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From: hinsenk@cyclone.ERE.UMontreal.CA (Hinsen Konrad)
Subject: Re: Languages in the EC
In-Reply-To: s25@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov's message of 7 Feb 95 13:09:26 EST
Message-ID: <HINSENK.95Feb8120427@cyclone.ERE.UMontreal.CA>
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	<3h826t$dv4@gabriel.keele.ac.uk> <3h88e0$8sp@panix2.panix.com>
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Date: Wed, 8 Feb 1995 17:04:27 GMT
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In article <1995Feb7.130926.1@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov> s25@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov writes:

   Imposing a language as a standard, when that language is spoken by a tiny
   fraction of the population, is a ludicrous proposition. Why not Basque or Manx

Nobody has suggested "imposing" any language.

And I don't see why the fraction of people that already speaks it
should be relevant. If we want to minimize language learning costs,
the relevant quantity is the number of people who are *not* native
speakers of a given language, multiplied by the cost (in terms of
time and money) for learning it as a second language. Esperanto
wins because its cost factor is much lower (estimated at about
one-tenth of that for other languages).

--
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