A quote by Douglas Nerad:
"It’s been my experience that when you become defensive of a position to the point of fanaticism then you’ve already lost. It’s just a matter of time before you realize it. France passed the Toubon Law in 1994 which codifies French as the General Custer of institutional languages. The French even have their Académie française which dictates the use of the language, commanding the use of “courriel” instead of “email”.
French lost. English won. And didn’t even try. It’s nothing to cry about just like English speakers generally don’t celebrate their ascendency."
3 years ago
2 comments:
Well, it did have some things going for it: Geographical extent (Africa was so close to France that it was too tempting a region for colonial concentration while Britain's oceanic location gave it the incentive to develop and exploit oceanic technology and culture), Britain's colonization of several regions with low population density and low exposure to Old World diseases like North America, Australia and New Zealand and it's early adoption of the industrial revolution.
English may not have "tried" but it had a lot going for it in terms of good fortune.
snake oil baron said...
"Well, it did have some things going for it: Geographical extent (Africa was so close to France that it was too tempting a region for colonial
concentration while Britain's oceanic location gave it the incentive to develop and exploit oceanic technology and culture), Britain's colonization of several regions with low population density and low exposure to Old World diseases like North America, Australia and New Zealand and it's early adoption of the industrial revolution.
English may not have "tried" but it had a lot going for it in terms of good fortune."
Good fortune? The French were among the first colonizers of North America and carved themselves a huge chunk of the continent. While the British developed the territories they had conquered, the French were too insouciant or lazy to do the same and finally sold their territories to the United States (Louisiana Purchase). In Canada, they lost their wars against the British. None of this was due to good fortune.
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