'There is no language that is superior to another' - Ramaphosa

[spiff]

"There is no language in this country that is superior to another,"

so what about skin colour?

 

[rambo919]

It's funny how people get so religious about how "superior" english is considering it's basically a bastard germanic langue...... it's got so many different lingual ancestors it's basically colourd.

 

[Milano]

The remaining 24 indigenous languages of SA that receive no official recognition are all equal. Just go with it. The chosen primary language of government and parliament is English. They are all equal. Just go with it.

 

[rambo919]

The remaining 24 indigenous languages of SA that receive no official recognition are all equal. Just go with it. The chosen primary language of government and parliament is English. They are all equal. Just go with it.

I do find it hillarious that the "anti-colonial" regime should choose a colonial language...... they are either nuts of just plain idiots.

 

[Milano]

I do find it hillarious that the "anti-colonial" regime should choose a colonial language...... they are either nuts of just plain idiots.

And remarkably the state's actual chosen language is not even a recognised language unless talking shìt is now a recognised language.

 

[GreatWmR]

Sounds like he messed up his animal farm reference
"All languages are equal, but some languages are LESS equal than others" - Lesufi Cyril Ramaphosa

 

[Nanfeishen]

In a society where English is already dominating, there's little chance the indigenous languages will develop well enough to rival developed languages. To compound the issues, black middle class has largely adopted English as a dominant language in their daily lives.

Its a world wide phenomenon , indigenous languages are dying out all around, they run well into the hundreds.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization defines five levels of language endangerment between "safe" (not endangered) and "extinct"

• Vulnerable – "most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains (e.g. home)"
• Definitely endangered – "children no longer learn the language as mother tongue in the home"
• Severely endangered – "language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among themselves"
• Critically endangered – "the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language partially and infrequently"
• Extinct – "there are no speakers left; included in the Atlas if presumably extinct since the 1950s"

Some Examples from different locations :

List of endangered languages in India - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

List of endangered languages in China - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

List of endangered languages in Russia - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[rambo919]

If a small barely used language dies out..... is it really a loss?

 

[Ninja'd]

It's funny how people get so religious about how "superior" english is considering it's basically a bastard germanic langue...... it's got so many different lingual ancestors it's basically colourd.

Jou ma

 

[rambo919]

Jou ma

Nee bra deesdae is dit sommer almal se Peoples of Economic Struggles party nie net jou ma sin nie

 

[ForceFate]

It's funny how people get so religious about how "superior" english is considering it's basically a bastard germanic langue...... it's got so many different lingual ancestors it's basically colourd.

The results are almost flawless.

 

[MrGray]

While it's lovely to acknowledge all the languages, it's a waste of time and resources to focus on anything other than the most pragmatic.

English is the de facto "lingua franca" of the planet so as much as you can debate the relative merits of other languages this is the one essential language that anyone who wants to get anywhere in life needs to know. This isn't an opinion, it's just the objective reality.

 

[Kosmik]

That's what all Java devs say

I dunno, I heard that last from a VB dev....if you can find one these days.

 

[rambo919]

The results are almost flawless.

And then it gets so complicated it starts falling apart and in the end will only survive as a inferior mongrel because the ambitions were unrealistic.

 

[Nanfeishen]

If a small barely used language dies out..... is it really a loss?

Historically , yes , a huge loss.
We land up with undeciphered writing systems and scripts, that could very well contain knowledge that allows us to better understand our past.
If somebody hadnt taken the time to carve out the Rosetta stone , we would never understand the history of Egypt as well as we do, as the ability to read, write and speak the language was lost, and even with that stone there are huge gaps in the knowledge.
Language, especially recorded written language plays a far bigger role in understanding and deciphering the history of humanity than most people realise.

 

[rambo919]

Historically , yes , a huge loss.
We land up with undeciphered writing systems and scripts, that could very well contain knowledge that allows us to better understand our past.
If somebody hadnt taken the time to carve out the Rosetta stone , we would never understand the history of Egypt as well as we do, as the ability to read, write and speak the language was lost, and even with that stone there are huge gaps in the knowledge.
Language, especially recorded written language plays a far bigger role in understanding and deciphering the history of humanity than most people realise.

Except there you are comparing large languages with fringe languages..... on a practical level there are just too many currently. Their very diversity becomes a problem when it comes to their usefulness especially with so many of them being verbally based languages which produces less intelligent people because only literary languages provide the tools for advanced thinking.

True there is always a loss but currently we are at a civilizational level where everything can be transcribed to superior languages which will mean almost no loss if the original language inevitably dies out.

 

[Okty]

The results are almost flawless.

What? English has a lot of legacy problems in it, when compared to other major language groups.

 

[ForceFate]

Except there you are comparing large languages with fringe languages..... on a practical level there are just too many currently. Their very diversity becomes a problem when it comes to their usefulness especially with so many of them being verbally based languages which produces less intelligent people because only literary languages provide the tools for advanced thinking.

True there is always a loss but currently we are at a civilizational level where everything can be transcribed to superior languages which will mean almost no loss if the original language inevitably dies out.

Only if they have official status.

 

[ForceFate]

What? English has a lot of legacy problems in it, when compared to other major language groups.

So does most "creole" languages. You'll notice I highlighted "almost" in that post.

 

[hungrymamba]

But if there was a superior language - it would be Zulu - just saying ...