The destructive power of a foreign language

[Classik]

The most destructive weapon an enemy could use upon a country is
destroying the people's language by imposing something new upon them. Language has a powerful unifying power.

I think many nations who have directly or indirectly done this stole the idea from.
The Tower of Babel

. Genesis 11 NKJV

1 Now the whole earth had one language andone speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plainin the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.
3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.†They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.
4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in theheavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.â€


5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.
7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.â€
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth,and they ceased building the city.
9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad overthe face of all the earth.


Imposing another language upon people does the following:
* The people will lose or almost lose their own language with time. We know examples.
* Culture will be affected.
* Your children are exposed to foreign language. It does affect their understanding of what is being taught at school etc. There are many problems with this.

So when they tell you, 'It's a universal language', kind of, it doesn't always bring good to your people.


At the same time a foriegn language might have wonderful advantages (communication, trade, etc). However note that your language is the best.

 

[Aardverk]

Conversely, speaking the same language has a fairly effective unifying power. I think most of us will feel some affinity between USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and UK that is probably a combination of language and predominant ethnic origin. Apart from the US & UK civil wars, the only war between English speaking nations that springs to mind is the USA war of independence against the Brits.

I feel there is also a better bond between the above countries and India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and South Africa (Largely English speaking) than there is between us and most other Asian or African countries.

If you travel in Europe, you find that people in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland and Belgium almost all speak good English and seem far closer to 'us' than the majority of non-English speaking people in say: France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece etc. So, yes, in a different sense, I agree that there is a destructive power in a foreign language. Everyone should learn to speak English:yes

 

[Classik]

Yes: you have a good point. English should be spoken worldwide, I recommend it. But, it kind of brings us back to the Tower of Babel Time. Things might get worse, of course. It's positivity will be far less than its negativity.
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I don't really understand what happened to Latin and some other languages. Some people can't even fluently speak their mother tongue. I think Asia has this wonderful fear and respect for their language.

If you must study in Germany, being a foreigner, of course you know the major requirement.

Not all muslims speak English. Think what happens when such nations are made English-speaking nations. There are advantages and disadvantages. Of course we know them.


I think God did well when HE gave man multiple languages