Promote English as a global language

I received another LinkedIn job interview offer today:

On 03/09/09 4:33 AM, Maya Bar On wrote:
Dear Dan,

I’m writing on behalf of Mr. Shy Avni, CEO of Multilingual QA Ltd. an exclusive quality assurance center, specializing in testing localized software in over 30 languages, by native speakers and under one roof. Mr. Avni is going to visit the Bay area starting the week of March 16th and I would be happy to set up an introductory meeting between you and Mr. Avni.

Please let me know if this suits you and I can arrange the time.

Thank you,

Best Regards,
Maya Bar On
Business Development Manager
Multilingual QA Ltd.

Here is my reply:

Hello Maya,

Thank you for looking at my profile and having me in mind for this job opportunity.

However, in the meantime I have come to the conclusion that translation in languages other than English is short-sighted (more details in my essay http://wiki.dandascalescu.com/essays/english-universal-language).

Best regards,
Dan Dascalescu

Now, here is their reply :-)

Hello Dan,
Thank you for your reply, I read your article, it was very interesting, thanks for sending it. Would you still like to set a meeting with Mr. Shy Avni?

Best Regards,
Maya Bar On

And this is how I put an end to this joke:

Hello Maya,

As explained in my essay, I have solid rational arguments to conclude that translating into languages other than English is – plainly put – foolish. Now, if I were to accept this meeting,

1) Would Mr. Shy Avni be willing to debate with me the very idea underlying his localization business? I don’t think so, or that would mean he doesn’t believe in it, in which case I would not want to work for him.

2) Would I ever accept a job offer doing that which I believe is foolish? That would mean I have no integrity. Would you want such an employee?

My answer is, therefore, a clear-cut NO.

Best regards,
Dan

I just finalized my article on why English should be the world’s universal language.

Comments are welcome on that page.

OK, I want a strong counter-argument to this:

Germany’s and Europe’s largest automobile club, ADAC, has conducted hundreds of crash tests on hundreds of vehicles. For the informed car buyer, the car crash test results are life-saving information… in German! Since this information can be accessed for free anyway, why did ADAC not just publish it in English?

1. You can use Google Translate to translate the page anyway. On the same token, you could use Google Translate and have everyone publish in their obscure language, but Google Translate is machine translation, still far from a human translation (“The front crumple zone of the A4 digested the shock [...]”). Also, by keeping the text in German, users websearching for crash tests will never come across this resource.
2. It’s ADAC’s information and they can do whatever they want with it. Sure, ADAC has no duty to translate their findings, but we’re talking about crucial safety information here. They could be considerate to the rest of the world who doesn’t speak the superior German language.
3. You can read through the information in German anyway, it’s mostly car model names and star-ratings. True, at the first superficial look. But there’s interesting information about each crash test, which savvy (German-speaking) customers can use.
4. Translation has its costs. And crashing luxury cars doesn’t?

I don’t get this. Mp3DirectCut is the best lossless MP3 editor out there. Freeware, extremely small, fast etc.; everything you’d like. Yet once in a while, a user has a question or wants to file a bug report.

Well, guess what? The discussion forum for Mp3DirectCut is in GERMAN!!!

For crying out loud, Mp3DirectCut author, why do you force any non-German speaker go through the stupid steps of trying to navigate a German forum site to leave you a suggestion? Do you know how many gave up?

USE ENGLISH, damn it. This is not a discussion forum about homeless people in Hamburg or frustration with sewage in Leipzig.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/09/070918-languages-extinct.html

“From Alaska to Australia, hundreds of languages around the world are teetering on the brink of extinction – some being spoken only by a single person, according to a new study.”

“Finally!”, I might add. The article, however, goes on in a rather silly fashion:

“Most of what we know about species and ecosystems is not written down anywhere, it’s only in people’s heads,” he said. “We are seeing in front of our eyes the erosion of the human knowledge base.”

Um, huh? That is pure bullshit. Most of the information about species and ecosystems is stored in BOOKS. Who cares about what some stupid tribe thinks about the mythical significance of some animal? If we’re interested in that species and we don’t already have tons of information and video footage about it, we’ll go there, film it, save the video and whoever cares about it can analyze it later. OK, so we’ll miss on the tribe member who knows what time of the day to harvest some weird plant to counteract the effect of the rash caused by some other exotic plant. Who cares ?!

And I’m tired of having arguments over the implied corollary of simplifying the English language to the point where the word “synonym” becomes obsolete.

Because think of it: We’d have to vote on it. We’d never get consensus, though I’m fairly sure we could get a majority to eliminate words like “mauve” and “taupe.” Interesting though they may sound, no one knows, even now, what they ARE.

Anyway, I give up.

—Pope John Paul II reported in the Sunday Telegraph, 1 December, 1985.

Here is an article that explains why English is the lingua franca of the world, and how its spelling can be improved to foster communication.

English Spelling for International Communication.

Here are some things you can do to promote English as a global language:

1. Point out that the huge amounts spent by multi-billion dollar companies on translation would be better spent on educating children in poor countries.
2. If you are a bilingual speaker, write all globally-relevant public content (even blogs about your city in Japan – there may be international tourists looking for information about it) in English. This will also help yourself and your readership pick up more English.
3. When asked to translate something from English, consider imparting some English knowledge to the asker.
4. If you are learning a language other than English, double-check your reasons. If you travel to China frequently, learn some basic Chinese expressions, but don’t embark on learning Chinese.
5. If you have the resources, or just want to experience a radically different culture (Peace Corps anyone?) consider teaching English to children:
   http://www.globalvolunteers.org/projects/teaching.asp
   http://www.teachabroad.com
6. Virally spread this idea.

See you in 50 years. I hope you will have made a difference. And I cheer natural selection ;->

Excerpts from http://www.languagemonitor.com/Global_English.html:

In 1582, though, William Shakespeare married Ann Hathaway—and the language itself has since flourished as magnificently as the playwright himself. More than one billion people now speak it. Another billion people are learning it. Not bad, indeed.

The British Council, an independent charitable organization, says the English language now has special status of one kind or another in 75 countries. That one-third of the world’s books are published in English. That two-thirds of all scientists read English. That three-quarters of the world’s mail is written in English. That four-fifths of all electronic communications are in English. That people who spend time in Britain simply to learn English spend $2-billion a year doing it.

It is true that more than 40 countries have established academic police forces to protect their languages. But these are, for the most part, reactionary institutions that seek to reverse the past rather than invent the future. Cardinal Richelieu was the first of the language cops, founding the illustrious L’Académie française in 1634 with a mandate “to give rules to our language, and to render it pure and elegant.” Time travel would have been a simpler assignment. Once the great language of diplomacy, the French language has been going through rough times. Indeed, France deemed it necessary a few years ago to amend its constitution, specifying French as the official language of the republic. By its nature, language is decentralized, independent and anarchic. Only in exceptional circumstances, is it pure and elegant. It is almost always out of control.

North America gave English room to roam. In Mr. Mulcaster’s 1582, English was spoken by perhaps four million people. In Mr. Adams’s 1780, by perhaps 12 million. In Noah Webster’s 1828, on publication of The American Dictionary of the English Language, by perhaps 50 million. A century later, in H.L. Mencken’s rambunctious 1920s, on his publication of The American Language, by perhaps 200 million. With two billion now speaking it or learning to speak it, we can credibly imagine a genuine global language.

English is to language as capitalism is to economics. It is the language of laissez-faire, of enterprise—and, beyond all argument, of hope.

Background: I am a native speaker of Romanian and have been learning English for 16 years. I have worked as an English <-> Romanian translator professionally for two years and am a NAATI professional translator from English into Romanian. I currently work in the globalization arena.

It is my strong opinion that the world would be a better place if everyone understood a universal language in addition to their native tongue. Today, the best candidate for such a language would be English.

I have debated numerous individuals on 43things who wanted to learn languages other than English, for reasons of various seriousness; many being “just for fun” or “because it makes you smarter”.

To date, my arguments are synthesized at the following entry:

Why learning languages other than English is a bad idea, or why English is the best universal language today

Comments are welcome.