Dolf's Blog
Integral thoughts about development, humanity, spirituality
A plea for International English
Despite the apparently rapid growth of Chinese members of this community, the main language used on websites is still English. English in various qualities, that is. Ranging from the English of people whose native language it is, via my English as learnt at school and used at work and in private (I speak English with my partner, as neither of us speak each other's native langauge properly), to various levels of self-learned English that varies widely in quality.
Effectively, as soon as the English language skills of someone in, say, the Philippines reahes a certain level, then it can be understood by the majority of the world population. It does not need to be perfect, does not need to follow the strict grammatical rules of the language or bother with the difference between color and colour or whether it is correct to write peaceful or peacefull. It is understandable and therefore can convey the message that it wants to convey.
I therefore hereby plea for a new standard of English that is not rooted in any national version of the language (En_US, En_GB, etc.), but is truly international. We need to define a standard, simplified version of the English language that is easy to learn and understand and can be used worldwide for purposes like this blog. Esperanto hoped to become a worldwide standard language, but failed. English is the de-facto standard language for global communication and can be used to unite us further and enhance communication between cultures.
