Comment Re:Don't you see? (Score 1) 472
You make some good points about everyday language usage. There would still be some advantages, however, to one of those simplified artificial languages being an Internet standard or perhaps creating a new language from scratch.
When the whole world gets on the Internet and starts trying to communicate, something will have to give. Either the majority of the world's population will have to learn English as a second language (and I agree that if it is a natural language it will be English), or everyone will have to learn a standard language.
There will definitely be a lot of political resistance to learning English in some countries. The learning curve would also be steeper than with a simple and logically defined language. Americans (and probably other English speaking nations) will be the last to adopt such a language, because we already have the benefit of a virtually universal Internet language. We have access to all of the content that we desire, e-commerce, etc. But when e-commerce businesses and content providers really begin marketing their products globally, they will not be able to get away with working exclusively in English. It would be poor marketing and poor politics. On the other hand, translating web content into dozens of languages isn't going to be all that appealing either.
I believe that one day there will be a standard-universal language primarily used for conducting business and basic communication for broad audiences. Day to day conversations, literature, quality entertainment, etc. will still go on in traditional languages for the reasons that you stated about the richness of expression that they allow.
And another thing. Voice recognition. When settling on a new universal standard language, it should also be designed to make computer voice recognition easier to achieve. No homonyms, or difficult pronunciations and the sounds of the word should be distinctive. This may make the language even more dry, but it should be designed for function rather than form.
And another thing. Support for legacy languages should be built in. If there is not a word in the standard language for something and you must use an English word, for example, then (for written purposes) you should insert the word and there should be a tag that marks the word or phrase as English. Then, non-English speaking readers could click on the word and an electronic dictionary of some kind would define the word in their language. It could also define it in standard.
And one last thing. The language should eliminate words that represent thoughts and ideas that people shouldn't have.
Ok, maybe not.
-TTA
When the whole world gets on the Internet and starts trying to communicate, something will have to give. Either the majority of the world's population will have to learn English as a second language (and I agree that if it is a natural language it will be English), or everyone will have to learn a standard language.
There will definitely be a lot of political resistance to learning English in some countries. The learning curve would also be steeper than with a simple and logically defined language. Americans (and probably other English speaking nations) will be the last to adopt such a language, because we already have the benefit of a virtually universal Internet language. We have access to all of the content that we desire, e-commerce, etc. But when e-commerce businesses and content providers really begin marketing their products globally, they will not be able to get away with working exclusively in English. It would be poor marketing and poor politics. On the other hand, translating web content into dozens of languages isn't going to be all that appealing either.
I believe that one day there will be a standard-universal language primarily used for conducting business and basic communication for broad audiences. Day to day conversations, literature, quality entertainment, etc. will still go on in traditional languages for the reasons that you stated about the richness of expression that they allow.
And another thing. Voice recognition. When settling on a new universal standard language, it should also be designed to make computer voice recognition easier to achieve. No homonyms, or difficult pronunciations and the sounds of the word should be distinctive. This may make the language even more dry, but it should be designed for function rather than form.
And another thing. Support for legacy languages should be built in. If there is not a word in the standard language for something and you must use an English word, for example, then (for written purposes) you should insert the word and there should be a tag that marks the word or phrase as English. Then, non-English speaking readers could click on the word and an electronic dictionary of some kind would define the word in their language. It could also define it in standard.
And one last thing. The language should eliminate words that represent thoughts and ideas that people shouldn't have.
Ok, maybe not.
-TTA
