NOTE: Post a comment once a week to one of any of the posts made since the previous Friday by Prof. Gaunt. Be sure to "surf" through any links. Strongly suggest composing your response in MS Word, then cut and paste as a comment. Avoid grammar and spelling mistakes; use spell and grammar check. Also rewrite your post at least once and don't forget to read other comments first so you are not saying the same thing 30 times. WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT LANGUAGES?
- Currently, which five languages are the most commonly used in the world?
- What percentage of the world's languages are spoken by 10,000 or fewer people?
- How does the FAQ distinguish between a language and a dialect?
- What five characteristics does Terralingua use to define what groups constitute a minority? How is this definition different from or similar to your own understanding of what a minority group is?
- Why do you think it is important to maintain linguistic diversity around the world? Knowing what you do about the link between language, culture, knowledge, and identity, how much information will be lost as more languages go extinct?
POST A COMMENT: What did you learn from this information and status of the world on languages?
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20 comments:
I learned that language is one of the subjects where it is used so often (daily) that its not noticed or given the respect to be studied upon and therefore, nobody is certain how many languages there are on this world nor what exaclty defines language. What I found interesting was that Mandarin is the worlds most spoken language but then again, its probably because China's population is so great.
I learned that language has a relation to popular. The five most common languages in the world have the greatest population (culture wise). Language can not be properly defined because there are many dialects and its not clear about whether or not they should be counted. I learned that European languages are in the minority, which is hilarious, because Western culture has had such a great influence on the world.
Language can become a large barrier to overcome. It’s the basic form in which we all communicate. Having two people speaking completing different languages without understanding, each other’s can create many problems. On a regular day-to-day basis, we don’t sit down to analyze the diversity among languages. I don’t even think we realize the wide-scale diversity that exists. From both the Kottak text and the FAQ’s from the site, there’s a lot more to language than we have come to realize. I learned that less than a million people speak 95% of the world’s languages. Another fact that stood out to me was that by 2100 about 90% of languages will disappear. This proves that the status of language in the world is ever changing. Language is one of the most important factors in a society, because it’s one of the fundamentals of culture.
Eileen Burton
Section XY24C
I learned that there is no exact number of known languages in the world and that languages have a huge impact on culture. I think that it is important to maintain linguistic diversity around the world because it acknowledges different cultures, whether it be through race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, social class, etc. If more languages get extinct there will be a loss of identity for many groups of people identifying with a culture and thus knowlege about that culture will be gone.
I think the 5 languages most used in today world are English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic. The reason I choose the first 3 because those were imperialistic nations. England occupied almost half of the world in 17th and 18th century which explain why so many nation use English as their primary language like (USA,England, India,etc).Spain also explored at the same time as England and occupied most of South America and some of North America and are responsible for wide spread of Spanish. Russian is wide spread because of Soviet Union which occupied 13 independent countries. Reason for choosing Chinese and Arabic is primarily because of their population. The difference between language and dialect is that language could have many dialects as for example the Chinese language and dialect really is just how you speak and pronounce words ,and it doesn't stand as independent language by itself. I also believe it really important to maintain linguistic diversity because it helps us maintain our unique cultures.
I found out that the five most spoken languages in terms of population in the world are Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, Bengali, and Hindi. This makes sense because China and India have the 2 highest populations in the world. You can explain why English and Spanish are so popular because of ancient colonialism as well as current globalization. I also found it shocking that 50% of the world’s languages are spoken by 10,000 or fewer people. That means that there’s a massive amount of languages spoken throughout the globe each day. It is important to maintain linguistic diversity throughout the world in order to preserve cultures and prevent languages from dying out.
by Gabrijela Peic
In my high school and middle school, I learned that the most spoken languages in the world are English, German, Italian, French, Spanish and Portuguese. However, online I found out that the most spoken languages are Mandarin, English, Hindi, Spanish and Arabic. In some way this is surprising, but taking in consideration the statistic facts of above mentioned countries, it is possible. There is a business joke, that soon here in America (because of its economy situation) we will not speak English as a main languages, but Chinese.
It is very important to maintain linguistic diversity around the world because language is a big part of any culture. In Croatia if you go to the University of languages, you may study “world language” called Esperanto. The first Esperanto textbook came out in 1887 in Poland by Laza Ludving Zamehof. The Idea of Esperanto language is that in the world there is only one main (primary) language because there are thousands of different languages and people have hard time to understand each other. By using one language which will connect all languages, people will be able to communicate easily between different cultures. People who promote this language say that every nation should keep their own language, but Esperanto should be a language without any borders.
I believe in some way it is a good idea, but it is very hard to make people accept another language like their own “mother language”.
So far, the most people do now even know that Esperanto exists...
Hi, this is Eugene Kheyfets from your 4:10 class. The 5 main languages are English, Hindi, Chinese, Spanish, and Bengali. Although it is difficult to define how main languages by distance span. There's alot that language has done to shape history that can only be analyzed with chaos theories. These theories would be those of the wharf-hypothesis and noam chomsky's philosophy on language.
I thought that the five most spoken languages in the world were English, Spanish, Chinese, French and Russian. I actually found out that, according to population, Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language. Spanish, English, Bengali and Hindi follow Mandarin Chinese as the most spoken languages. I really thought that English was the most spoken language; it kind of surprised me that it was third on the list. I also never assumed that Bengali was a top spoken language. I also learned that Europe and the Middle East only account for 4% of all languages, while Asia holds 32% of all languages. These facts are the ones that strike me the most because I guess I had the wrong answers.
I think the five most common Languages in the world are English, Spanish, Chinese, French, and Japanese. These languages are used in everyday business and most commonly used during trade. However, the most common out of all of this is English. It’s considered the “norm” in our society, that’s why we always go into style shifts. For example, we speak English in school because society declared it as the dominant language in the U.S. However, when we leave that type of area we shift back to speaking our native tongue again or a combination.
I agree that diverse languages are becoming extinct, because many people are “made” to learn and most schools around the world teach English. Language is something that defines all of us; how we think, how we act, and how we are. I can’t imagine what culture would become if all of the native languages were extinct. Can u imagine something like, one day the Chinese will be speaking English as a native language and they will state in their textbooks Chinese people use to speak Chinese, back in the day. I agree that languages are hard to understand and learn, but I feel they are important to all of us. Imagine what would happen next if something as simple/complex as language was extinct. Language makes me Chinese and I’m proud of it. If it wasn’t for language a Chinese person would just be a white guy with different type eyes. To me it’s kind of frightening knowing that 90% of languages will disappear someday.
I was actually surprised. I thought the number one language in the world was going to be English. But it was actually Mandarin Chinese, followed by Spanish, English, Bengali (my language =]]]]]]) and Hindi. Well yeah, it makes sense if we are talking about native languages. Most foreigners tend to speak their native languages because it’s more comfortable. Half of the world’s languages have less than 10000 speakers. She describes minorities and groups of people, immigrants, migrants who have a lot more education opportunity and more “chance” in the US. I always thought honestly minorities were any people who weren’t white. They could be Black, Indian, Chinese, Spanish, etc… its very important to maintain linguistic diversity all around the world so people can understand each other. I really think that if people understood one another’s culture and religion all around the world, we wouldn’t have all these wars and hate crimes happening. We would actually live in a world with peace if people actually understood one another’s culture and learned to accept them.
Many people in the United States and even our anthropology class believe that English is the most spoken language in the world. After some research I have found that the U.S. and the English language are not the center of the world. According to Wikipedia, the top five spoken languages are Mandarin, English, Hindi, Spanish and Arabic. To me this is not surprising at all; languages are directly linked to population. These languages are linked to VERY large cultural society. It is very important to try to keep linguistic diversity because language is a very large part of one's culture. This is a very hard thing to do because of all the mixing of languages like “Spanglish”. In a worst case scenario languages can also be lost forever. One primary language could be beneficial; one language could help us all as a society communicate easier. There would be no barrier to separate us but at what cost, we would then lose a vital part of our cultures.
I found it weird that English was the third spoken language in the world, and found it even more astonishing that Spanish is actually ahead of English. And then I found it ironic that Spanish is considered “minority” and English is considered the dominant language of the world. It actually did not surprise me to see that Chinese Mandarin is the number one spoken language. Asia does have a huge percentage of the earth’s population. Weirdly there are so many languages in the world and only about less than half of them are spoken by more than 10000 people. Thinking about it, it is true that there is no clear way to distinguish a language from another, besides their structure or possibly their lexicon. However aren’t all languages meant to symbolize the same thing? The word “minority” is like an oxymoron, it is meant to classify Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, etc, as inferior; yet ironically we do have more benefits in education, medical. Since languages form the way we think, languages are very important to reserve. The words or symbols contain the history of that area or even the people.
I once heard someone try to make a joke about how if all Chinese people gathered in one place and jumped on the count of three, they’d be able to screw up the earth’s tilt. I don’t however, remember why the joke was funny or how it actually goes, but with that said I believe that some form of Chinese is the most spoken language. I’m not sure how many languages actually exist, but I would have to guess thousands, but because there’s not money in researching the languages of the world, then I guess no one can be sure.
Many languages of the past are now moribund, which I learned means children are no longer taught, therefore they die on with older generations. It almost makes sense that this would happen, because as the world and people evolve so does language, which isn’t just spoken. Also as long as people of different cultures and native languages have to communicate with each other, more and more languages will come into existence.
I believe that one day there will be a universal language which everyone will need to know in order to communicate with others, but native languages will still be used within smaller communities or societies. It would be kind of cool if you think about it, no one will think their own language is superior, but at the same time be able to still have their own language to keep their customs alive!
Language is the most important form of communication in the world. The most common languages are English, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, and French. These are the languages that I here the most. The most common language I have to believe is English. Most people who other languages are from other countries.
I believe that to maintain diversity in this country is not one of decision. It is just something that needs to run its course. If more languages become extinct, it may result in a serious balance in society. Languages can be learned but it takes an effort, in which some people do not have.
Many people classify people as a minority in terms of languages because of slang, which I think was created by the traditional black. Slang is very popular in every culture in my opinion. Minorities are always put in separate groups from everyone else. I am not saying that everyone is equally because I don’t even believe that. I just think that people non-dignify black people because many things are copied by people that was originally done by a black man or women.
In terms of language I have learned a lot. I learned that language is determined not just by expression but also by thought. I am a defined black man I try not put people down. I respect the thought of speaking. One question I think that can never be answered is, how can animals understand what we say and they can’t talk. I believe that animals have their own language that will never be defined.
The language exercise from the Kottak website taught me a lot about languages. The fact that the amount of languages there are in the world fluctuates from year to year. Also the fact that many languages that are very local and aren't heard of in the mainstream public outweigh the amount of mainstream languages in the world today. Both of these facts are new to me, they also open my eyes to a unseen part of the world.
I was surprised to learn that there were that many different languages on this planet. It is sad to think that the majority of them will be lost soon. But since the article mentioned that there are “no unambiguous scientific criteria for distinguishing between ‘languages’ and ‘dialects’” the number of so called “distinct languages” may not be all that fact based. It is important to preserve a language as they are a key component of a culture’s identity, but in the age of globalization, is the language of a culture consisting of fewer than 1,000 people absolutely necessary to preserve? Is their culture even that different from neighboring cultures with different languages? The article does not point out in what ways the languages with a 1,000 or less users are different from more commonly used languages. The article states that there is a lack of funding for research and preservation of the “moribund” and “endangered” languages; but there are other priorities in the world that need funding more than the 1,000 users of language. Their preservation is more important than say the U.S. military budget, but not more than the preservation of the environment or cures for widely spread illnesses. I believe that only key distinct languages with many unique/rare cultural aspects should be allocated resources for preservation.
I learned that language has a relation to populations. Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, Bengali, and Hindi are the top 5 oral language by population. However, language status is little bit different. Language status is affected by the country’s economic power. For instance, English is common language in business field, and French is used in the Europe to political or agreement documents between countries.
It is very sad thing that more than 95% of the world’s spoken languages have fewer than 1 million native speakers. Moreover, it has been estimated that 20-50% of the world’s languages are already moribund, and that 90% may be moribund or will have disappeared by 2100. Language is most important part to understand history and culture. We can’t recognize priceless archeological specimens to study history or advance of culture. Language said their culture and history. Moribund of language means moribund of traditions.
Currently the five most common languages used in the world are Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, Bengali and Hindi. I’ve always thought that English was the most spoken language in the world, but it makes sense that Mandarin Chinese will be on top. China has the biggest population in the world and also they migrate all around the world. I learned that there are estimated 4,000-10,000 languages that are still spoken today. I knew there were a lot of languages but the fact that there were over 10,000 different languages is amazing to me. In order to preserve languages, we have to keep teaching it. It is a shame that some languages are becoming extinct. Language is a way of communicating but it is also a form of art to cherish.
I think language is one of the most important things in our life.
We can not have complete communication without language.
I researched the five most spoken languages which are Chinese, English, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic.
I think English is most official language in the world but it was less then Chinese. Maybe It is because of the great population of China. So I learnd that language related with population and the use of language population is no related then state power.
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