, Flemish and Afrikaans are all considered the same language, then Dutch has around 30 million native speakers.
- mixmax 18y agoInteresting and valid point, but I think it only applies to some countries. Søren Kierkegaard, Niels Bohr and Hans Christian Andersen all wrote in Danish (to my knowledge at least) and the Icelandic Sagas were written in Icelandic. So a portion of small countries that have good English skills don't seem to have that tradition. Bjork does sing in English though :-)