Questions about the english language

[KrazyHorse]

The two main ways you hear "kilometre" pronounced are:

ki-law-muh-tur (emphasis on second syllable)

ki-low-mee-tur (emphasis on first syllable)

Either's fine.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Barnabas
English needs a royal academy of old farts to say what is and what is not good english.
Spanish has one

So does France. The fact that English doesn't have one is one of the reason that English, not French or Spanish, has become everybody's second language.

Living languages.
"Official" languages.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
So does France. The fact that English doesn't have one is one of the reason that English, not French or Spanish, has become everybody's second language.

I don't think that's the most important cause.

[Barnabas]

Having no academy of old farts to protect language purity has nothing to do with english being the lingua franca nowadays.

It is completely the merit of the USA, here in the 1960´s very few people spoke english, but all educated people spoke french, it is because of the USA that in the present very very few latin americans speak french, but many speak english.

[LordShiva]

English

[Barnabas]

What is the lingua franca of india? english or hindustani?

[LordShiva]

The latter doesn't exist.

It's pretty much English in the south, though many in Karnataka (in addition to those in Tamil Nadu, of course) speak Tamil, and Hindi in the north.

Teh Northeast is defiantly vernacular

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker


I don't think that's the most important cause.

No, it's at least a distant fourth behind the power of the British Empire in the 19th century, the power of the US in the 20th, and the spread of the Internet. But the fact that English is more flexible than languages like French -- and the fact that "bad" English is nevertheless gereally acceptable and sometimes becomes "good" English through sheer usage -- has helped in it adoption worldwide.

[Barnabas]

Originally posted by LordShiva
The latter doesn't exist.

It's pretty much English in the south, though many in Karnataka (in addition to those in Tamil Nadu, of course) speak Tamil, and Hindi in the north.

Teh Northeast is defiantly vernacular

wiki disagrees...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustani_language

Hindustani (/ hindustɑːniː /; Hindustānī; हिन्दुस्तानी, ہندوستانی), also known as "Hindi-Urdu," is a term used by linguists to describe several closely related idioms in the northern, central and northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent and the vernacular blend between its two standardized registers in the form of the official languages of Hindi and Urdu, as well as several nonstandard dialects. These two standardized languages of Hindustani are nearly identical in grammar and share a basic common vocabulary. In fact, before the Partition of British India, the terms Hindustani and Urdu were synonymous

[LordShiva]

In India at least, "Hindustani" refers to the new language proposed, in the 1930s, to blend all existing Indian languages into a single national language based on the Roma script. Good thing it never took off.

As for the language Wiki mentions, it's just Hindi/Urdu (spoken very similarly, with some Sanskrit words replaced by Persian or vice-versa, and in different scripts).

[Odin]

Originally posted by alva
I've got a (simple) question. How do you guys...let me rephrase: what's the correct way of pronouncing 'kilometre'?
I keep hearing two versions of it, namely: kilometre and kilometre. Seems you guys don't have real rules when it comes to things like this, do you. ANother example would be :'uranus'.

kill-AH-meh-ter

YOO-ran-us

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
I would say:

There are eight "e"s in this sentence.

Interesting.

Is that a cultural thing or are you just being atypical?

[KrazyHorse]

I don't know. I think I was taught that in high school.

[Lul Thyme]

Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly


So does France. The fact that English doesn't have one is one of the reason that English, not French or Spanish, has become everybody's second language.

Living languages.
"Official" languages.

As many others, I strongly disagree with this as an important reasons.
Mostly influence (economic, political, etc) by some countries.
Just like with French or German or Spanish before.

[Lord Avalon]

Originally posted by alva
I've got a (simple) question. How do you guys...let me rephrase: what's the correct way of pronouncing 'kilometre'?
I keep hearing two versions of it, namely: kilometre and kilometre. Seems you guys don't have real rules when it comes to things like this, do you. ANother example would be :'uranus'.

Ki lo' me ter may be more common, but Ki' lo me' ter is technically more correct, as it follows the rest of the terms: cen' ti me' ter, mil' li me' ter.

U ray' nus is more common and definitely more comical.