Multibyte Character Surport for Python

[Emile van Sebille]

"Alex Martelli"
> > For any natural language X, it is the case that the huge majority of
> > people in the world do not understand X.  As the population of
>
> An interesting assertion, for which I'd like you to bring some
supporting
> statistics.  What proportion of literate human beings does not
understand
> English (including as a 2nd and 3rd language)?

Well, 0%, for some definitions of literate <wink>.

> I can't find convincing
> statistics on the net, only suggestive information on anecdotical
level,

This looks like good information:

http://www.cis.org/articles/1996/English.html

[snip]
> The growing tide
> of English words is absolutely transversal across political nuances,
> fields of endeavour, cultural levels, socio-economic classes.

What goes around, comes around.  ;-)  English has more words than other
languages which makes it easier to share.

>
> Italy is, admittedly, peculiarly prone to esterophily.

Although this is a new one for me (and m-w.com and onelook.com).  It's
probably a typo, but as I don't know/recognize the word, I'm not sure
how to look it up.  ;-(

> Even before
> "team" entered the local linguistic arena, you were as likely to hear
> "equipe" as "team".  But in recent decades the focus has switched
> entirely to English, and the pace accelerates, it appears to me.

Philip Williams, of ABC news, called English "... a language that
invades foreign lands quicker than foot-and-mouth" and the French
Ministry of Education says to its students "Choose another language --
Dutch, Italian, German, Icelandic, Congolese, anything but English."
Or, do like the French, and regularly expunge 'profanities' from the
official language, not that anybody regularly *speaks* the official
language.  Or like Iceland, which rightly sets the blame at Bill Gates'
doorstep.  ;-)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/technology/html98/icel_063098.html



--

Emile van Sebille
emile at fenx.com