[Glice]

Cultural imperialism at work? I read recently that 2/3rds of the world speaks a second language, or at least a lingua franca. Those who contribute to this board from non-English speaking nations are included in this.

Anyone read the Whorf/ Sapir hypothesis? I got very excited about that when I was in college. It's not what it purports to be, but I do think in a great many cases concepts are certainly limited by the language in which they're expressed. Those of you who've come across Heidegger or Hegel, regardless of your opinions on them, will probably have struggled with some of the language. The most satisfactory answer with a word like geist from a German means whatever you think it means within the context of the statement.

Tangent: Is it the strength of the stories that ensures the omni-presence of Grecian myth? I say no, it's the power of the written language, the reification of a culture in words. See also the Vedas, Upinishads, the tragic histories of Lao Tsu, Mo Tsu and the spread of Indian philosophy to East Asia.

Does tradition, cultural history, cultural memory die if it's not written down? Well, yes, if all those who spread their history cease to be able to speak. Language is, faceless nobodies of the internet, empowerment, is it not? If the genocide of the Jews (to pick probably the best known contemporary genocide) were successful, would the Old Testament be called only that? If the English were successful in their aims, there would be no Welsh music. The history of Africa is the history of language destruction. For every tribal language there is 20 lost, I've read that before. What exactly is the history of Africa is we can't speak, even pidgen-style, to those people who are historical Africa?

This matter is something important, whether you care or not, faceless internet nobodies.