Re: English Centricity (or is it USA Centricity)

Johannes Swartling wrote:

> "Harvey" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> > > As western languages go and using the roman alphabet, GERMAN is a
> > > superior language
> >
> > So we swap nightmareish to non existence pronunciation rules for
> > horrendously complicated grammar...........
> > No win situation.
>
>
> Horrendously complicated for whom? 

54 different rules for the use of the comma? Leaving alone the spelling 
reform :-) Jokes apart the german construction of the sentence *is* a 
nightmare at least for me (native italian, now in Austria)

> English speakers? I'm sure there are many
> people in the world who find the English grammar as horrendously complicated
> as you find German. Grammar is just a matter of your perspective. 

I disagree. The amount of knowledge needed for communicating is far less 
in English than in German.

> The
> complication of pronunciation rules, on the other hand, are can be more
> objectively judged, depending on the diversity of different pronunciations
> for any given spelling.
>
> It's probably true that there are langauges that have simpler pronuciation
> rules than English. On the other hand, English has become a global language
> and many people are given their daily dose of English from television,
> movies, music, tourists, etc., and that "training" may compensate for the
> difficulties.

In Sweden you have it from TV and movies. In Germany, Italy, France, 
Spain the movies are all dubbed so you have less exposure. However 
Internet is big push for younger generations.

> I'm quite happy that we have English as a common language. As long as there
> is a common language I don't care very much which language it is (but I'm
> glad that it happened to be a language of indo-european origin/latin
> alphabet and not some Chinese dialect...)

Why not taking the modern Latin for it? OK the grammar has more 
exceptions than rules, but I feel quite comfortable with it :-)

Ciao,
Alessandro

Submarining is inherently safer that air travel. This is supported by 
the fact that there are more airplanes at the bottom of the sea than 
subs in the air.