Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!

[HarveyDarkey]

Run time: 10:36 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFX68SJs2-0   Posted on YouTube: March 31, 2011 By YouTube Member: TEDtalksDirector Views on YouTube: 458   Posted on DU: April 01, 2011 By DU Member: HarveyDarkey Views on DU: 1270

 
http://www.ted.com At TEDxDubai, longtime English teacher Patricia Ryan asks a provocative question: Is the world's focus on English preventing the spread of great ideas in other languages? (For instance: what if Einstein had to pass the TOEFL?) It's a passionate defense of translating and sharing ideas.

[aquart]

1. By all means let's make sure we can't speak to each other.

I can't think of a better way to exchange ideas.

[HarveyDarkey]

You didn't watch it, did you?

Run time: 10:36 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFX68SJs2-0   Posted on YouTube: March 31, 2011 By YouTube Member: TEDtalksDirector Views on YouTube: 458   Posted on DU: April 01, 2011 By DU Member: HarveyDarkey Views on DU: 1270

 
You obviously didn't because you response time was considerably less than the length of the video.

Watch it and you may have a different response.

[wysimdnwyg]

2. I'd hate to think how high the percentage of Americans would be

who couldn't pass a similar English proficiency exam.

[Xipe Totec]

3. You can't really understand Shakespeare, until you read it in the original Klingon

:hide:

Seriously, I think translating great works of literature to other languages is vitally important to human progress.

The beauty of it is that truly great works of literature transcend language. They express the universal.

The Iliad & the Odyssey
Don Quixote
Steppenwolf
Les Miserables
Scheherazade
One Hundred Years of Solitude
The Good Earth
War and Peace
The Old Man and the Sea
Labyrinth

[SoulSearcher]

4. No

Pick ANY language as a primary, you will always have the same problem.
Logic and money dicate human ambition - for instance the motivation of the
rural bo to use a solar-powered light was his desire to read - at night - at an
AFFORDABLE cost...

Not knocking her overall point - but the primary reason English became popular
was due to trade benefits - and this is never static. Chinese and German are
emerging as leaders, because technology is starting to export FROM there.
I know this sounds arrogant -I don't mean it that way. And if you disagree
(hah) at least I know we won't bomb each other to prove our point...

[SoulSearcher]

5. (apoligies on the typo's)

I really did pass second grade, just don't know how to correct
a post after hitting the ENTER key.

[Xipe Totec]

6. It does sound arrogant, and you did mean it that way

Logic and money dictate monopoly. And we all know where that leads.

The primary reason English became popular was not due to trade benefits; it was due to conquest.

[SoulSearcher]

7. No - I did not mean it that way

I was not trying to force my idea, just that what I have
seen. I help at a shelter, they want to make the most of
what resources they have count. So we do it that way.
Nothing to do with language.

No offense intended - really - just that the "cost" (efficiency)
seems to be the primary denominator.

Maybe I'm skewed - I watched Eddy Izzard's MSG performance
two days ago ( netflix), his bit on Latin versus English re Hannibal
crossing the Alps was hiliarious. That was the tone I was trying to convey.
Guess I should keep my day job...

[SoulSearcher]

8. Maybe this link on Monopoly describes both

our points best. I think we get to the same point, different paths.

http://www.f136.com/people?gclid=COP1w7G1-qcCFQpm7AodQHmQtA