I hate it when people describe a language as either useful or useless. In reality, it's neither. Think about it: a language such as Mandarin Chinese can be as useless as a language like Swedish. It all comes down to what you do with your language skills. Are you going to do anything related to China and Chinese? Are you going to do anything related to Sweden and Swedish?
So, what you do determines the usefulness of any language, be it Arabic or Oromo. Of course, everything also depends on how you perceive the usefulness of your actions.
There's only one language in the world that is (or more, has become) undoubtedly useful for anyone: English. And that's only because it's used by so many people around the world to communicate with not only English speakers, but also native speakers of other completely unrelated languages. A German can easily communicate with an Indonesian by using English.
The point is, don't say that you should learn this language because it is "useful" and not learn that language because it is "useless." It's only useful if you use it, and useless if you don't.
saging for butthurt, just give in and learn mandarin already
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Anonymous2009-08-17 6:25
Swedish is pretty much useless, and I'm thinking if it weren't a national language, it would completely die out in a few centuries. I live in Sweden, and I've never met a Swede that didn't speak English.
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Anonymous2009-08-17 8:14
>>2
Sometimes you have to state the obvious for people to realize it.
There are two languages in the world that are (or more, have become) undoubtedly useful for anyone: French and English. And that's only because it's used by so many people around the world to communicate with not only French and English speakers, but also native speakers of other completely unrelated languages. A German can easily communicate with an Indonesian by using French or English.
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Anonymous2009-08-29 12:32
>>10
Thinking French is still. well, a Lingua Franca is silly. Maybe in Europe, but not in the rest of the English-learning world, i.e. the German in your scenario may very well speak French, but unless he has a specific reason to learn French the Indonesian will not.
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Anonymous2009-08-29 14:48
>>10
Bullshit. Spanish has even more speakers than French. And of course Chinese has more speakers than English.
>>18
Actually, different languages arise naturally from geographical and temporal separation. Even if we (for some reason) declared a language universal, it would mutate naturally over time, and differently in different zones. After enough centuries, the original language will be unintelligible by the current native speakers, and then you'll need linguists again if you want to read texts from the time.
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Anonymous2009-08-31 9:51
>>22
Retard, today we have mass media and the Internet. In other words, even if dialects arise (they sure will), the language won't become unintelligible.
First, even with mass media, any language can split if its speakers are segregated. On average, daily communication with friends, coworkers, family, etc. occupy a much larger percent of time than TV and the Internet. Not to mention that the average person is more likely to watch or listen to more local TV or radio, mostly the news.
Second, even if the language evolves consistently all over the world, it will still *evolve*. Which means that after enough time, it will be completely different from what it was originally. It's simply impossible to prevent it. You can't read something that was written 500 years ago with any modern language. That will never change.
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Anonymous2009-08-31 15:38
Your second point is reasonable, and I actually agree.
Now, your first point is moot (OH HAI MOOT!). But how many years must pass before we get to the point of having unintelligible languages which are rooted from a single one? 1000? 300? At that point we can "reset" everything and create a new universal language. And I don't mean Esperanto or Lojban shit: i mean a true lingua franca, just like English is a lingua franca today.
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Anonymous2009-08-31 15:59
>>25 And I don't mean Esperanto or Lojban shit: i mean a true lingua franca, just like English is a lingua franca today.
That's irrelevant. Most English speakers have it as a second language, and people don't teach second languages to their children, they teach them whatever the community speaks (assuming they're not immigrants or native English speakers, obviously).
First, not second, languages are the ones that get passed down.
>>12
The usefulness of a language is proportional to the number of its speakers only for retards.
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Anonymous2009-09-02 22:41
>>30 The usefulness of a language is proportional to the number of speakers one is interested in communicating with.
fix'd
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Anonymous2009-09-03 5:48
>>29
French speakers
in Europe are faggots
in North America are faggots
in South America are niggers
in Africa are niggers and sand niggers
in Asia are nigger-chinks
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Anonymous2009-09-04 15:18
The value of a language is proportional to the amount of money or pussy you'll make off of it. Japanese would be useless if it weren't for their economy. And cp. lol
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Anonymous2009-09-04 15:54
English is the only truly "useful" language. It's the only language one needs in life.
>>36
They could use a notebook with text-to-speech. And they can read lips.
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Anonymous2009-09-09 7:20
>>34
And what if I want to learn Russian so I can read Pushkin and all the other classic literature in its native tongue? There's no money or pussy to be gained, but I would still consider it a wise time-investment (over something like watching TV or chatting on MSN in my spare time).
>English is the only truly "useful" language. It's the only language one needs in life.
Yeah maybe if you live in an English-speaking country. But believe it or not, there are many people in this world who do not live in English speaking countries, and thus have no use for the language.
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Anonymous2009-09-09 19:03
English and Spanish.
If you speak Spanish you can communicate with someone who speaks another Romantic language like Portuguese, Italian, and maybe French. I'm not saying you can communicate effectively, but if worse comes to worse and you absolutely need to talk to some Portuguese guy, many words will sound familiar.