I think one of the reasons language is not so important today is nearly the entire world shares a common culture and the languages which have developed and expanded in this culture can all express basically the same ideas. This is very different for extant tribal languages, such as those of the various native american groups, which are actual distinct cultures and their language is the only way to fully express that culture (or the remnants that are left)
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Language carries many cultural terms that are never or can never be translated. Thus, when you lose a language, you lose all of the expressions, idiom, jargon, and ideas, not to mention literature, that were part of the culture.I refute it thus!
"Destiny! Destiny! No escaping that for me!"
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I'll bet that 99% of British Apolytoners couldn't translate my signature (it's the West Saxon dialect of Old English) but that doesn't mean British culture has ceased to exist.
True, although it does mean that the culture that actually spoke and used Old English is gone. The British culture today is substantially different from 1200 years ago.Scouse Git (2) La Fayette Adam Smith Solomwi and Loinburger will not be forgotten.
"Remember the night we broke the windows in this old house? This is what I wished for..."
2015 APOLYTON FANTASY FOOTBALL CHAMPION!
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Separate cultures can find a degree of unity in a common language- Irish and British, Singaporean and American. Or as Oscar Wilde pointed out, a common language can separate the two.
But English is interesting for incorporating words for concepts from other languages where the exact concept does not exist in the form of a single word or phrase in English- Weltanschauung, Schadenfreude, chutzpah, hubris, joie de vivre, esprit de corps, eminence grise, and so on. I think this enriches the language and the culture, and is certainly preferable to the attempts to render Latin and Greek rhetorical terms into English (Anglo-Saxon derived) forms, as was attempted with terminology in the past.
I recall the episode of 'Frasier' where Niles and Frasier try to think of the French word for light-hearted- and agree that there isn't one.
Also- doesn't Japanese have a different set of terms/phrases for use by women?Vive la liberte. Noor Inayat Khan, Dachau.
...patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone. Edith Cavell, 1915
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