Re: CHAT: EU allumettes (was: Re: THEORY/CHAT: Talmy,Jackendoff and Matchboxes

Philippe Caquant wrote:

>Oh, sorry to have lit IIIrd World War (with an humble
>matchbox...)
>
>I don't intend to make propaganda for Esperanto, Ido,
>or any other auxlang. I'm just pragmatic. My point is:
>if you have 4x5cm at your disposal and you must write
>some legal advice in 20 languages on such an area,
>then it will be unreadable, so it will be of no use
>for anybody. Yet it will cost the manufacturer time
>and money. And they probably will be lots of mistakes
>in the different languages. So to me, this is just
>nonsense, just like paying an army of translators in
>EU administrations: this is very bad for EU budget,
>and who pays it ? Me. And you, dear European
>taxpayers.
>
>So, some reasonable answers could be: 1/ English; 2/
>English + 3 or 4 main European languages (German,
>French, Spanish...): war in sight ! 3/ Esperanto or
>Ido (because they exist already); 4/ International
>pictograms (not possible for every case, and Internal
>Pictionary still to be made); 5/ ???
>
>
Okay.  Of those, I like 2 the best. However, I'd really prefer to keep
the European Union's multilingualism.  It entertains me.

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