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Another rant on languages
As AP reporter Ted Anthony so eloquently put it, "the dominant language of commerce, the internet, science and the skies, nearly a quarter of the human population uses what is fast becoming the world's first global language = English. Turn on the news almost anywhere on Earth and many stories are reported in English."
I'm not contesting the emergence of the English language on the global scene - but do find it interesting that Americans tend to overestimate the number of people who speak English.
In 1998, Humphrey Taylor conducted a Harris Poll that concluded that, "On average, adult Americans believe that just over half (52%) of the whole world's population speak English. The real number, according to The National Foreign Language Center in Washington DC, is probably closer to 20% at the most."
And whereas people have lost interest in real live languages, it's interesting to see an urban myth, like that of the Klingon Interpreter, grow to such proportions.
A quick surf through the internet reveals the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E.L.F.) - "an international organization devoted to the scholarly study of the invented languages of J.R.R. Tolkein.
Tolkein was a linguist. I wonder how he would have reacted to today's headlines.
Another rant on languages
As AP reporter Ted Anthony so eloquently put it, "the dominant language of commerce, the internet, science and the skies, nearly a quarter of the human population uses what is fast becoming the world's first global language = English. Turn on the news almost anywhere on Earth and many stories are reported in English."
I'm not contesting the emergence of the English language on the global scene - but do find it interesting that Americans tend to overestimate the number of people who speak English.
In 1998, Humphrey Taylor conducted a Harris Poll that concluded that, "On average, adult Americans believe that just over half (52%) of the whole world's population speak English. The real number, according to The National Foreign Language Center in Washington DC, is probably closer to 20% at the most."
And whereas people have lost interest in real live languages, it's interesting to see an urban myth, like that of the Klingon Interpreter, grow to such proportions.
A quick surf through the internet reveals the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E.L.F.) - "an international organization devoted to the scholarly study of the invented languages of J.R.R. Tolkein.
Tolkein was a linguist. I wonder how he would have reacted to today's headlines.
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