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Why English sucks as the language for international and scientific communication

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Re: Why English sucks as the language for international and scientific communication

#51

Post by baldfat »

qznc wrote: post #36
baldfat wrote: post #21

I understand the issues with English and well Latin is a great scientific language BUT... English is the most spoken language in the world. There are 4 times as many second language speakers for each native English speakers. I totally get the issues listed. I am a native English speakers with horrible Spanish skills and 4 years of ancient Hebrew and Greek studies. English just works as a language for people and it is…

According to Wikipedia [0] Mandarin has slightly more speakers. 1200M vs 1350M. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_num...

Good post showing the content part of my argument.

http://blog.esl-languages.com/blog/esl/most-spoken-languages...

Re: Why English sucks as the language for international and scientific communication

#52

Post by cafard »

dnautics wrote: post #2

One and two are not a problem; three is. German, Italian, and Korean might have been better choices in that regard. French has some frustrating silent letters and horrifying irregular verbs (although not to the scale of English)

Are French irregular verbs really more horrifying than German irregular verbs?

Re: Why English sucks as the language for international and scientific communication

#53

Post by coolguy43 »

nitrogen wrote: post #47
vacri wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To make a dot-point list, preface each line with four spaces. HN interprets that as 'code snippet' and keeps your formatting. On-topic, one thing I see missing when I read articles detracting from English is the benefits of English. Like not having genders for non-gendered things. This article talks of ambiguity in English, but in turn an English student doesn't have to figure out whether a pair of scissors is male o…

> To make a dot-point list, preface each line with four spaces. HN interprets that as 'code snippet' and keeps your formatting. If you do this, remember to add line breaks every 50 characters or so for mobile screens. * An alternative is adding two newlines between each bullet point, * so each point is in its own paragraph.

Thanks. You can talk to english native speaking at http://preply.com/en/skype/english-native-speakers

Re: Why English sucks as the language for international and scientific communication

#54

Post by reuven »

rm445 wrote: post #48
reuven wrote: post #37

No one got up one morning and said, "You know what? We really should be conducting all of our business in English." It was the result of many years, and many different accidents of history that led to English having its current position in the world. World War II, the growth of American industry, the dominant position that the US has played in research and business, and the growth of the computer industry in the US a…

I think your list of reasons begins a couple of hundred years too late.

English wasn't the main language of commerce or science until about 100 years ago. Before then, French and German were pretty dominant, if I'm not mistaken.

Re: Why English sucks as the language for international and scientific communication

#55

Post by wtbob »

SundayLinguist wrote: post #46
vorg wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Adverbs for adjectives ending in -ly end in -like instead, e.g. "costly-like", "friendly-like".

I would just go with "cost-wise", "friend-wise", although I feel there's a nuance in there somewhere.

Hmmm, how about costlywise & friendlywise?

Re: Why English sucks as the language for international and scientific communication

#56

Post by vorg »

wtbob wrote: post #55
SundayLinguist wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would just go with "cost-wise", "friend-wise", although I feel there's a nuance in there somewhere.

Hmmm, how about costlywise & friendlywise?

"friendlylike" and "friendwise" have different meanings and usage contexts, but I wouldn't use "friendlywise" except in an unusual context.

"friendlylike" is used because the adjective "friendly" already has an -ly ending which makes the corresponding adverb "friendlily" sound clumsy, so e.g. "I spoke slowly and friendlylike to him". We could use "friendwise" to introduce a context, e.g. "Friendwise, I don't have many, but acquaintancewise, I do". But "friendlywise" requires an unusual adjectival context, e.g. "I show different behaviors for different situations: suspiciouswise, on the train or in the mall; attackingwise, on the sports field; friendlywise, at work or in karaoke." It sounds very contrived though.

Re: Why English sucks as the language for international and scientific communication

#57

Post by dragonwriter »

vorg wrote: post #40
viewer5 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few times in conversations I've found myself trying to force "friendlily" (friendly as an adverb) out of my mouth. Aside from me tripping on my tongue trying to pronounce it, the people around me understood what I was saying just fine.

Adverbs for adjectives ending in -ly end in -like instead, e.g. "costly-like", "friendly-like".

I've never seen either of those in use; nor can I find evidence for them on the internet easily. While people will often probably understand either costlily/friendlily or costlylike/friendlylike, not trying to force either into a single word and just using an adverbial phrase (e.g., "in a friendly manner") is probably the most common and understandable way to express the idea in English. Not every adjective needs a corresponding single-word adverb.
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