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I have the feeling you need to get off your "you either know English or you are an ignorant" high horse and learn a bit more about the real world.
People in many countries may learn other languages for advancement, mere interest or just the joy of acquiring knowledge, but that does not mean that they want to give away their own cultural identity for the sake of pragmatism or corporate profits. I expect anyone wanting to bring a product to my country, to do so in my own language. To think that this is cultural masturbation is arrogant at the very least. Who is to say that I have to use a language other than mine? Why should I? How does that deliver any results *for me*?
Trying to impose a foreign language on others is far from being pragmatic, and it does not work for the most part. Believe me: I am tri-lingual (Spanish-English-Japanese), and I know what I'm talking about.




Member since:
2005-07-06
And what world is that? I ask because I doubt the Chinese and the Japanese, just to name a couple of countries, would agree with your assertion, nor would they want to have to comply with it. "
The Japanese are a special situation - "we're not Asian, we're Japanese!"
Regarding Chinese and Korean, all outside evidence shows that you either learn English and become rich or be ignorant and remain in a rice paddy. Most people are bright enough to work out the better route. Take Singapore for example - they faced reality and it is seen as the economic miracle.
Pragmatic approaches, not cultural masturbation, delivers results. I can assure you that if Mandarin suddenly become the dominant language, I would learn it, just as if Korean were to become the dominant language.
Edited 2008-03-24 03:17 UTC