An assessment of the Unicode standard

[Hendrik van Rooyen]

On Sunday 30 August 2009 15:37:19 r wrote:

> What makes you think that diversity is lost with a single language? 

I am quite sure of this - it goes deeper than mere regional differences - your 
first language forms the way you think -  and if we all get taught the same 
language, then on a very fundamental level we will all think in a similar 
way, and that loss will outweigh the normal regional or cultural differences 
on which you would have to rely for your diversity.

Philip Larkin has explained the effect better than I can:

"They f*ck you up, your mom and dad,
 They do not mean to, but they do.
 They fill you with the faults they had,
 And add some extra, just for you."

> I 
> say more pollination will occur and the seed will be more potent since
> all parties will contribute to the same pool. 

I think this effect, while it might be real, would be swamped by the loss of 
the real diversity.

> Sure there will be 
> idioms of different regions but that is to be expected. But at least
> then i could make international crank calls without the language
> barrier ;-)

You can make crank calls _now_ without a language barrier - heavy breathing is 
a universally understood idiom.
:-)

- Hendrik