Too Many Languages!

[Danny Ocean]

This is stupid. How does language have anything to do with your country's other cultural preferences? It's still a damn statue no matter what you call it!

I believe there was one fairly controversial study that showed that people who spoke gendered languages (like Spanish or German) had a different thought process or way of thinking than people who spoke in a neuter language (in the study, English).

That seems like statistic abuse to me. I'm sure that the English speaking Germans and Spanish people still act the same as the ones who only speak their native tongue.

Ugh, I still don't see any reasons not to besides petty nationalism. Your culture, fundamentally, is human. Despite what any book or your parents say.

The day we all accept that we are all in the same damn boat is the day we can start making the world a better place. Not for any country's sake; not for any coalition's sake; not for any continent's sake; but, for Humanity's sake.

 

[naftali1]

(I've heard the major loss to culture as reason against this idea before, but it has never been explained what makes losing a language so culturally devastating.)

Losing a language could be religiously devastating more than culturally. For example, if Hebrew was lost there is no way to study the Torah because a Torah scroll has to be written in Hebrew.

Sure there are translated copies, but they lose a lot of meaning in translation. Each letter has it's own spiritual meaning that is lost.

Meh, I'm one of those nutjobs who believes that a really old book is not the secret to spirituality.

Understandable, and I agree to an extent. But it is a HUGE part in Judaism. All of our teachings have roots in that text.

 

[Saskwach]

I felt as if millions of linguists all cried out, and suddenly fell silent.
Being one of those people who is not only learning a language but planning to study linguistics, my response to this suggestion is quite visceral: NO, and f*** you!
Seriously, with only one language linguistics would be as close to a dead field as is possible - a field on life support. Let's also not forget that language is intensely personal to billions of people; it's a huge part of how people think and create a sense of togetherness. Language choice, from lingo and slang all the way up to dialects and full-blown languages, is often used as an in-group marker to separate who's who and who's not. It's not always nice, but it's how people work.
But who needs an official declaration on such things when these things are already taking their course?