Sunday, October 09, 2011
Score one for English
BBC item:
The new nation of South Sudan has decided to make English its official language, even though it doesn't have many fluent speakers of English. Since the area encompasses 150 tribal languages and very few people can write in any tongue, some sort of Lingua Franca is desperately needed. Picking English instead of Arabic asserts their Christian identity against the mainly Islamic north, and probably makes the nation a bit more friendly to foreign investors.
Good move! Not because English is superior, but because every move to assert local religion and culture against the pressure of international or regional fashion is good. ¶ 9:06 AM
The new nation of South Sudan has decided to make English its official language, even though it doesn't have many fluent speakers of English. Since the area encompasses 150 tribal languages and very few people can write in any tongue, some sort of Lingua Franca is desperately needed. Picking English instead of Arabic asserts their Christian identity against the mainly Islamic north, and probably makes the nation a bit more friendly to foreign investors.
Good move! Not because English is superior, but because every move to assert local religion and culture against the pressure of international or regional fashion is good. ¶ 9:06 AM
