Re: NAC language suppression

In the 17th and 18th centuries "French" was the official language of
diplomates and royality.  Even many awards and titles in many countries
was in French.	But industry and interenational trade, the most
industrialized country would influzence which language to use, being
England and US the most economically strongest countries in the late
19th and turn of the century.  In Sci-Fi, advanced tech worlds the
region/country that is the most strongest economically should be the
predominate language of the world.

Adrian Johnson wrote:
> 
> Oppression?  In India, there are now what, 8 official languages? 
Including
> English.  The Brits there didn't stop everyone using their own
languages,
> they just insisted that governing be done in English...
> 
> Remember that these days, worldwide English is becoming the lingua
franca
> for business, aviation, computers, etc...  There are more English
speakers
> in China now than there are in Great Britain (since vast numbers of
Chinese
> are learning English as a second language, not specifically to get
along
> better with the English speaking western nations, but because they can
use
> it to speak to everybody else...).
> 
> Many people (well, in govt and business) in South America are learning
> English for the same reasons.  I think much of that population by the
late
> 21st century will speak some to good English already - before the NAC
take
> over.
> 
> English would, I'm sure, remain the dominant language of the NAC, by
virtue
> of its vested position in the real power base (the Brit/Can/Americans
who
> run everything) at the very least.
> 
> On the other hand, in Canada, we run things with two official
languages
> (well, at the Federal level anyway... there is only one officially
> bilingual province - New Brunswick - but most of the others offer at
least
> some govt services in the other official language).  If the people
running
> the NAC are being generous when they set things up, they could decide
that
> high level government could operate in 3 or 4 languages (English and
> Spanish for sure, and maybe French and Portuguese).  Then the regional
> governments could operate and provide services in the language of the
> majority in their area (and probably English... no real reason for the
> Argentinians to provide govt in French...).  I'd imagine that the
military
> would operate with one language though - like NATO airforces do now -
> everyone speaks English so that there are fewer mixups in command and
> control....
> 
> Having said that, I heard a story once about a joint military exercise
in
> the US that had Australian (I think), US, British, (and one other -
maybe
> Israeli) troops all operating together.  They found that language was
still
> a barrier, 'cause the Americans had a really hard time understanding
the
> Brits over the radio....  Same with the Brits and people speaking with
> southern US accents...
> 
> >I wonder if there would be an oppression of language in the NAC.
> >With the absorbing of central and south America, the predominate
languages
> >would be Spanish and Portuguese (by sheer numbers alone). Would the
NAC have
> >declared an "official language" of English, or would it become a
> >multi-lingual society? If an official language was declared, how
stringently
> >would it be enforced. I can think of numerous times in history where
> >conquered peoples were prohibited from using their native tongue.
> >
> >Related:
> >What percent of the population of central and south America do you
think
> >that the LLAR was able to get off Earth?
> >
> 
> See the ongoing discussion of transportation capabilities.  I bet not
much
> as a percentage of the total - few millions maybe, max.
> 
> Adrian Johnson
> ajohnson@idirect.com