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

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/ ???

From a pragmatic point of view, I would reject any new
conlang for that purpose, because if Esperanto already
raises so many flames (I wonder why the hell it does:
it's just a practical everyday tool, it's not intended
to rewrite Shakespeare or Goethe ! nobody asks it to
be beautiful and poetical), it will be just the same,
if not worse, with any other forged language. And why
should we reinvent the wheel anyway ?

And I'm against English as THE European international
language, because English is already the language of
the USA. We are already too much looking like
Americans. The day I will decide to be an American,
I'll migrate to the USA. If I stay in Europe, it's
because I feel more European than American.

Maybe the final answer would be Europanto. Umberto Eco
already evoked something similar in The Name of The
Rose, were a monk talked some horrible mixture of
several European (Middle Age) languages. Why not,
after all ? I do talk some horrible mixture of French
and Russian with my wife, and we understand each other
at a rate of about 90%. Maybe it's better we don't
understand the remaining 10%.

Anyway, my message to the European governants is very
simple: for Heaven's sake, stop gossiping and
daydreaming, choose any solution you want, even
English if you decide there is no other alternative,
but ACT. Just DO something. If I have to learn
Esperanto tomorrow because it's a realistic and
money-saving solution, I will do it. If you decide
Maltese will be better, I'll learn Maltese. I'm just
waiting for you to DO something. Many other people do
too (especially the manufacturers). Shall we have to
kick your asses to make you understand it ?

--- Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...> wrote:
> Javier BF wrote:
> > but AFAIK
> > people in this list supposedly do not to care
> about auxlangs
> > because auxlangs are allegedly "boring" and
> "simplistic".
>
> Some people don't for that reason (I'm one of them -
> I wouldn't say
> "simplistic", but boring, sure.), it's true, but not
> everyone here feels
> that way.  However, the main reason for avoiding
> talk of auxlangs is
> that auxlangs have a tendency to produce flamewars.

=====
Philippe Caquant

"High thoughts must have high language." (Aristophanes, Frogs)


	
		
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