I've played that video game, it's called Fallout.

Was at work this evening at 0015 PDT to meet our people in The Netherlands at 0800 local time. Thank god their English is impeccable, because as work on their computers with remote connections to see their screens, I find the localization of Windows XP in Dutch utterly impenetrable. I also have worked on systems localized for French, Italian, Swedish, German and Finnish. In cases like this, I'm working by braille. I remember that for some context sensitive menus, "Properties" is the bottom of the list. I have some screenshots of the Control Panel we all know and love in many of the languages listed above. Even the keyboards are substantially different.

Listening to them code switch in the background as they translate what I said to the other people in the room not on the phone is a testament to their skill. I wish I knew more languages.

Chinese is easy.

Number 53 with rice.

Just because you like rice and chinese meals usually include rice I find it very wrong of you to stereotype an entire country full of people. You don't know what the everyday rice needs of the Chinese are. ;)

Can you get the number 53 without peppers?

Esperanto was an attempt at making a universal language. It hasn't caught on, although it is a very interesting language. Completely regular. There are no exceptions to the rules, which is what you can get when you design the rules for a language before the language is actually created.

Too bad it's only used by a few million people on the planet, and I don't know if it's a first language for the massive majority of them.

Heh.:p

This is only true because you're talking to a mostly older demographic. I have to communicate out of the country quite often. Your kids and mine will compete with most of the rest of the world. At least they will if they work in a white collar or IT job. The global economy is upon us.


At least until the oil runs out.

I maintain that the average person on the cellar, as well as their children, are not in fact average. I mean sure, if you want anecdotal, I too have directly dealt with clients and/or vendors in Spain, Argentina, Germany, France, England, India, Ireland, and Brazil. But most people don't.

you asked for the second most "important" language. Importance is a pretty vague criterium. I think other than English, it would depend on the part of the world you are in, the business you are in, etc.

For me, it's certainly Spanish. I live on the border and in a town that is 80% Hispanic. I would also argue that in the US, Spanish is the number two language all around, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Esperanto also has noun inflection by plural and case, and adjective agreement. In other words, Esperanto could be simpler. A universal language should not be inflected according to number and case like this just because Indo-European languages are inflected in this way.

why ya'll so galdam intelextual like an' all? why do'nt nobody just give a real quick answer? (like my burillianjt ider of icelandic to rule the world) yues er noe. quick actin all ....whatever. shheesh.

Fools. The second (if not the first) most important language is the language of luurrrrve. :D

How about sign language? Sure, there are a few different versions, but not as many as spoken languages, some of it it intuitive even to people who have never encountered it before and it does include an extra portion of the communicatively-challenged population (while excluding another, sadly). Sign language already closes the Frech/American divide -maybe it can also resolve the freedom fries issue?

Or computer languages? Binary? Can we call Binary a language? It's a pretty damn important communication concept, that's for sure. at some level. Barcodes and shit.

OH MY GOD!!!! It's Britney Spears, here on the Cellar!!

:D

Punch one for English.

Okay, I'm changing my vote to Galactic Standard.