dave32 Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 While English is practical, I got no problem with a little exercise in national pride and not adopting it as an 'official' second language. Good for them. Besides, if everybody speaks English it gets a little dull and from a selfish perspective - my lazy ass won't bother to learn anything new if there's no incentive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simie Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 << And Flash what about the sinking of the Vichy fleet in North Africe by the Royal Navy. >> Shocking is the word for it, but that was Churchill. Churchie slaughtered about 1300 French sailors because he feared the French fleet might eventually join Adolf and Musso, now that France had surrendered. He delivered an ultimatum to the French Navy, demanding they surrender to the RN. The French simply could not believe the Brits would attack them - but the RN did. The French lost a battleship and some destroyers, whilst the rest of the fleet was savaged. The Brits lost only attacking six planes. It wasn't a battle, it was a massacre. DeGaulle was furious. The French still have every reason to be pissed off, but Churchie always played hard ball. Ironically, the French went to great lengths to keep the Nazis from getting their hands on any of their ships - which makes the massacre even more bizarre. Still, Churchill was the one who targeted German civilians in the aerial bombing of German cities. His logic was that it takes only a couple of months to rebuilt a factory, but it takes 18 years to raise a new worker. Flash, I'd have to disagree slightly with you over this one. I'd say at the time it was far from clear that the Vichy would'nt let the French fleet fall into German hands. So I think Churchill just could'nt take the chance. As you say the old boy was ruthless though more or less anything was ok if it contributed to Hitlers defeat and Britains survival. Simie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 I thought Teochew Chinese was the first language and Thai the second. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCorinthian Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Hi, Didn't know that. Doesn't change my point though Sanuk! You are correct, but I think it helps with mine. English has seem to have mastered what others thus far have not. Absorption. I believe in the next 100 - 300 years, English will be very different, just like it is different from Shakespeare's time, because it will suck in words from other cultures. That is why English is the largest (or on the top 5) language word count wise in the world. But my biggest and best example of how English is taking the world comes from watching a Thai laborer on the street. This poor guy making 160bht a day at best hit is finger with his beating stick... Jumped up and said (badly) "God damn mother fucker!!!" and threw the stick. It goes to show, when you really want to cuss something out, English is the language of choice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted October 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 My great grandmother's first language was German, but I rememember she always swore in Hungarian (her second). Everything in Hungarian sounds like cussing anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Hi, "It goes to show, when you really want to cuss something out, English is the language of choice!" Actually I prefer Dutch for swearing. Very guttural, makes it sound even more harsh BTW, I wasn't disagreeing that English isn't one of the (or likely 'the') most important languages in the world, I was disagreeing with your statement regarding it being essential for coding / the Internet. It isn't. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCorinthian Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 I am not the expert you are, so I will conceede the point. So another question would be, how much code is in Thai? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Hi, "how much code is in Thai?" Actual code? Most likely none as there is no programming language that even resembles Thai. However, I am certain a huge amount of commentary will have been written in Thai. Of course, there is also NO code written in English. It is written in Delphi, COBOL, PHP, Java, etc etc, but none of it is in English. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted October 22, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 An IT prof told me the level in English is a big drawback in teaching programmers. The Thai students - and professionals - have to rely on Thai translations of English material, which are always slow to come out. Thus they are always behind the times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted October 22, 2010 Report Share Posted October 22, 2010 Hi, Probably partially right. The fact that nobody here teaches kids logic skills is likely a much bigger factor. You wouldn't believe some of the stupid shit I have seen Thai programmers do; some of whom had bachelor degrees (in Computer Science) from well known Thai unis. I wouldn't have made it through the first year if I'd turned in code like that to my teachers. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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