This guy's on an ego trip. Yes...English is important to us in developing countries...but we haven't forgotten why it's important today. My country had a population of 13,000,000 in 1300AD. After successive European invations, it was reduced to just 1000,000 people in 1800 AD. Most of my culture was erased obviously. English is just a means to an end, and most of the people in my country view Europeans as cold blooded.
"Her score in this test literally determines her future" Actually, that's how in works all over the world, English test or not. In Australia, if you fail high school/uni exams, you're immediately losing career choices (not to the same degree though)
And I don't get what was so spine-tingling about those chinese people learning English, other than the big group, since they were saying rather strange things (I assume there's some sorta context there). They were doing very well too!
Long ago, Latin was the primary language used around the world. Then, it was replaced by French. Finally, it was replaced by English, due to the mass colonization of the English and then the wealth and power of the United States. I am generalizing a bit, but I think that the language of the most powerful and/or wealthy country usually becomes the dominant language, until that power/wealth shifts to somewhere else.
@moscowmasha Not so much the country but the culture. Since English is the representative language of modern western culture, which is more popular, it gets the most "votes", just as Arabic does in the middle east. The history is very important too. China is an incredibly powerful country, yet only china and the chinese diaspora really speak chinese, because there's no historically ingrained cultural incentive to learn it in most of the world. On the contrary for Latin there still is.
Is there really still a cultural incentive to learn Latin? It is a dead language, after all, and tends only to be used for the purpose of Classical Studies. Also, I was (at least partially) talking about WHY English is the representative language of modern Western culture, and colonization has a lot to do with that.
I know all you guys are talking about Esperanto, but isn't even that language very Eurocentric? I know all you guys are talking about Esperanto, but isn't even that language very Eurocentric? Esperanto looks like it's was created to cater to Europeans. But will it be easier for someone to learn Esperanto who speaks Chinese or Arabic? If you guys want to make an "international" language, basing it only on Greek and Latin is not the best way to go.
I think he is attempting to spin the sort of inevitable convenience of people around the world having to learn english (americans are pretty linguistically arrogant and lazy) to do business and share ideas in the most positive light possible. It's just convenient. He would do well to remember that America is the second country to use English, not first. Not best, even. I found the mania connection disturbing.
Jay walker is full of shit we do not need English it should not be a global language since it is very flawed instead we need to create a phonetic language (a language that is spoken as it is written unlike English) and that is simple to speak,read, and write.
global conversation.. = global communication.. which might result to world peace.... can hardly wait for a cybborg micro chip to come out where we will understand all the languages the world has to offer.
Seriously, it's a big shame that Esperanto has not yet been adopted as the international language. Learning Esperanto - whatever your native tongue is - comes so much easier than learning any other language.
Example: My native tongue is Dutch (low Germanic). For three years I've learned German (closely related, high Germanic) in school and well, I can understand maybe a little bit of German. In just 6 weeks of learning Esperanto (and studying my regular school program) my Esperanto is clearly better than my German.
a serious issue with this talk is how this guy uses examples exclusively from ONE company in china to demonstrate 'english mania' - don't be so biased as to make everyone in china look like a fucking nutso.
all the sound clips are from a company called 'crazy english' and yeah, that's their point, to look, sound and be crazy. it's a marketing tactic to sell english classes. tactics like this to make a speech interesting are ethnocentric, unethical, and just plan misleading.
Yea no wonder asian people are freaking smarts since they always want to be better than other country. Maybe one day Chinese language will be the 2nd language rofl.
I've been to China for three weeks in march 2009, visiting a friend of mine who is an English tutor at Quzhou college (in Zhejiang provence). I've also been to Hangzhou and Shanghai. The reality I witnessed is that even the English students don't speak the language very well.
I think Jay Walker's talk is impressive, and a world language would be great. I think it might just take a little longer until we get there than he makes you think, especially when it comes to China.
i think the problem is that they don't speak well, but their reading and writing skills are very high. The purpose of their learning is purely for academics instead of social interaction.
so you're sad for kids "wasting their lives". learning is a waste of life!?!? they're learning a language that will allow them greater access to the world at large.
i see. so i guess that we should spend all of our time playing like the grasshopper and not preparing for the future while working to achieve something that will aid in our survival (like the ants).
it's morons like you that are the reason the US is falling behind in both math and science (as well as automotive innovation and other areas).
there are very good reasons that China is soon to pull ahead of the US in terms of hard and soft power, and this is one of them.
Sorry, but I think he oversimplified the piss outta this. People don't want a universal language. A universal language has become a necessity due to the increased interpersonal interactions and cultural exchanges between the corners of the Earth. Free Trade. Internet.
But mostly everyone just likes hip-hop. That shit is DA BOMB!
I think your statistic there is wrong, Renata. I know the UK is becoming increasingly irrelevant, but we're still the 6th largest country in terms of GDP. If we receive revenue from English, it will be through trade, not teaching it.
The reason nobody wants to adopt esperanto is because nobody can be bothered to learn it. I'd much rather learn a real language. Oh yeah and Esperanto would be tough for a chinese speaker too, it's not tonal either.
Learning esperanto would take you from 4 to 6 months. Other languages: 5 to 10 years.
As for the Chinese. There are several Universities in China that teach Esperanto. It´s at least 15 times easier to learn than english. I have 5 chinese friends who speak Esperanto, and they learned it in One year. While english, they spent 14 years and still can´t speak.
It´s not "nobody" wants to adopt Esperanto. The countries in the UN always vote yes. EUA always vetos it.
@RenataVentura No language is neutral, even Esperanto - not because of its wordstock (Latin/Greek roots are very international nowadays despite their origins), but because of its history. And one would argue that Esperanto also isn't perfect, and there's no use in constantly changing auxlangs over and over since it'd just create the same linguistic anarchy that exists today, so some might see it better to create a language that truly represents the international climate. (but you're right anyway
@RenataVentura Also, 14 years is what most people take to learn any language through a school system - in the west, many don't even reach fluency by that time since they just end up relearning the basics every year until just before the end of highschool. Esperanto would probably have the same happen to it too, unless the way we teach languages is revised in schools. We need more hands-on tuition.
@RenataVentura ideally esperanto would be a great choice, but in practice language is the expression of a culture/people. and without any sizable population speaking it there is no real drive to learn it.
English is important because 1) it is spoken by much of the world (2nd largest natively spoken language) and 2) they are wealthy and have many of the world's science and technological innovations. Britian had the industrial revolution and America has had the scientific revolution. With all that content in English it is important to know the language.
America has had the majority of scientific discoveries. The atom bomb, genome sequencing, internet, etc. Even look at the number of patents that America registers to the rest of the world. Many new products are developed in America.
many of the scientist working on the manhatten project have been immigrants from europe and not americans. Enrico Fermi, Albert Einstein, Leó Szilárd, Edward Teller, Eugene Wigner and others. And much of the work was based on the work of other European scientists. As for example (not only) Niels Bohr. The Germans worked at the same time on the same thing by the way. Under Otto Hahn. But with not as much material ressources.
The Germans been ahead of the rest of the world (including America) in a lot of fields. They designed and built and deployed for example the first jet engines/planes and also cruise missiles. google 'wernher von braun'. that German scientist/engineer got the Americans on the moon ok? after the war both the Americans and Russians got their hands on German engineers/scientists and their designes/inventions.
read the wiki article Wirtschaftswunder (German for economic miracle)here an excerp:The Allies confiscated intellectual property of great value,all German patents both in Germany and abroad and used them to strengthen their own industrial competitiveness by licensing them to Allied companies.Beginning immediately after the German surrender and continuing for the next two years the US.pursued a vigorous program to harvest all technological and scientific know-how as well as all patents in Germany
Gimbel comes to the conclusion, in his book Science Technology and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany, that the intellectual reparations taken by the U.S. and the UK amounted to close to $10 billion.During the more than two years that this policy was in place, no industrial research in Germany could take place, as any results would have been automatically available to overseas competitors who were encouraged by the occupation authorities to access all records and facilities
I'm not sure about most US soldiers, but the men in Band of Brothers said that their favorite country in Europe was Germany. They mentioned in the book that it might have been Holland had they stayed there longer, but spending so much time in Germany and finding it most like the US, it was obvious why it was loved. I don't think there would have been anyone in the American military community who would have thought taking Germany's intellectual property was bad at that time.
Germany was plundered and has been for over 50 years. All the top research is done in English and most of it is located in America. You can talk about all the ways other countries contributed but the end result is still the same, America has had a pretty strong hold on scientific knowledge.
And it's a shame that we're not even close to first anymore in the world in education. That is something America has always had going for it, since it's creation, decent education for the middle class and high literacy rates. Oh, how we've been surpassed.
Well, what can i say. I'm german, and i read almost exclusively books in the english language. I watch exclusively english TV and Movie entertainment ... i dont really know how that came to be, but i think it has something to do with taking part in a global, rather then a local culture. And i do think that this is a good thing.
Hey, native English speaker with a bit of experience in other languages here. I'm not ready to advance the argument that English is "the best language", but it does have a few things going for it: it quickly picks up new words and concepts, it is a more direct language than most, and, though the rules are many and varied, they are quite forgiving in actual usage (see the common use of "u" for "you" & "ur" for "your".) Still, we Americans should learn other languages for the cultural aspects.
As civilization progresses a common useful language is needed. Latin was at one time the most common language used in Europe and the middle east. Today it does appear that English for many reasons will be the language of our coming Type I civilization. The internet is the Type I phone system according to Dr. Michio Kaku. I love it.
English is not only the default language of science terminology, air traffic control, and business, but it's also the language with the most words. Unlike most other languages, it simply absorbs words from other languages. English is the Borg.
What dorky-ass pictures he puts up to highlight his points. Wow, an Asian girl looking through a microscope when he mentions science. An Asian guy playing violin when he says "the language of emotion".
Dumb it down a few more levels and you can start showing this crap to the developmentally disabled.
In my business class, about a third of the class were foreigners. We had a discussion about why the world seems to be adapting English as a standard. Most of the foreign students cited unlimited flexibility in both conceptual creation and personal expression.One Chinese student put it best- "The best and worst characteristic of English is that it gives the speaker an unlimited ability to simultaneously create and complain.." and "..most Americans complain too much." it was worth taking notes.
I'm excited for the day we have one worldwide, global language and communicate with each other as a human family. If it's English or French or Mandarin or Swahili or Klingon, so be it (I'd prefer Vulcan).
it's funny how you people complain about this video, writing in English! I'm Mexican... and I understand language as a code, just as we use the Western Arabic numeral system without feeling Arabic ourselves, or agreeing or disagreeing with Arabic culture.
It's not true that people speak English because of USA's economical domination. If that was the case, we'd also use the British units instead of the Metric units.
Hope comes in many forms, and "English" is a code most people understand.
You don't need a common system of units to communicate like you need a language--anyone can use a conversion factor.
How do you explain the rise of English if not for the economic influence of the British Empire/Commonwealth and the United States? Think how absurd it is to say that English spread from a non-English speaking country.
This guy is a total dushbag. "English represents hope"? what a bullshit.
Lots of people know/learn English only because of economical reasons. It's not representing "hope", it's representing USA economical domination in our period of time.
A couple of decades ago French was the most popular "world language", because of similar reasons.
And now I think it's time to start to learn Russian or Chinese, because during my life, one of this language will replace English ( yes: "economical reasons").
The world needs a universal language. If that is english so be it. Only good things can come from having a universal language and the only people against it are nationalists like you who want their language to be spoken by the rest of the world. Get over your pride.
@EgonCom there is no chance that russian may turn into global language.It's because population of Russia is rapidly declining and is just one tenth of China's (40% of USA). Their economy is smaller than Spanish and it's based on non renewable resources, want more? ;) IMO chinese language case is quite the same, take into consideration writing system... Indo-european languages are spoken by 1/2 of world population, so I can't believe that some language outside of this family can be dominant.
British and American imperialists have left an indelible impression on modern society, there is no point in trying to reverse harmless things like the domination of the Enlgish langugae - in my opinion.
The "representing hope" bullshit is what got me angry - I expect more serious lectures at TED.
Finally, the English language is not the easiest or most suitable for communication. There are other languages planned and designed with the democratic order, such as Esperanto, Ido, Occidental... ETC.
Correct, however, the number of English speakers has gone up much more than esperanto, or any other constructed language. There is a bigger chance that the world will develop it's own 'business english' which would be understandable by english native speakers, but it would definetely not be english. Already at conferences in Europe germans, french and italians can understand each others' english better than the english can.
the English is not a mania, is a necessity. native speakers of English do not need to study English because they learn naturally, while those who are not native speakers, have to learn it. This puts us (the non-native speakers) in a serious disadvantage to native speakers of English: Learn to speak English COST MONEY. This is undemocratic (check the manifest of Prague), since not everyone has the opportunity or money to learn it.
agreed. Moreover, non-native speakers are unlikely to ever be as fluent as native speakers because cultural references (western, especially American culture) are hard to pick up if you don't live in the west. In addition, why should western cultures and tradtions be valued over indiginous cultures and traditions? Non westerners can never be westerners. All peoples should take pride in who they are and where they came from. American culture is vulgar and crass.
yes, I've noticed my seeming self contradiction. American culture IS vulgar and crass but also full of dynamism imbued w/ a "frontier spirit." Some have likened America to an adolescent youth, clumsy, rude, but brimming with strength and confidence. European culture has been likened to a mature cultured adult, wiser yet lacking in youthful vitality.
American constitution was based on the theory of John Locke, an investor of slave trade, and written by slave owners.
My point is, American culture nor any one culture is perfect and therefore we shouldn't place one culture (American) above other cultures. Chinese culture for example, has plenty of flaws such as a lack of sense of social responsibility due to an over emphasis on the family unit. I belive in multi-culturalism.
National pride is a dangerous beast, untamed can lead to fanaticism. Perhaps a better word choice is self-respect rather than pride.
What was I supposed to get from this video? I'm used to Ted presenting a unique or specific idea but this one didn't have one. Just Showed some video and pictures of what most of us know, I would've preferred some statistics like only 30% of all world languages are spoken by the current new generation. This video had absolutely no substance.
English is easy, that's the only reason it's the usa's national language. It would almost have been german and because The USA is the worlds mightiest country (haha) everyone is basically forced to speak it.
You should also keep in mind that spanish is spoken more and more, the same with mandarin because china is booming and this government won't keep lasting for long
It's a phenomenon of history that the language of trade becomes the language of the world. When the Spanish and Dutch were wide-ranging, the world learned those languages. When the French, then the world learned French. Back in Caesar's day, it was Greek and Latin. Has nothing to do with race. Has to do with trade and its language.
English is just the current popular language of trade, that's all.
Well, French is a nice language, it sounds good. And it's a beatiful country. I do wish I paid better attention in French classes, so I would be able to speak/write it as well as I do English. ;)
What a simplistic analysis. I expected better from a TED-talk.
The reason that English is today's lingua franca is that a whole lot of commerce has been done in English over the last couple of centuries as English-speakers became the world's foremost powers.
I love english because I already speak it.- I WISH everyone spoke lolcat!
I can has cheezburger
why does this have to erupt into racist blab? - it has nothing to do with what you think is BEST it has only to do with empirical fact- i think english sounds gross compared to say some chinese or also some french- but i mean wow, 2 billion ppl are learning english thats insane!
English is the lingua franca of our age simply because of British dominance in the 19th century and American dominance in the 20th century. Asians are over sold on the benefits of learning English and have completely unrealistic expectations. Over emphasis on English learning at the expense of one's native language is detrimental to indiginous cultures. Language is not analogous to math: language is pregnant with cultural biases and view points and shapes the framework of discussion.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
Rubbish. What is the language of the TED conference?
Besides, you choose to enjoy your time by communicating factless theories to the world through Youtube by using English rather than harvesting fish in an Austronesian language with your friends.
The language of TED is English. What's ur point? u think TED talks are western bias free? What I've said are facts; I didn't spin any theory. Yes, the world does communicate in English and I am forced to frame my thoughts in English with all the western references that go with the English language. Learning a language is more than learning grammar and vocabs: it also entails learning a whole set of cultural references, values, and worldviews unique to where the language is spoken.
For the last 200 years, all the world's knowledge has been, and is still being translated into English. For the last 200 years until about 30 years ago, China has been losing information and is still blocking information. Youtube is blocked in China; software and instructions for proxy servers are English. TED is the forefront of knowledge and only accessible by English. How much would one pay to have access to all the world's knowledge? I think many people still undervalue English.
What do u mean by China losing information? Yes, since the start of the Ching Dynasty, China has been on a three hundred years decline up to about 30 years ago when Deng started to liberalize the economy. The communist party is totalitarian and does enforce censorship. English is the lingua franca of our age. You are stating the current state of affair, not refuting my point.
fact: asians pay exorbitant amount of money to learn English, often as much as or more than the average pay of asian doctors and lawyers; you don't even need a college degree to get paid like this in asia, you just need to be white. Why are asians willing to pay so dearly to learn English? B/c they believe English is the only thing that's stopping them from enjoying the quality of life they see in Western media, from becoming rich. Is this true? Absolutely not.
as a former overseas English teacher, I can say that your coment is about half right.
yes, Asian parents do pay way too much money to have their children learn English. they do believe that English leads to prosperity. (which is doesn't, just look at the Philippians)
But your comment "you just need to be white" is factually incorrect. some schools prefer white people (and I refuse to work with schools like that) but many agencies actually prefer to hire English-speaking Asians.
What I meant by my "you just need to be white" comment is that if you are white, regardless of your educational background, you can land a high paying English teaching job in Asia. I didn't mean only white people get these jobs. I know a white American high school dropout teaching business English in Asia making good money. Why these asian businessmen think this kid is qualified to teach them business English can only be explained by one thing, he is white. I applaud ur moral stance.
"you just need to be white, fluent in English, and have English as your native language" would likely be more accurate, but it still brings out your ignorance and bigotry. All you would need to do is call your buddy, and ask him "Why do these businessmen place your instruction at such a high value?" and you would have his perspective, then you go ask the businessmen that he instructs, and you would then have facts from that group. I would guess that it has more to do than just being white.
what you've added to my "you just need to be white" comment is the assumption Asians tend to have about white people. I know how Asians think b/c I am one of them. This particular caucasian high school dropout obviously does not have a good command of the English language, not to mention business English. However, he was able to demand pay much higher than that of a Chinese English teacher with superior qualifications.
Your insult is a nice touch, shows your true colors.
If prosperity means incomes, then a good way to test this hypothesis for Asians is to take the average salary of people in an Asian country where English is the common language of the work place, and the average salary of workers where English is not used in the work place.
theheadlessrabbit answered for me: just look at Phillipinos.
Most Asians work at jobs focused on domestic markets; English isn't necessary for their career advancement. Asians simply have a vague impression that English leads to wealth, which isn't true. English is helpful for many careers but it isn't the only key. Language schools in Asia over sell the benefits and many Asians have a simplistic western worshipping attitude, resulting in a burgeoning English industry that over charges.
Indians already speak English by virtue of it being the national language. It is quite easy to test your hypothesis about why Chinese (Asians) pay well for English instruction. Apparently you missed the video portion explaining criteria for China's national exam. Asian doctors? They practice *western* medicine. Knowledge about preventing death, and expanding life is immensly valuable, and the majority of it is accessible only in English. So the market place puts a high value on English.
arguing from extremes is the weakest form of argument. Only a tiny fraction of English students aspire to become doctors and even doctors in many Asian countries make about the same as westerners teaching English in Asia. My point is English learning is over valued and the ROI for Asians do not justify the cost. All that I am saying are facts. You are speculating.
fact: Britain dominated the 19th century and America dominated the 20th century. English is the de facto world language b/c of British/American dominance.
fact: Chinese language today was largely shaped by a literary movement called "54 movement" during the early part of the last century; the movement made Chinese more like English in both substance and style. There is a big debate going on in China/ HongKong/ Taiwan right now over the detrimental effects the movement had on Chinese culture
You need to define what is detrimental, and why it is detrimental before there is any meaningful discussion. Secondly, you need to define what culture is.
If culture is a "way of life" then all that is necessary is to ask "Is life better now than it was before?" If the answer is "yes" then the people can throw out the beliefs, values, and traditions that made life worse that is now, and add new beliefs, values, and rituals that make life even better.
"the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another." You still have not answered my questions, so I will ask new ones...
Is Taiwan more affluent now than it was 30 years ago? Is life in Taiwan better than it was 30 years ago? Which do you enjoy more: economic prosperity or poverty?
more Taiwanese are learning English today than ever and yet Taiwan's economy has been faltering since before the worldwide financial crisis. 30 years ago was Taiwan's economic heyday. Ur suggestion that English is the key to economic prosperity is false. Look at Indians serving ur call centers and Phillipinos. They all speak English. Case closed.
India embraced learning English, that is why they have an advantage in outsourcing IT - and IT has transformed their economy. Besides, I never said English is the key to economic prosperity. The questions I asked point to prosperity being accelerated by having access to much of the world's knowledge and being able to communicate with many businesses across the globe. HOW DARE THESE PEOPLE USE LANGUAGE AS A MEANS TO AN END!
Over emphasis on English results in loss of indiginous cultural heritage and source of identity and pride. Non-native speakers can never be as fluent as native speakers; non-native speakers miss cultural references and figures of speech.If speaking perfect English becomes the measuring stick of self worth and social standing, all non-native speakers would be relegated to an inferior class to the native speakers.Many Asians do have such inferiority complex.This is what I'm speaking out against.
interesting. I'm thinking then, there's a dilemna: it's better to switch to english but, it's hard to do it. so the question is: how do you switch to english without the inconvenience? you start early and you watch anglophone programs to have the culture and the expressions.
If you disagree give me one advantage of speaking different languages. I never could find one. I think in the future we'll all speak english. but switching is indeed hard, and it will need some help and planning.
Indeed it is a dilemma. On the one hand, having a world language allows the world to comunicate. On the other hand, American English and American cultural imperialism are eroding indiginous cultures and the self-esteem of peoples losing their cultural heritage.
Switching to another language would create the same problems. The solution is to replace American English with World English just has American English replaced British English. People should use English while keeping their heritage.
Your opinions have yet to be validated by data. So you should stop speaking Mandarin and revert to the Austronesian languages of Taiwan - you are displacing your own indiginous culture. For you, based on your arguments, it is hypocritical opposing English and not opposing Mandarin. Your opinions are a projection of your own beliefs: You cannot be as fluent, you miss cultural references, you use English as a measuring stick of self worth, you have an inferiority complex, etc
hey, i agree with u here. I do not think it is right to impose mandarin on aboriginese of Taiwan. I do not believe in imposing on any group. I'm consistent in my beliefs and arguments.
U havn't read all my comments: I believe English cannot be replaced at this point but we should replace American English with world English and take out American colloqualism from standard world English.
That is your belief. And fortunately for you, it can be substantiated by your emotions. The rest of your commentary is unsubstantiated, as you have provided no evidence. I am simply relaying data given to me by Asians. Asians are talking, so maybe they are talking out of their ass.
You presented 2 facts, the rest are merely your own feelings projected onto a third of the world's population. What is more interesting is this pattern of dominant cultures speaking for indigenous cultures? Where are all your Hokkien friends supporting your comments? Oh wait, the mainland Chinese Han came in and displaced the indigenous people and culture of China's largest island. Now you cry about English? It is a hypocritical stance.
I must have struck a nerve w/ many white English teachers enjoying their great Asian adventure. Truth is sometimes ugly. Put urselves in an Asian's shoes for a minute. How would u feel if lets say Vietnamese is the dominant langauge n any Vietnamese youth traveling thru the west can teach their language making more than u could possibly ever make? Ur social standing is measured by how well u speak this foreign language n how fluent u r in its cultures n ways.u learn to devalue ur own culture.
Based on the premises, the conclusion that follows would be that social standing is measured by how much money you can make. And again, your own projections of yourself - that you have learned to devalue your own language.... Which again, is hypocritical, because Mandarin did the same thing to China that English is doing to China...
My opinions of course come from my experiences; I cannot see the world through anyone else's eyes. The loss of cultural confidence and inferiority complex is a societal phenomena recognized and discussed by many in Taiwan and other Asian countries such as the Phillipines. Ur accusation that my rantings are only my personal feelings n not of a societal phenomena is false.
Measurement and quantification of experiences and observations, examining the data, and then challenging the data removes these filters. Asking "What would disprove my belief?" "What would I need to see in order to change my belief?" Then searching for it is one of the quickest ways of... adding sight.
I traveled the world and I would like to let you know that the Asians do indeed have an inferiority complex with the European man, I don't have a doubt about it..Sorry but this is a truth that I observed in North america and Europe...anyway I'm not a european or an asian
Are you an Asian? Have u ever lived in Asia? Do u know how asians live, think and feel? If not, then why do u speak so authoritatively about how asians think and feel and deride my comments? I'm willing to explain my positions to anyone who is willling to engage in civil discussions but not someone who is hostile and rude.
Does anyone that happens to be born and live in the continent of Asia inherits knowledge of all Asians the world? Do Miao farmers in Yunnan and shoe traders in Mongolia think exactly the same as the military leaders in North Korea?
Yet learning Mandarin gave you a sense of superiority and high self esteem. The exact opposite end of the spectrum.... So the inferiority complex you gave yourself and loss of your own self esteem is entirely self constructed
As I've commented elsewhere, I believe the solution is to switch from American Eglish to World English, just as how we switched from British English to American English. American colloquialism n expressions shouldn't be part of standard World English. People around the world should take ownership of English and make it their own.
"And most importantly, I do not want to let my self down"
What is this rubbish?! Chinese act in the interests of the group and others! Their family, their city, their country. Not themselves! Western education and state run media told me so!
China focusing on individualism?? Desiring and feeling good when acting in their own self interest?! Where is my Mao suit and red star? You self centered english learning back stabbers! I'm moving to happy, economic crisis free North Korea!
When Rome had the stronger army in the world, it became the main power and the Old world spoke Latin. When Incas became the dominant power in south America, their language, quechua became the dominant language in an area that includes almost all the subcontinent. The same with Spain and the Spanish, England empire and the english and of course USA and english.The world speaks english (even thou english its a very ilogical language) because USA its the stronger military force. Thats all.
yes but in the process english mutated and became even more snappy and catchy than it originaly was. it became the language of problem solving as Jay Walker says but morover of capitalism and 'freedom'/democracy. many of its expressions and ways connote informality and spontaneity as well as directness, which are ways that enable commerce and transactions. maybe another language could have evolved to become like that too,
but--it's english; because england happened to establish a big military and commercial empire, yes. it probably could have been another language--although one has to note that english culture has been very capitalist for very long while, more than other european cultures.
not mentioning all the hip and/or techie vocab that evolved only in english. it's gonna be english all the way. pisses me off because I don't speak it so well myself. anyway.
it's obvious to me that we won't need french and spanish and chinese in the future but rather just english. plz give me advantages of having different languages if you see any.
My point is that what was special about english, had nothing to do with the language itself but with the "users". Strong Army, strong country, you know "me strong, me kick you, you speak my language". In the future (depending of "how long" is the future for you) we won´t speak english, but the language of the "ruler" of that moment... Maybe Klingon! (Sorry if my english is not clear, I´m translating from spanish, but I´m sure you are smart enought to get it).
Believe me, english is not the more "catchy" or "snappy" language. If you understood spanish, you won´t need to know to much about peruvian history or actual reality to understand what I´m saying. In spanish each thing has a unique way of being said. In english a lot of expresions are ehhh, "context sensitive" so, if you don´t know the context, you can´t understand the expresion. I think "klingons" won't find that easy to understand english, (and that it´s not a bad idea, indeed)
Enough to watch and understand Lost, 24 and Saturday Night Live.... what else do I need to know about "USAnian" culture?..... (en realidad no pienso eso, sólo estoy "picando" a ver si sale sangre... la cultura cultura anglo es importante, aunque mucho menos de la que uds. piensan. El mundo como tal es la suma de contenidos de muchos más diversos origenes de los que ustedes, anglos, se imaginan).
This guy's on an ego trip. Yes...English is important to us in developing countries...but we haven't forgotten why it's important today. My country had a population of 13,000,000 in 1300AD. After successive European invations, it was reduced to just 1000,000 people in 1800 AD. Most of my culture was erased obviously. English is just a means to an end, and most of the people in my country view Europeans as cold blooded.
crudhousefull 1 month ago in playlist More videos from TEDtalksDirector
Comment removed
liverpoops1 3 months ago
Why doesn't it stay where it's supper to be
EPICXGAMER199 6 months ago
i am learning English for 3 years .....Ok i can speak , listen , read, and write
but i feel i still away from mastering it !
its just difficult to master a foreigner language !
mideastatheist 6 months ago
"Her score in this test literally determines her future" Actually, that's how in works all over the world, English test or not. In Australia, if you fail high school/uni exams, you're immediately losing career choices (not to the same degree though)
And I don't get what was so spine-tingling about those chinese people learning English, other than the big group, since they were saying rather strange things (I assume there's some sorta context there). They were doing very well too!
chrissomerry 6 months ago
ненавижу английский!! меня бесит что все учат этот примитивный язык
tankdnb 7 months ago
Long ago, Latin was the primary language used around the world. Then, it was replaced by French. Finally, it was replaced by English, due to the mass colonization of the English and then the wealth and power of the United States. I am generalizing a bit, but I think that the language of the most powerful and/or wealthy country usually becomes the dominant language, until that power/wealth shifts to somewhere else.
moscowmasha 9 months ago
@moscowmasha Not so much the country but the culture. Since English is the representative language of modern western culture, which is more popular, it gets the most "votes", just as Arabic does in the middle east. The history is very important too. China is an incredibly powerful country, yet only china and the chinese diaspora really speak chinese, because there's no historically ingrained cultural incentive to learn it in most of the world. On the contrary for Latin there still is.
chrissomerry 6 months ago
@chrissomerry
Is there really still a cultural incentive to learn Latin? It is a dead language, after all, and tends only to be used for the purpose of Classical Studies. Also, I was (at least partially) talking about WHY English is the representative language of modern Western culture, and colonization has a lot to do with that.
moscowmasha 6 months ago
I know all you guys are talking about Esperanto, but isn't even that language very Eurocentric? I know all you guys are talking about Esperanto, but isn't even that language very Eurocentric? Esperanto looks like it's was created to cater to Europeans. But will it be easier for someone to learn Esperanto who speaks Chinese or Arabic? If you guys want to make an "international" language, basing it only on Greek and Latin is not the best way to go.
velocity246 1 year ago 3
Learn your Hindu..
Asiats1 1 year ago
I think he is attempting to spin the sort of inevitable convenience of people around the world having to learn english (americans are pretty linguistically arrogant and lazy) to do business and share ideas in the most positive light possible. It's just convenient. He would do well to remember that America is the second country to use English, not first. Not best, even. I found the mania connection disturbing.
098anne 1 year ago
Jay walker is full of shit we do not need English it should not be a global language since it is very flawed instead we need to create a phonetic language (a language that is spoken as it is written unlike English) and that is simple to speak,read, and write.
emzademon 1 year ago
global conversation.. = global communication.. which might result to world peace.... can hardly wait for a cybborg micro chip to come out where we will understand all the languages the world has to offer.
hannahskm 1 year ago
glad im ABC (American born Chinese) haha
kyokopuff 1 year ago
Vivi la internacia lingvo!
Seriously, it's a big shame that Esperanto has not yet been adopted as the international language. Learning Esperanto - whatever your native tongue is - comes so much easier than learning any other language.
MrCocytus 1 year ago
Example: My native tongue is Dutch (low Germanic). For three years I've learned German (closely related, high Germanic) in school and well, I can understand maybe a little bit of German. In just 6 weeks of learning Esperanto (and studying my regular school program) my Esperanto is clearly better than my German.
MrCocytus 1 year ago
Comment removed
rxcyberz 2 years ago
Comment removed
nmsQ 2 years ago
Buddha and Confucius ring a bell?
sciencemile 2 years ago
Comment removed
nmsQ 2 years ago
a serious issue with this talk is how this guy uses examples exclusively from ONE company in china to demonstrate 'english mania' - don't be so biased as to make everyone in china look like a fucking nutso.
all the sound clips are from a company called 'crazy english' and yeah, that's their point, to look, sound and be crazy. it's a marketing tactic to sell english classes. tactics like this to make a speech interesting are ethnocentric, unethical, and just plan misleading.
rovoigt 2 years ago
Yea no wonder asian people are freaking smarts since they always want to be better than other country. Maybe one day Chinese language will be the 2nd language rofl.
Oo2k7 2 years ago
America not only tries to be better than every other country, they openly proclaim they are.
samurimofo 2 years ago
Well If we North Americans put our kids in school for 10 hours a day 6 days a week we would be tall and smart.
QueenComment 2 years ago
china the worlds largest english speaking country
who would have thought 50 years ago?
cheeseit126 2 years ago
I've been to China for three weeks in march 2009, visiting a friend of mine who is an English tutor at Quzhou college (in Zhejiang provence). I've also been to Hangzhou and Shanghai. The reality I witnessed is that even the English students don't speak the language very well.
I think Jay Walker's talk is impressive, and a world language would be great. I think it might just take a little longer until we get there than he makes you think, especially when it comes to China.
w00tehpwn 2 years ago
i think the problem is that they don't speak well, but their reading and writing skills are very high. The purpose of their learning is purely for academics instead of social interaction.
videofn 2 years ago
2 billion people are clamouring to learn English and my country doesn't see the urgency to do the same.
lishun 2 years ago
studying 12 hours a day for three years of your life when you're a teenager?
this fact not only makes me scared but also sad that so many young people are forced to waste their lives in front of books
NegativeNick 2 years ago 3
so you're sad for kids "wasting their lives". learning is a waste of life!?!? they're learning a language that will allow them greater access to the world at large.
contemporarybeatnik 2 years ago
spending your life in a class room is wasting your life, you need both
NegativeNick 2 years ago
i see. so i guess that we should spend all of our time playing like the grasshopper and not preparing for the future while working to achieve something that will aid in our survival (like the ants).
it's morons like you that are the reason the US is falling behind in both math and science (as well as automotive innovation and other areas).
there are very good reasons that China is soon to pull ahead of the US in terms of hard and soft power, and this is one of them.
i pity fools like you.
contemporarybeatnik 2 years ago
Sorry, but I think he oversimplified the piss outta this. People don't want a universal language. A universal language has become a necessity due to the increased interpersonal interactions and cultural exchanges between the corners of the Earth. Free Trade. Internet.
But mostly everyone just likes hip-hop. That shit is DA BOMB!
tensider1 2 years ago
He says "America" is not pushing english?
The USA and Britain are pushing it. I´ve read that 5% of Great Britain´s revenue comes from international english.
Take away english courses, there goes 5% of their money!
That´s why english speaking countries are always trying to vote down Esperanto when it comes to the ballot.
Esperanto was designed as a neutral, international language. It takes 4 MONTHS to learn and NO MONEY. Online.
Most chinese take 14 YEARS to learn english. Fair?
RenataVentura 2 years ago 10
I think your statistic there is wrong, Renata. I know the UK is becoming increasingly irrelevant, but we're still the 6th largest country in terms of GDP. If we receive revenue from English, it will be through trade, not teaching it.
The reason nobody wants to adopt esperanto is because nobody can be bothered to learn it. I'd much rather learn a real language. Oh yeah and Esperanto would be tough for a chinese speaker too, it's not tonal either.
rrritalin 2 years ago
Hi, rrritalin.
Learning esperanto would take you from 4 to 6 months. Other languages: 5 to 10 years.
As for the Chinese. There are several Universities in China that teach Esperanto. It´s at least 15 times easier to learn than english. I have 5 chinese friends who speak Esperanto, and they learned it in One year. While english, they spent 14 years and still can´t speak.
It´s not "nobody" wants to adopt Esperanto. The countries in the UN always vote yes. EUA always vetos it.
RenataVentura 2 years ago 3
If a language can be learned in 4 months then I can imagine the lack of variation and expressiveness that's inherent in this language.
No invented language can concur with any grown and natural language at all.
albedoshader 2 years ago
I speak Esperanto, and it does not "lack variation and expressiveness".
Mutusen 2 years ago 10
@RenataVentura He said not because America is pushing it. It doesn't mean America is not pushing, it simply means that that's not the reason.
But Esperanto's preferable to English but spreading artificial languages can be hard.
raydredX 10 months ago
@RenataVentura No language is neutral, even Esperanto - not because of its wordstock (Latin/Greek roots are very international nowadays despite their origins), but because of its history. And one would argue that Esperanto also isn't perfect, and there's no use in constantly changing auxlangs over and over since it'd just create the same linguistic anarchy that exists today, so some might see it better to create a language that truly represents the international climate. (but you're right anyway
chrissomerry 6 months ago
@RenataVentura Also, 14 years is what most people take to learn any language through a school system - in the west, many don't even reach fluency by that time since they just end up relearning the basics every year until just before the end of highschool. Esperanto would probably have the same happen to it too, unless the way we teach languages is revised in schools. We need more hands-on tuition.
chrissomerry 6 months ago
@RenataVentura Shh. I'm getting a job teaching English now. Fuck the world.
HoGraz 6 months ago
@RenataVentura ideally esperanto would be a great choice, but in practice language is the expression of a culture/people. and without any sizable population speaking it there is no real drive to learn it.
DocUnsane 2 weeks ago
@DocUnsane Of which 'culture' is International English an expression of?
bolshevikML 2 weeks ago
Mathematics is the language of mathematics.
Music is the language of music.
Don't belittle them by describing them as servants to other ends (ie science or emotions.)
Nietzschttgenstein 2 years ago
i agree. especially because if that is the case, then what is *language* "the language of?"
samusamu 2 years ago
English is important because 1) it is spoken by much of the world (2nd largest natively spoken language) and 2) they are wealthy and have many of the world's science and technological innovations. Britian had the industrial revolution and America has had the scientific revolution. With all that content in English it is important to know the language.
demexii1 2 years ago
America had the scientific revolution? What are you talking about?
ToiToiToiHerrKaleun 2 years ago
America has had the majority of scientific discoveries. The atom bomb, genome sequencing, internet, etc. Even look at the number of patents that America registers to the rest of the world. Many new products are developed in America.
demexii1 2 years ago
many of the scientist working on the manhatten project have been immigrants from europe and not americans. Enrico Fermi, Albert Einstein, Leó Szilárd, Edward Teller, Eugene Wigner and others. And much of the work was based on the work of other European scientists. As for example (not only) Niels Bohr. The Germans worked at the same time on the same thing by the way. Under Otto Hahn. But with not as much material ressources.
ToiToiToiHerrKaleun 2 years ago
The Germans been ahead of the rest of the world (including America) in a lot of fields. They designed and built and deployed for example the first jet engines/planes and also cruise missiles. google 'wernher von braun'. that German scientist/engineer got the Americans on the moon ok? after the war both the Americans and Russians got their hands on German engineers/scientists and their designes/inventions.
ToiToiToiHerrKaleun 2 years ago
read the wiki article Wirtschaftswunder (German for economic miracle)here an excerp:The Allies confiscated intellectual property of great value,all German patents both in Germany and abroad and used them to strengthen their own industrial competitiveness by licensing them to Allied companies.Beginning immediately after the German surrender and continuing for the next two years the US.pursued a vigorous program to harvest all technological and scientific know-how as well as all patents in Germany
ToiToiToiHerrKaleun 2 years ago
Gimbel comes to the conclusion, in his book Science Technology and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany, that the intellectual reparations taken by the U.S. and the UK amounted to close to $10 billion.During the more than two years that this policy was in place, no industrial research in Germany could take place, as any results would have been automatically available to overseas competitors who were encouraged by the occupation authorities to access all records and facilities
ToiToiToiHerrKaleun 2 years ago
I'm not sure about most US soldiers, but the men in Band of Brothers said that their favorite country in Europe was Germany. They mentioned in the book that it might have been Holland had they stayed there longer, but spending so much time in Germany and finding it most like the US, it was obvious why it was loved. I don't think there would have been anyone in the American military community who would have thought taking Germany's intellectual property was bad at that time.
OptimusGonzoo 2 years ago
Meanwhile thousands of the best German researchers were being put to work in the Soviet Union and in the U.S. (see Operation Paperclip)
ToiToiToiHerrKaleun 2 years ago
by the way: google 'scientific revolution' - got nothing whatsoever to do with America
ToiToiToiHerrKaleun 2 years ago
Germany was plundered and has been for over 50 years. All the top research is done in English and most of it is located in America. You can talk about all the ways other countries contributed but the end result is still the same, America has had a pretty strong hold on scientific knowledge.
demexii1 2 years ago
true, but the reason is because all the talented people came over from all over the world.
videofn 2 years ago 3
if u work in a college, you will know how many foreign scientists and researchers there are.
videofn 2 years ago 3
And it's a shame that we're not even close to first anymore in the world in education. That is something America has always had going for it, since it's creation, decent education for the middle class and high literacy rates. Oh, how we've been surpassed.
OptimusGonzoo 2 years ago
Nigga wut's u sayin bout me?
nmsQ 2 years ago
dude, this is sooooooo crazy. i feel kind of sad watching it
etahetah 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
I'm grateful to speak American English because it's the Esperanto of the 21st century without a shadow of a doubt
wahnano 2 years ago
I didn't get the point of his speech.
thedailyenglishshow 2 years ago
Well, what can i say. I'm german, and i read almost exclusively books in the english language. I watch exclusively english TV and Movie entertainment ... i dont really know how that came to be, but i think it has something to do with taking part in a global, rather then a local culture. And i do think that this is a good thing.
herrbasan 2 years ago
Hey, native English speaker with a bit of experience in other languages here. I'm not ready to advance the argument that English is "the best language", but it does have a few things going for it: it quickly picks up new words and concepts, it is a more direct language than most, and, though the rules are many and varied, they are quite forgiving in actual usage (see the common use of "u" for "you" & "ur" for "your".) Still, we Americans should learn other languages for the cultural aspects.
JAC06 2 years ago
As civilization progresses a common useful language is needed. Latin was at one time the most common language used in Europe and the middle east. Today it does appear that English for many reasons will be the language of our coming Type I civilization. The internet is the Type I phone system according to Dr. Michio Kaku. I love it.
chairde 2 years ago
English is not only the default language of science terminology, air traffic control, and business, but it's also the language with the most words. Unlike most other languages, it simply absorbs words from other languages. English is the Borg.
WhiteJack8791 2 years ago
What dorky-ass pictures he puts up to highlight his points. Wow, an Asian girl looking through a microscope when he mentions science. An Asian guy playing violin when he says "the language of emotion".
Dumb it down a few more levels and you can start showing this crap to the developmentally disabled.
SilasX 2 years ago
In my business class, about a third of the class were foreigners. We had a discussion about why the world seems to be adapting English as a standard. Most of the foreign students cited unlimited flexibility in both conceptual creation and personal expression.One Chinese student put it best- "The best and worst characteristic of English is that it gives the speaker an unlimited ability to simultaneously create and complain.." and "..most Americans complain too much." it was worth taking notes.
jroak 2 years ago
I'm excited for the day we have one worldwide, global language and communicate with each other as a human family. If it's English or French or Mandarin or Swahili or Klingon, so be it (I'd prefer Vulcan).
jasonholborn 2 years ago
No surprise. English is the de facto international language.
Izaach 2 years ago
it's funny how you people complain about this video, writing in English! I'm Mexican... and I understand language as a code, just as we use the Western Arabic numeral system without feeling Arabic ourselves, or agreeing or disagreeing with Arabic culture.
It's not true that people speak English because of USA's economical domination. If that was the case, we'd also use the British units instead of the Metric units.
Hope comes in many forms, and "English" is a code most people understand.
mramaya 2 years ago
You don't need a common system of units to communicate like you need a language--anyone can use a conversion factor.
How do you explain the rise of English if not for the economic influence of the British Empire/Commonwealth and the United States? Think how absurd it is to say that English spread from a non-English speaking country.
machalot 2 years ago
Anyone can use a translator or a dictionary.
I neve implied that English was spread by non-English speaking countries.
I think every country should keep its own original language, while learn a secondary language to communicate with the world.
It doesn't matter WHY or WHICH language. If English wasn't called "English language", but "Human language", would the world be a better place?
It's just more practical. Sometimes it's best to go with the world's flow.
mramaya 2 years ago
Not interesting (presentation or idea)
Dayvit78 2 years ago
This guy is a total dushbag. "English represents hope"? what a bullshit.
Lots of people know/learn English only because of economical reasons. It's not representing "hope", it's representing USA economical domination in our period of time.
A couple of decades ago French was the most popular "world language", because of similar reasons.
And now I think it's time to start to learn Russian or Chinese, because during my life, one of this language will replace English ( yes: "economical reasons").
EgonCom 2 years ago 3
yep.
paganiniGOGO 2 years ago 2
The world needs a universal language. If that is english so be it. Only good things can come from having a universal language and the only people against it are nationalists like you who want their language to be spoken by the rest of the world. Get over your pride.
JustAnAdjunct 2 years ago
you are right...that's why now i'm learning Japanese :D
the next big thing
Smataba 2 years ago 3
@EgonCom there is no chance that russian may turn into global language.It's because population of Russia is rapidly declining and is just one tenth of China's (40% of USA). Their economy is smaller than Spanish and it's based on non renewable resources, want more? ;) IMO chinese language case is quite the same, take into consideration writing system... Indo-european languages are spoken by 1/2 of world population, so I can't believe that some language outside of this family can be dominant.
AlDarianos 3 months ago
This guy is a retard, he doesn't deserve to be speaking at this conference.
English doesn't represent hope, English represents the hegemony of the brutal and murderous regimes of England and the U.S.
Ask the tens of milliions of people who have been murdered and billions who have been oppressed if they think English is the language of "hope."
paganiniGOGO 2 years ago
It's completely irrelevant why most people who learn a second language happen to learn English.
What matters is that there is one language that so many people learn and, hopefully, every human will learn one day.
VonDenHottentotten 2 years ago
British and American imperialists have left an indelible impression on modern society, there is no point in trying to reverse harmless things like the domination of the Enlgish langugae - in my opinion.
The "representing hope" bullshit is what got me angry - I expect more serious lectures at TED.
paganiniGOGO 2 years ago
Won't happen. Do you know why different languages even exist?
If you say Tower of Babel I'll find a way to punch through standard IP, fair warning! :D
TheGreatPyro 2 years ago
Hyberno english adds more to the language the the debasement that is happening in the UK
veronicadredd22 2 years ago
Comment removed
bigbookofnothing 2 years ago
1:15 to 1:40 ...........
OdesuneOSE 2 years ago
how do u convert ur times to links , mine never gets blue how do u do it?
egdapo 2 years ago
Finally, the English language is not the easiest or most suitable for communication. There are other languages planned and designed with the democratic order, such as Esperanto, Ido, Occidental... ETC.
omargk 2 years ago
Correct, however, the number of English speakers has gone up much more than esperanto, or any other constructed language. There is a bigger chance that the world will develop it's own 'business english' which would be understandable by english native speakers, but it would definetely not be english. Already at conferences in Europe germans, french and italians can understand each others' english better than the english can.
depurperewolf 2 years ago
the English is not a mania, is a necessity. native speakers of English do not need to study English because they learn naturally, while those who are not native speakers, have to learn it. This puts us (the non-native speakers) in a serious disadvantage to native speakers of English: Learn to speak English COST MONEY. This is undemocratic (check the manifest of Prague), since not everyone has the opportunity or money to learn it.
omargk 2 years ago 6
agreed. Moreover, non-native speakers are unlikely to ever be as fluent as native speakers because cultural references (western, especially American culture) are hard to pick up if you don't live in the west. In addition, why should western cultures and tradtions be valued over indiginous cultures and traditions? Non westerners can never be westerners. All peoples should take pride in who they are and where they came from. American culture is vulgar and crass.
jchien 2 years ago
A bit of a contradiction there: All peoples should take pride in who they are and where they came from... American culture is vulgar and crass.
Either everyone, including Americans, should be Nationalistic, or Nationalism can be a good or a bad thing.
American culture doesn't have the polish of European culture but it does have a kick-ass constitution that makes it the envy of some.
The Germans aren't so down with national pride these days. Maybe we can take a hint and temper our pride.
littleoutrage 2 years ago
yes, I've noticed my seeming self contradiction. American culture IS vulgar and crass but also full of dynamism imbued w/ a "frontier spirit." Some have likened America to an adolescent youth, clumsy, rude, but brimming with strength and confidence. European culture has been likened to a mature cultured adult, wiser yet lacking in youthful vitality.
American constitution was based on the theory of John Locke, an investor of slave trade, and written by slave owners.
jchien 2 years ago
My point is, American culture nor any one culture is perfect and therefore we shouldn't place one culture (American) above other cultures. Chinese culture for example, has plenty of flaws such as a lack of sense of social responsibility due to an over emphasis on the family unit. I belive in multi-culturalism.
National pride is a dangerous beast, untamed can lead to fanaticism. Perhaps a better word choice is self-respect rather than pride.
jchien 2 years ago
I like what you've said here far more than what I saw in your previous comments.
littleoutrage 2 years ago
I'm glad u've come to understand my point. If u find any of my arguments flawed, pls point them out.
jchien 2 years ago
What was I supposed to get from this video? I'm used to Ted presenting a unique or specific idea but this one didn't have one. Just Showed some video and pictures of what most of us know, I would've preferred some statistics like only 30% of all world languages are spoken by the current new generation. This video had absolutely no substance.
Sayjo3 2 years ago
English is easy, that's the only reason it's the usa's national language. It would almost have been german and because The USA is the worlds mightiest country (haha) everyone is basically forced to speak it.
You should also keep in mind that spanish is spoken more and more, the same with mandarin because china is booming and this government won't keep lasting for long
Frace91 2 years ago
English is the new Latin!
Arfalarf 2 years ago
It´s easy, and I said it before: "Me, big weapon, you little weapon... ergo, you speak my language". That´s all...
Leopoldo888 2 years ago
It's a phenomenon of history that the language of trade becomes the language of the world. When the Spanish and Dutch were wide-ranging, the world learned those languages. When the French, then the world learned French. Back in Caesar's day, it was Greek and Latin. Has nothing to do with race. Has to do with trade and its language.
English is just the current popular language of trade, that's all.
brainout1 2 years ago 2
The use of French was mostly with nobility and high upper class, it was the language of the courts, and thus of international diplomacy.
The use of English of of course propagated by the internet. :)
wrongwayup 2 years ago
Yes, and even though I am born American, I wish it had been French! Oh well.
brainout1 2 years ago
Well, French is a nice language, it sounds good. And it's a beatiful country. I do wish I paid better attention in French classes, so I would be able to speak/write it as well as I do English. ;)
wrongwayup 2 years ago
800 million Chinese English-speakers and not an 'r' to be heard...
mlawren7 2 years ago
What a simplistic analysis. I expected better from a TED-talk.
The reason that English is today's lingua franca is that a whole lot of commerce has been done in English over the last couple of centuries as English-speakers became the world's foremost powers.
George4943 2 years ago 3
not power, but trade.. and no, simplistic it isn't.. but short, too short cause it is a very interesting subject.
dominice112 2 years ago
I love english because I already speak it.- I WISH everyone spoke lolcat!
I can has cheezburger
why does this have to erupt into racist blab? - it has nothing to do with what you think is BEST it has only to do with empirical fact- i think english sounds gross compared to say some chinese or also some french- but i mean wow, 2 billion ppl are learning english thats insane!
robotaholic 2 years ago
English is a stupid language. We should replace it with a better easier international language.
lamrof 2 years ago
i wish that one day english would be official language of EU, why ... - It's easy to learn - many people already know it
- it's far biggest - globalization need common language
i see english as norm in articulation of the humans, if you want to banned this make new one make better one?!??
iveco555 2 years ago
so why does it have to be english the language to solve problems? Why not spanish, german, chinese etc.
Because they are promoting it through richness and power, like movies and such.
It's like greek used to be years before, the language of commerce, all the way up to where finland is now.
So, the most prevailing and strong countries along history, have their language honoured to be widely accepted.
hellogeorge1985 2 years ago
united language is words only way to salvation
otherwise war is going to dominate and censorship will make it possible to control masses of people
I do not care if its English but since it already started as English let it continue
English will naturally evolve as well changing into something thats easy to pronounce as well as spell
it opens great possibilities
I hope everyone that can learns it :)
princeofexcess 2 years ago
English is the lingua franca of our age simply because of British dominance in the 19th century and American dominance in the 20th century. Asians are over sold on the benefits of learning English and have completely unrealistic expectations. Over emphasis on English learning at the expense of one's native language is detrimental to indiginous cultures. Language is not analogous to math: language is pregnant with cultural biases and view points and shapes the framework of discussion.
jchien 2 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Rubbish. What is the language of the TED conference?
Besides, you choose to enjoy your time by communicating factless theories to the world through Youtube by using English rather than harvesting fish in an Austronesian language with your friends.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
The language of TED is English. What's ur point? u think TED talks are western bias free? What I've said are facts; I didn't spin any theory. Yes, the world does communicate in English and I am forced to frame my thoughts in English with all the western references that go with the English language. Learning a language is more than learning grammar and vocabs: it also entails learning a whole set of cultural references, values, and worldviews unique to where the language is spoken.
jchien 2 years ago 2
For the last 200 years, all the world's knowledge has been, and is still being translated into English. For the last 200 years until about 30 years ago, China has been losing information and is still blocking information. Youtube is blocked in China; software and instructions for proxy servers are English. TED is the forefront of knowledge and only accessible by English. How much would one pay to have access to all the world's knowledge? I think many people still undervalue English.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
What do u mean by China losing information? Yes, since the start of the Ching Dynasty, China has been on a three hundred years decline up to about 30 years ago when Deng started to liberalize the economy. The communist party is totalitarian and does enforce censorship. English is the lingua franca of our age. You are stating the current state of affair, not refuting my point.
jchien 2 years ago
fact: asians pay exorbitant amount of money to learn English, often as much as or more than the average pay of asian doctors and lawyers; you don't even need a college degree to get paid like this in asia, you just need to be white. Why are asians willing to pay so dearly to learn English? B/c they believe English is the only thing that's stopping them from enjoying the quality of life they see in Western media, from becoming rich. Is this true? Absolutely not.
jchien 2 years ago 2
as a former overseas English teacher, I can say that your coment is about half right.
yes, Asian parents do pay way too much money to have their children learn English. they do believe that English leads to prosperity. (which is doesn't, just look at the Philippians)
But your comment "you just need to be white" is factually incorrect. some schools prefer white people (and I refuse to work with schools like that) but many agencies actually prefer to hire English-speaking Asians.
theheadlessrabbit 2 years ago
What I meant by my "you just need to be white" comment is that if you are white, regardless of your educational background, you can land a high paying English teaching job in Asia. I didn't mean only white people get these jobs. I know a white American high school dropout teaching business English in Asia making good money. Why these asian businessmen think this kid is qualified to teach them business English can only be explained by one thing, he is white. I applaud ur moral stance.
jchien 2 years ago
"you just need to be white, fluent in English, and have English as your native language" would likely be more accurate, but it still brings out your ignorance and bigotry. All you would need to do is call your buddy, and ask him "Why do these businessmen place your instruction at such a high value?" and you would have his perspective, then you go ask the businessmen that he instructs, and you would then have facts from that group. I would guess that it has more to do than just being white.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
what you've added to my "you just need to be white" comment is the assumption Asians tend to have about white people. I know how Asians think b/c I am one of them. This particular caucasian high school dropout obviously does not have a good command of the English language, not to mention business English. However, he was able to demand pay much higher than that of a Chinese English teacher with superior qualifications.
Your insult is a nice touch, shows your true colors.
jchien 2 years ago
If prosperity means incomes, then a good way to test this hypothesis for Asians is to take the average salary of people in an Asian country where English is the common language of the work place, and the average salary of workers where English is not used in the work place.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
theheadlessrabbit answered for me: just look at Phillipinos.
Most Asians work at jobs focused on domestic markets; English isn't necessary for their career advancement. Asians simply have a vague impression that English leads to wealth, which isn't true. English is helpful for many careers but it isn't the only key. Language schools in Asia over sell the benefits and many Asians have a simplistic western worshipping attitude, resulting in a burgeoning English industry that over charges.
jchien 2 years ago
Indians already speak English by virtue of it being the national language. It is quite easy to test your hypothesis about why Chinese (Asians) pay well for English instruction. Apparently you missed the video portion explaining criteria for China's national exam. Asian doctors? They practice *western* medicine. Knowledge about preventing death, and expanding life is immensly valuable, and the majority of it is accessible only in English. So the market place puts a high value on English.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
arguing from extremes is the weakest form of argument. Only a tiny fraction of English students aspire to become doctors and even doctors in many Asian countries make about the same as westerners teaching English in Asia. My point is English learning is over valued and the ROI for Asians do not justify the cost. All that I am saying are facts. You are speculating.
jchien 2 years ago
fact: Britain dominated the 19th century and America dominated the 20th century. English is the de facto world language b/c of British/American dominance.
fact: Chinese language today was largely shaped by a literary movement called "54 movement" during the early part of the last century; the movement made Chinese more like English in both substance and style. There is a big debate going on in China/ HongKong/ Taiwan right now over the detrimental effects the movement had on Chinese culture
jchien 2 years ago 2
You need to define what is detrimental, and why it is detrimental before there is any meaningful discussion. Secondly, you need to define what culture is.
If culture is a "way of life" then all that is necessary is to ask "Is life better now than it was before?" If the answer is "yes" then the people can throw out the beliefs, values, and traditions that made life worse that is now, and add new beliefs, values, and rituals that make life even better.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
Your slippery slope argument is hilarious and rediculous. Look up the word "culture" in the dictionary yourself.
jchien 2 years ago
"the sum total of ways of living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted from one generation to another." You still have not answered my questions, so I will ask new ones...
Is Taiwan more affluent now than it was 30 years ago? Is life in Taiwan better than it was 30 years ago? Which do you enjoy more: economic prosperity or poverty?
ManicTrader 2 years ago
more Taiwanese are learning English today than ever and yet Taiwan's economy has been faltering since before the worldwide financial crisis. 30 years ago was Taiwan's economic heyday. Ur suggestion that English is the key to economic prosperity is false. Look at Indians serving ur call centers and Phillipinos. They all speak English. Case closed.
jchien 2 years ago
India embraced learning English, that is why they have an advantage in outsourcing IT - and IT has transformed their economy. Besides, I never said English is the key to economic prosperity. The questions I asked point to prosperity being accelerated by having access to much of the world's knowledge and being able to communicate with many businesses across the globe. HOW DARE THESE PEOPLE USE LANGUAGE AS A MEANS TO AN END!
ManicTrader 2 years ago
Over emphasis on English results in loss of indiginous cultural heritage and source of identity and pride. Non-native speakers can never be as fluent as native speakers; non-native speakers miss cultural references and figures of speech.If speaking perfect English becomes the measuring stick of self worth and social standing, all non-native speakers would be relegated to an inferior class to the native speakers.Many Asians do have such inferiority complex.This is what I'm speaking out against.
jchien 2 years ago
interesting. I'm thinking then, there's a dilemna: it's better to switch to english but, it's hard to do it. so the question is: how do you switch to english without the inconvenience? you start early and you watch anglophone programs to have the culture and the expressions.
If you disagree give me one advantage of speaking different languages. I never could find one. I think in the future we'll all speak english. but switching is indeed hard, and it will need some help and planning.
Animalll2003lll 2 years ago
Indeed it is a dilemma. On the one hand, having a world language allows the world to comunicate. On the other hand, American English and American cultural imperialism are eroding indiginous cultures and the self-esteem of peoples losing their cultural heritage.
Switching to another language would create the same problems. The solution is to replace American English with World English just has American English replaced British English. People should use English while keeping their heritage.
jchien 2 years ago
You can also enjoy English speaking programs from India, Zambia, Bangledesh, etc
ManicTrader 2 years ago
Your opinions have yet to be validated by data. So you should stop speaking Mandarin and revert to the Austronesian languages of Taiwan - you are displacing your own indiginous culture. For you, based on your arguments, it is hypocritical opposing English and not opposing Mandarin. Your opinions are a projection of your own beliefs: You cannot be as fluent, you miss cultural references, you use English as a measuring stick of self worth, you have an inferiority complex, etc
ManicTrader 2 years ago
hey, i agree with u here. I do not think it is right to impose mandarin on aboriginese of Taiwan. I do not believe in imposing on any group. I'm consistent in my beliefs and arguments.
U havn't read all my comments: I believe English cannot be replaced at this point but we should replace American English with world English and take out American colloqualism from standard world English.
jchien 2 years ago
Then you would be imposing English rather than American English.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
fact: you insult and deride my comment without learning your facts. You talk out of your ass.
jchien 2 years ago
That is your belief. And fortunately for you, it can be substantiated by your emotions. The rest of your commentary is unsubstantiated, as you have provided no evidence. I am simply relaying data given to me by Asians. Asians are talking, so maybe they are talking out of their ass.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
You have stated speculations. I have stated facts. You have shown yourself to be a bigotted racist for all to see on youtube.
jchien 2 years ago
You presented 2 facts, the rest are merely your own feelings projected onto a third of the world's population. What is more interesting is this pattern of dominant cultures speaking for indigenous cultures? Where are all your Hokkien friends supporting your comments? Oh wait, the mainland Chinese Han came in and displaced the indigenous people and culture of China's largest island. Now you cry about English? It is a hypocritical stance.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
I must have struck a nerve w/ many white English teachers enjoying their great Asian adventure. Truth is sometimes ugly. Put urselves in an Asian's shoes for a minute. How would u feel if lets say Vietnamese is the dominant langauge n any Vietnamese youth traveling thru the west can teach their language making more than u could possibly ever make? Ur social standing is measured by how well u speak this foreign language n how fluent u r in its cultures n ways.u learn to devalue ur own culture.
jchien 2 years ago
Based on the premises, the conclusion that follows would be that social standing is measured by how much money you can make. And again, your own projections of yourself - that you have learned to devalue your own language.... Which again, is hypocritical, because Mandarin did the same thing to China that English is doing to China...
ManicTrader 2 years ago
My opinions of course come from my experiences; I cannot see the world through anyone else's eyes. The loss of cultural confidence and inferiority complex is a societal phenomena recognized and discussed by many in Taiwan and other Asian countries such as the Phillipines. Ur accusation that my rantings are only my personal feelings n not of a societal phenomena is false.
jchien 2 years ago
Measurement and quantification of experiences and observations, examining the data, and then challenging the data removes these filters. Asking "What would disprove my belief?" "What would I need to see in order to change my belief?" Then searching for it is one of the quickest ways of... adding sight.
ManicTrader 2 years ago
I traveled the world and I would like to let you know that the Asians do indeed have an inferiority complex with the European man, I don't have a doubt about it..Sorry but this is a truth that I observed in North america and Europe...anyway I'm not a european or an asian
wahnano 2 years ago
Comment removed
jchien 2 years ago
Comment removed
jchien 2 years ago
Wahnano, What is your hypothesis for the complex? what is the Asian feeling towards the African man? Hypothesis?
ManicTrader 2 years ago
Are you an Asian? Have u ever lived in Asia? Do u know how asians live, think and feel? If not, then why do u speak so authoritatively about how asians think and feel and deride my comments? I'm willing to explain my positions to anyone who is willling to engage in civil discussions but not someone who is hostile and rude.
jchien 2 years ago
Does anyone that happens to be born and live in the continent of Asia inherits knowledge of all Asians the world? Do Miao farmers in Yunnan and shoe traders in Mongolia think exactly the same as the military leaders in North Korea?
ManicTrader 2 years ago
U begin to develop an inferiority complex. u begin to lose ur self-esteem as a people.
jchien 2 years ago
Yet learning Mandarin gave you a sense of superiority and high self esteem. The exact opposite end of the spectrum.... So the inferiority complex you gave yourself and loss of your own self esteem is entirely self constructed
ManicTrader 2 years ago
As I've commented elsewhere, I believe the solution is to switch from American Eglish to World English, just as how we switched from British English to American English. American colloquialism n expressions shouldn't be part of standard World English. People around the world should take ownership of English and make it their own.
jchien 2 years ago
Not the best TED talk I've watched; I'm surprised he didn't end it with a chorus of "We are the world".
Valelacerte 2 years ago
"And most importantly, I do not want to let my self down"
What is this rubbish?! Chinese act in the interests of the group and others! Their family, their city, their country. Not themselves! Western education and state run media told me so!
China focusing on individualism?? Desiring and feeling good when acting in their own self interest?! Where is my Mao suit and red star? You self centered english learning back stabbers! I'm moving to happy, economic crisis free North Korea!
ManicTrader 2 years ago
When Rome had the stronger army in the world, it became the main power and the Old world spoke Latin. When Incas became the dominant power in south America, their language, quechua became the dominant language in an area that includes almost all the subcontinent. The same with Spain and the Spanish, England empire and the english and of course USA and english.The world speaks english (even thou english its a very ilogical language) because USA its the stronger military force. Thats all.
Leopoldo888 2 years ago
yes but in the process english mutated and became even more snappy and catchy than it originaly was. it became the language of problem solving as Jay Walker says but morover of capitalism and 'freedom'/democracy. many of its expressions and ways connote informality and spontaneity as well as directness, which are ways that enable commerce and transactions. maybe another language could have evolved to become like that too,
Animalll2003lll 2 years ago
but--it's english; because england happened to establish a big military and commercial empire, yes. it probably could have been another language--although one has to note that english culture has been very capitalist for very long while, more than other european cultures.
not mentioning all the hip and/or techie vocab that evolved only in english. it's gonna be english all the way. pisses me off because I don't speak it so well myself. anyway.
Animalll2003lll 2 years ago
it's obvious to me that we won't need french and spanish and chinese in the future but rather just english. plz give me advantages of having different languages if you see any.
what do you think??
Animalll2003lll 2 years ago
My point is that what was special about english, had nothing to do with the language itself but with the "users". Strong Army, strong country, you know "me strong, me kick you, you speak my language". In the future (depending of "how long" is the future for you) we won´t speak english, but the language of the "ruler" of that moment... Maybe Klingon! (Sorry if my english is not clear, I´m translating from spanish, but I´m sure you are smart enought to get it).
Leopoldo888 2 years ago
Believe me, english is not the more "catchy" or "snappy" language. If you understood spanish, you won´t need to know to much about peruvian history or actual reality to understand what I´m saying. In spanish each thing has a unique way of being said. In english a lot of expresions are ehhh, "context sensitive" so, if you don´t know the context, you can´t understand the expresion. I think "klingons" won't find that easy to understand english, (and that it´s not a bad idea, indeed)
Leopoldo888 2 years ago
Leo. You obviously have not a good grasp of english!.
jjmm112 2 years ago
Enough to watch and understand Lost, 24 and Saturday Night Live.... what else do I need to know about "USAnian" culture?..... (en realidad no pienso eso, sólo estoy "picando" a ver si sale sangre... la cultura cultura anglo es importante, aunque mucho menos de la que uds. piensan. El mundo como tal es la suma de contenidos de muchos más diversos origenes de los que ustedes, anglos, se imaginan).
Leopoldo888 2 years ago
Leo. The program`s you watch are American= bastardised English. Spanish/ Portugese are "ugly" to listen to.
jjmm112 2 years ago
Well said.
mmminivannn 2 years ago
It's a pity they didn't pick a language which