This episode was brought up on Wait, wait, don’t tell me where one of the commentators opined that speaking French could not be inappropriate when you were in France and addressing a question to the President of France.

I went to a conference in Germany a while back where everyone was required to speak in English, no matter what, even in informal settings. There was one person from Great Britain, three from the US. One guy was from Norway. Everyone else was from Spain, Italy, Germany and France. (And, the only people who did not know multiple languages of those spoken there were two of the three Americans and one German who was not attending the conference officially, but as a spouse of a participant)

And that’s the great thing of having a lingua franca (no matter which one it is).
I recently picked up a job for two days doing translation for an internal company training. They had participants from South Africa, Israel, Italy, Spain, Russia, Germany and two or three other countries and only the Spanish guys didn’t speak English. My luck.
Sure, the English often made my toenails curl and half a dozen times I had also to clear up missunderstandings happening due to incorrect English, but for a company it’s great to be able to do such a training in only one language.

(That language also allows you to pluralize verbs, which is interesting).

I agree that it is not only English taking over other langauges, but for the most part, those other languages that are busy displacing linguistic diversity are being taken over by English. Spanish and Portuguese will be taken over (maybe) by English, for example.

I went to a conference in Germany a while back where everyone was required to speak in English, no matter what, even in informal settings. There was one person from Great Britain, three from the US. One guy was from Norway. Everyone else was from Spain, Italy, Germany and France. (And, the only people who did not know multiple languages of those spoken there were two of the three Americans and one German who was not attending the conference officially, but as a spouse of a participant)

Ridiculous: English has no rules, only exceptions.

Imaginary numbers: And by some linguists’ estimates, only 200 of English’s near 1,000,000 words of vocabulary are purely English,

Was I diplomatic and vague enough?

Other than that, I’ll agree. English has no rules, only exceptions. And by some linguists’ estimates, only 200 of English’s near 1,000,000 words of vocabulary are purely English, the rest are stolen or absorbed from other languages.

I’m wondering what the definition for “pure English word” would be anyway since it’s of Germanic origin. Is a word of Germanic roots that the Germanic invaders brought to England and used ever since English?

The advantage of English, apart from its dominance, is that it’s easy to grasp the basics for a simple conversation. Spelling is something much focused on in schools, but for people who simply want to use it as a means of spoken comunication, it’s totally irrelevant.

Not so. English’s greatest strength is its flexibility and adaptability. One can say more concepts and ideas in English than in any other language.

Other than that, I’ll agree. English has no rules, only exceptions. And by some linguists’ estimates, only 200 of English’s near 1,000,000 words of vocabulary are purely English, the rest are stolen or absorbed from other languages.

“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.”
– James Nicoll

Conversing with native English speakers I often think that something that could help would be also to strengthen the secondary language skills of English speakers. I often encounter a lack of awareness as to how their language shapes their thoughts and view of reality. And also to humble them a bit when they encounter somebody whose English is not perfect.

So what are you on about??