Re: EDUML v0.4 (already!)

[Doug Loss <dloss@csrlink.net>]

Duane Morin wrote:
> 
> I feel selfish, though, when everybody says
> "Oh, just do it in English" - like we Americans aren't capable of
> learning another language.
> 
> You're right, there is a reason why English is universally taught, and
> it's roughly the same reason why Microsoft has a monopoly in the
> operating systems business.  It's not because English is a quality
> language, it's because the US has had the muscle over the centuries to
> make it in everybody else's best interests to speak it.

Well, not to get political about it (and this will be my last post on
the subject), I don't think the reason for English's near ubiquity as a
second language has as much to do with the US as it does with the
British Empire.  Where French was the universally accepted language of
diplomacy, and German the language of science, English was the language
of trade.  This was primarily in the 19th and early 20th Centuries, of
course.  Since the world wars put German somewhat into disfavor (I speak
German myself, badly, so I don't say this pejoratively) and brought
about the wide-spread independence of French and British colonial
holdings, English and possibly Russian and French were the only
languages that had much chance of being taught widely outside of their
native countries.  I admit that the US economy gave English a boost, as
it was easiest to make and sell products in the US if they supported
English.  But I don't think English's growth as a second language
started there.

-- 
Doug Loss                 It is impossible to imagine Goethe
Data Network Coordinator  or Beethoven being good at billiards
Bloomsburg University     or golf.
dloss@bloomu.edu                H. L. Mencken