Saturday 30 January 2010

English vs. Romanian?


I’ve been asked why. This is why:
I decided to use English (but I’ll use Romanian, as well) for two reasons: it has been the premier language of the Web for a long time, and Lexis belongs to an international organization. Moreover, it seems no other language has the same appeal for international communications and allowing everyone to communicate outside their mother tongue, which explains the dominance of English on the Internet. However, you can decide whether you want to use it in your comments or you want to stick to Romanian. 

Şi pentru că sunt un fan al statisticilor, iată şi câteva cifre grăitoare:  

At the turn of the millennium, English accounted for over 51 percent, followed by Japanese with 8.1 percent, German with 5.9 percent, Spanish with 5.8 percent, and Chinese with 5.4 percent.
Five years later in 2005, English had declined to 32 percent, Chinese had risen to 13 percent, and Japanese, German, and Spanish remained at about the same levels as in 2000.
But English persists as a common argot for business – and for the Internet, particularly since languages like Chinese often lack internal consistency among dialects. 

This does not mean these languages aren’t used online; they are, but locally rather than internationally. Chinese users are well aware that to talk to most foreigners the best chance of being understood lies with English – the only ready-made "world language."
Well, I just wanted to make things clear. 

Next post on Poor Communication: Causes and solutions (2).






Posted by Picasa