this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2025
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There were many lingua francas of which French was supposedly the first global lingua franca. That changed and it became English (from what I understand). We will probably see another language become the lingua franca, so my question is: should it be English? Are there better candidates out there? Why / why not?

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Yes, cause many people do speak "broken" english and its compared to french or other languages easy to learn.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

What if it remained English, but with the change that a new phonetic spelling system is used instead of the clusterfuck that is regular English spelling?

Wat if it remejnd Inglish, bat wit de chejnđ dat a nju fonetik speling sistem iz juzed insted of de klasterfak dat iz de regjular Inglish speling.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

I wanted to learn French for a long time now. Would be a great motivation

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Is this some kind of ragebait? I speak French but if you look at the attitude that the French have towards their language and compare that to their average commandment of the English language, why should we do that to a whole continent?

If you ask me people in the EU should be raised bilingually and learn English from kindergarten on. All administration and official stuff should be bilingual. That would be a way for the EU to remain competitive. But no, we rather go down the Nazi route, way to go.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Given how western society is doing, Mandarin might not be a terrible call.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Isn't it the most difficult language to learn for Westerners?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

if by westerners you mean english speakers, then yes, it's known to be one of the more difficult ones. it's ultimately subjective, but what people find hard about mandarin is 1.the writing system 2.tones

what also doesn't help is definitely lack of exposure, chinese popular media isn't very popular in the west

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Westerners = Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand

1.the writing system 2.tones

Indeed. I just looked it up and the writing system is logographic. To my knowledge, not a single Western language is logographic and more alphabetic. The tonal system is also rare (not sure if exists at all) in Western countries.

To me, those are two major differences that are difficult to overcome.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

Also Chinese people are confused af if you try to speak Chinese with them. I tried several times and they were just looking at me like wtf are you doing. It’s probably a combination of not really getting why a foreigner would start speaking Chinese with them and me being extraordinarily bad at doing it too.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It never was 😹😹😹😹😹

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago

You realise you wrote this in English don't you?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Having a big economy who's inhabitants never have to invest time into learn another language is a huge advantage for this economy. It's not a level playing field. Today there is no reason to still support English. In Europe we should use Esperanto or another easy to learn equivalent.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Today there is no reason to still support English

This forum bringing together people from different countries, is in itself proof that there is a reason. Many people are already comfortable if not fluid in the language. How many folks speak Esperanto already?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

How many folks speak Esperanto already?

As many as Lithuanians, Latvians, or Basque, and twice as many as Estonians.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

The Year of Esperanto is finally upon us! Bonan Matenon, Europe!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Nia tempo venis!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I would actually love a law that says Esperanto has to be the first foreign language taught in each EU school.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Why not a combination out of all European languages. Might be a huge mess, but still.

Edit: I‘m an idiot.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I want to learn this. So cool

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's super easy to learn, but extremely hard to express stuff with.

To say "I love bricks" you'd say "poki loje lon sinpin li poki tawa" which translates directly to "red box on wall is lovely to me".

A vid by Half as Interesting on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d6bGAw5yt8

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Hll, thats discouraging

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