The Universal language of the world.

Abstract

Linguistically, English is extremely unsuitable for international communication, and the actual wide use of English tends to polarize the world into Internet users and Internet illiterates. Generally speaking, English is the universal language on the Internet, but it has no official status, and it will never have. The reasons for the position of English are the imperialism and economical and political importance of English-speaking countries. The position of English can only be altered by major world-scale political and economical changes, such as increasing importance of the European Union or a coalition between Japan and China. Such powers might wish and be able to promote a language other than English, possibly a constructed language, for international communication.Alternatively, or in addition to this, the technology of machine translation may allow people to use their own language in international communication.

Preface

The original question was "whether or not English should be made the universal language of the internet". The impulse to writing this article was a discussion in the newsgroup sci.lang. As several people remarked, English essentially is the universal language of the Internet. Nevertheless, the question, appropriately interpreted and elaborated, is worth a more delicate treatment.I had previously discussed related themes in my article Internet muuttaa maailman 2 (The Internet changes the world 2, in Finnish). Here I present some of those ideas in English and develop them a bit further.

The current situation

 A great number of people whose native language is none of the variants know English as a foreign language. They typically use a more or less simplified variant, e.g. excluding most of the idioms of British, American, Australian etc English. That national language has spread over the world, and several variants such as American (US) English, Australian English, etc exist. Of course, they make mistakes, and sometimes the "English" used by people as a foreign language on the Internet is almost incomprehensible to anyone else. In addition, people who use English as their native language do not know how to spell difficult words, since they basically know English as a spoken language.In general, the universal language on the Internet is English, or more exactly a vague collection of languages called "English" because their common origin is the national language spoken in England by the English.Thus, roughly speaking, the universal language of the Internet is clumsy, coarse and misspelled "English".

Moreover, a group which is partly international in the sense of not being purely national might use a language other than English, for instance if the group is intended for people in German-speaking countries. There are exceptions, most importantly national newsgroups in such countries where English is not the native language of the majority. Even in such groups English is used, for instance when people from other countries wish to participate. And a few international groups have a theme like discussing a particular language or culture so that it is natural to assume that the participants have a common language other than English.

Why is it so?

  Consequently, the use of English in essentially national contexts tends to grow. Generally speaking, when a languages has got the position of a universal language, the position tends to be affirmed and extended by itself. The maintenance problem is especially important for documents on the World Wide Web - the information system where one crucial feature is the ability to keep things really up to date.Since "everyone" knows and uses English, people are almost forced to learn English and use it, and learn it better.Even if you expect the majority of your readers to understand your native language, you may be tempted to use English when writing e.g. about research work. Usually researchers all over the world know English and use it a lot, and often the relevant terminology is more stable and well-known in English than in your own language. Thus, to maximize the number of interested people that can understand your text, you often select English even if the great majority of your readers have the same native language as you. Alternatively, you might write your texts both in your native language and in English, but this doubles the work needed for writing your document and possibly maintaining it.

The flame control - i.e. control by flaming - has worked to a great extent because people have had relatively compatible status, background, and values of life. The time has come - childhood's end for the Internet - when we will see more and more people and organizations who pay little attention to flames and netiquette.  The increasing amount of spamming is just one indication of this.One thing that causes this happen relatively often that there is no easily accessible and useable list of groups together with their content descriptions, and typically content descriptions do not explicitely state what language(s) should be used in the group.  But these general remarks hardly apply to the status of English. In the news system, the position of English in most international groups is regarded as so obvious that people who post non-English articles to such groups - by accident or by ignorance - typically get flamed quickly. This is the sort of control that newsgroup communities exercise in other matters than language, too. It is often regarded as an example of the "democratic" nature of the news system. However, things are changing fast. By the way, when people post articles to international groups in their own languages, the reason is typically novice users' ignorance of basic facts about the news system. People start posting articles before they have read what is generally written to the group.

The universal language position, once gained, tends to be strong. But how is such a position gained?

Sometimes - especially in the Middle Ages - the imperialism has had a definite cultural and religious nature which may have been more important than brute military and economic force. The position of a universal language has always been gained as a by-product of some sort of imperialism: a nation has conquered a large area and more or less assimilated it into its own culture, including language, thus forming an empire. Usually the language of the conquerer has become the language of the state and the upper class first, then possibly spread over the society, sometimes almost wiping out the original languages of the conquered areas. During the history of mankind, there have been several more or less universal languages or lingua francas, such as Latin (and Greek) in the Roman empire, mediaeval Latin in Western Europe, later French and English. Universality is of course relative; it means universality in the "known world" or "civilized world", or just in a large empire. No language has been really universal (global), but the current position of English comes closest.

Whether you call the US influence imperialism or neo-imperialism is a matter of opinion, but it certainly has similar effects on maintaining and expanding the use of English as classical imperialism. Later, some English colonies in a relatively small part of America rebelled, formed the United States of America, and expanded a lot. They formed a federal state where a variant of the English language was one of the few really uniting factors. And that federal state became, as we all know, wealthy and important. It also exercised traditional imperialism, but more importantly it gained a very important role in world economy and politics. This probably sounds like political criticism, but it is intended to be descriptive only. Personally, I do not regard imperialism as an incarnation of the Evil; it has had both positive and negative effects, and in many cases imperialism has been a necessary step from chaos to civilization.As regards to the English language, it would have remained as a national language of the English, had it not happened so that the English first conquered the rest of the British Isles, then many other parts of the world.
Effects of the importance of the Internet and English
This implies that it becomes more and more important to know how to use Internet services and, as a part of this, to read and write English. Of course, the majority of mankind cannot use the Internet nowadays or in the near future, since they live in countries which lack the necessary economical and technological infrastructure. But the Internet causes polarization in developed countries, too: people are divided into Internet users and Internet illiterates, and as the use of the Internet grows and often replaces traditional methods of communication, the illiterates may find themselves in an awkward position.The importance of the Internet grows rapidly in all fields of human life, including not only research and education but also marketing and trade as well as entertainment and hobbies.

Incorrect English causes a few flames much more probably than encouragement and friendly advice. Older people are usually not accustomed to live in a world of continuous and rapid change, and they may not realize the importance of the Internet or the easiness of learning to use it. In general, it is easy to learn to use Internet services. The worst problems of Internet illiteracy are, in addition to lack of economical resources of course, wrong attitudes. But although Internet services themselves are, generally speaking, easy to learn and use, you will find yourself isolated on the Internet if you are not familiar with English.Learning to use a new Internet service or user interface may take a few hours, a few days, or even weeks, but it takes years to learn a language so that you can use it in a fluent and self-confident manner. Of course, when you know some English, you can learn more just by using it on the Internet, but at least currently the general tendency among Internet users is to discourage people in their problems with the English language.  This means that knowledge or lack of knowledge of English is one of the most severe factors that cause polarization.

 There are countries where English is the native language of the majority, there are countries where English is a widely known second language, and there are countries where English has no special position.And the more languages you have to learn well, the less time and energy you will have for learning other things.  These differences add to the above-mentioned polarization.  In different countries and cultures, English has different positions.Specifically, it is difficult for people in previous colonies of other countries than Great Britain (e.g. France, Spain, the Netherlands) to adapt to the necessity of learning English. Locally, it may be necessary to learn the language of the previous colonial power since it is often an official language and the common language of educated people; globally, English is necessary for living on the Internet.

More education means salary discrimination at work

AHMEDABAD: The more educated a woman, the higher the salary discrimination she faces at work, says a recent study by a faculty member of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

So women with basic education like advanced certificates or diplomas earn 10% less than equally qualified men, but the wage gap shoots up to over 40% in cases where women have master's degrees. While women with no formal education earn more than their male counterparts, with an increase in educational qualification, the situation reverses.

For instance, with no formal education, the average annual income of women surveyed is Rs 1.41 lakh while for men it is 1.26 lakh, indicating women are 11.99% ahead. The main reason for this is that in India, there is a general perception that a woman's primary responsibility is unpaid care work, like looking after children and family, and this perception channels them into similar work areas in the labour market, where they are paid handsomely for it.

 "This type of discrimination is also called pre-market (past or indirect) discrimination, because it occurs before the individual seeks employment," says the survey titled 'Gender Pay Gap in the Formal Sector: 2006-2013' by Professor Biju Varkkey, faculty of Personnel and Industrial Relations Area and Rupa Korde, faculty, Economics Area, Foundation for Liberal and Management Education, Pune. However, when it's two highly educated candidates, male and female, competing for a job, the study reveals that in most cases, employers favour men over women

 Explaining the disparity in incomes, the study says that women either decide not to take jobs which require extensive on-the job training or exit the job early in life for various reasons (like marriage or motherhood) which lower their earnings. So women with master's degrees earn an annual average income of Rs 2.70 lakh while men make Rs 4.56 lakh, a 40.76% jump on the former. Women often take breaks in their careers, or opt for part-time jobs when they are required to take care of their children. When these women return to the labour market for full-time jobs they are often offered lower wages than their male counterparts. "Even those women who do not have children are not given any preference because they are categorized as potential mothers," says the study.

The all-India survey is based on 21,552 respondents over a period of 7.5 years. A report based on the survey has been prepared by Paycheck India, a research initiative of IIM-A, and supported by non-profit organization Wage Indicator Foundation and University of Amsterdam.

 Australia

There has been criticism that the HECS-HELP scheme creates an incentive for people to leave the country after graduation, because those who do not file an Australian tax return do not make any repayments. Tertiary student places in Australia are usually funded through the HECS-HELP scheme. This funding is in the form of loans that are not normal debts.The scheme is available to citizens and permanent humanitarian visa holders. Means-tested scholarships for living expenses are also available. Special assistance is available to indigenous students. They are repaid over time via a supplementary tax, using a sliding scale based on taxable income. As a consequence, loan repayments are only made when the former student has income to support the repayments. The debt does not attract normal interest, but grows with CPI inflation. Discounts are available for early repayment.

United Kingdom

 Student loans in the United Kingdom

If the borrower's income is below a certain threshold (£15,000 per tax year for 2011/2012, £21,000 per tax year for 2012/2013), no repayments are required, though interest continues to accumulate. Student loans in the United Kingdom are primarily provided by the state-owned Student Loans Company. Interest begins to accumulate on each loan payment as soon as the student receives it, but repayment is not required until the start of the next tax year after the student completes (or abandons) their education.Since 1998, repayments have been collected by HMRC via the tax system, and are calculated based on the borrower's current level of income.
Depending on when the loan was taken out and which part of the UK the borrower is from, they may also be cancelled after a certain period of time usually after 30 years, or when the borrower reaches a certain age. Loans are cancelled if the borrower dies or becomes permanently unable to work.

United States

 Student loans in the United States

Interest does not accrue on subsidized loans while the students are in school. Student loans may be offered as part of a total financial aid package that may also include grants, scholarships, and/or work study opportunities. In the United States, there are two types of student loans: federal loans sponsored by the federal government and private student loans, which broadly includes state-affiliated nonprofits and institutional loans provided by schools. The overwhelming majority of student loans are federal loans. Federal loans can be "subsidized" or "unsubsidized".
The guaranteed lending program was eliminated in 2010 because of a widespread perception that the government guarantees boosted student lending companies' profits but did not benefit students by reducing student loan costs. Prior to 2010, federal loans were also divided between direct loans (which are originated and funded by the federal government) and guaranteed loans, originated and held by private lenders but guaranteed by the government.
Federal Student loans are generally less expensive than private student loans. However, the federal student lending program still generates billions of dollars in profit for the government each year, because the interest payments exceed the government's own borrowing costs, loan losses, and administrative costs. Losses on student loans are extremely low, even when students default, in part because these loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy unless repaying the loan would create an "undue hardship" for the student borrower and his or her dependents. In 2005, the bankruptcy laws were changed so that private educational loans also could not be readily discharged. Supporters of this change claimed that it would reduce student loan interest rates.

Income-Based Repayment

The guaranteed lending program was eliminated in 2010 because of a widespread perception that the government guarantees boosted student lending companies' profits but did not benefit students by reducing student loan costs.The Income-Based Repayment plan is an alternative to paying back student loans, which allow the borrower to pay back the loan based on how much he/she makes, and not based how much money is actually owed.However, income based repayment does not apply to private loans.
This period is 10 years if the student borrower works in the public sector (government or a nonprofit) and 25 years if the student works at a for-profit. Debt forgiveness is treated as taxable income, but can be excluded as taxable under certain circumstances, like bankruptcy and insolvency. IBR plans generally cap loan payments at 10 percent of the student borrower's income. Interest accrues and the balance continues to build. However, after a certain number of years, the balance of the loan is forgiven. And, if IBR programs are optional, only students who expect to have low wages will opt into the program. Historically, a number of IBR programs have collapsed because of these problems.Scholars have criticized IBR plans on the grounds that they create moral hazard and suffer from adverse selection. That is, IBR may encourage student borrowers who could have obtained high-wage jobs to take low wage jobs with good benefits and minimal work hours to reduce their loan payments, thereby driving up the cost of the IBR program.

Qualification

Most college students in the United States qualify for federal student loans. Students can borrow the same amount of money, at the same price, regardless of their own income or their parents' income, regardless of their expected future income, and regardless of their credit history. Only students who have defaulted on federal student loans or have been convicted of drug offenses are excluded.
The amount students can borrow each year depends on their education level (undergraduate or graduate), and their status as dependent or independent. Undergraduates may receive lower interest rates than graduate students, but graduate students can typically borrow more per year.
Several scholars have advocated eliminating the borrowing limit on federal loans and enabling students to borrow according to their needs (tuition plus living expenses) and thereby eliminating high-cost private loans. Private lenders may use different underwriting criteria, including income level, parents' income level, and other financial considerations. Students will generally only borrow from private lenders when they exhaust the maximum borrowing limit under federal loans.

Repayment

They have also suggested that the program should be run at cost, or below cost, because of the benefits an educated workforce provides to society--lower burdens on public services, lower health costs, higher wages and tax revenues, lower unemployment. The federal student loan program currently runs a multibillion dollar "negative subsidy", or profit, for the federal government. Some scholars have suggested that federal student loan interest rates should be tailored to particular courses of study and reflect the riskiness of those different courses of study. Federal student loan interest rates are established by Congress and listed in § 20 U.S.C. § 1087E(b). Because the interest rates are established by Congress, interest rates are a political decision.
The Master Promissory Note is an agreement between the lender and the borrower that promises to repay the loan.  It is a binding legal contract. The student may have multiple options for extending the repayment period, although an extension of the loan term will likely reduce the monthly payment, it will also increase the amount of total interest paid on the principle balance during the life of the loan. Extension options include extended payment periods offered by the original lender and federal loan consolidation. There are also other extension options including income sensitive repayment plans and hardship deferments. Extensions and consolidation will also add to the principal, many times unpaid interest and penalties become capitalized.Repayment typically begins anywhere from six to twelve months after a student leaves school, regardless of whether or not they complete their degree program.

Concept Of Joyful Learning.

 

LEAF Society is having 30 Joyful learning centers across Namakkal district covering rural children from  Namakkal, Rasipuram and Senthamangalam blocks and tribal  children from Kolli Hills region. LEAF Society strongly believes that, children could be used as the effective change agents, if their leanings and environments are fine tuned effectively.We are keeping these Joyful learning centers as a base for all our project interventions like promotion of safe sanitation and drinking water practices or increasing negotiating skills of rural & tribal com munities using RTI act.  We have more than 450 children from three blocks.  Children from these centers are the key for us and through them; we are trying to bring the desired change among communities.
They learn new – life skill oriented things with fun, joy and happiness. These centers are colorful with plays, games, songs, and sports.These joyful learning centers are not tuition centers replicating what is being done at schools rather are centers filled with Joy for children.  Everyday children meet at the village to share & learn about General Knowledge, Thirukkural, Yoga, child rights, personal hygiene, waste management, Right to Information, kitchen garden, etc. Variety of things and learning’s and responsibilities make children happy and the attendance is normally full in these centers .

Even the attendance in schools & enrollment has also gone up, due to intervention of our centers. Our centers have brought various changes in communities and especially among our center children, the awareness level on personal hygiene, safe drinking water practices, sanitation practices, on their Rights, protection have increased to greater extent.   
 We have also witnessed a change in the perspectives of the parents those who are part of the Parent Teachers’ Association and other groups in the villages. These parents use to share with the local teaches on the changes, that is being brought by evening joyful centers to their children and in turn the changes that their children bringing to their homes. . It’s a visible change that these children are even demanding their parents to follow the same practices, which they are following like, washing hand before meal, maintaining cleanliness at their houses, safe sanitation practices, dental cleanliness, etc.The project has greater scope in reaching many families through their children and our discussions; cross learning’s, sharing, exposure visits, etc has wider impact among families, especially those who belongs to marginal & vulnerable communities. Since, most the children are in their adolescent age – 13- 16, all our learning will be carried forward o their youth & adult life in the villages. This will make them, better citizens of our country. They highly appreciate the kitchen garden, small doctors committees & Child Parliaments at their villages.

They are well aware of the difference between good touch & bad touch and they are aware of various methods to protect them from physical & emotional abuses. Learning about Children’s Rights will give them a new perspective in looking at their schools, families & communities, even some of the teachers in the villages, appreciate us, especially the way, we have been dealing with child rights & positive discipline techniques, Our children have always are the friendly students in the schools and they take plenty of responsibilities in schools and will be a example for other students as well. Joyful learning center children will also be equipped to protect themselves from various abuses, especially, sexual abuses.Your support for the evening joyful centers and training to teachers will have additional value to our activities and we will have the opportunity to train our teachers & children in UNCRC, Rights, protection, Child Parliament, etc and this will have far reaching consequences among children, communities &  families in 20 villages. 

 There are 20 Child Parliaments are active in villages and these parliaments monitor various committees on  Child Rights, Child Protection, Personal Hygiene, safe drinking water & sanitation practice committees, kitchen garden,  time management committee, etc. These centers provides  space for Children take up their own issues, deliberate on them, look for any solutions, if they can   and address them through various mechanisms. These centers promote the practice of local democracy through Child Parliaments, Children committees.Membership in these committees will be rotated on quarterly basis and each child should be a part of any of these committees and 50% ratio is being maintained at all levels. These committees meet on all Saturday, discuss the issues, take decisions and report to the parliaments.

INDIA’S RURAL EDUCATION – AN OPPORTUNITY FOR BOP STARTUPS

Huge demand for affordable, quality education options in rural India are creating opportunities for capable entrepreneurs

The state and central government is trying to tackle these issues by pumping almost INR 310 billion (approx. USD 5.7 billion) into improving school infrastructure and recruiting teachers. Education in rural India is plagued by many problems. Poor infrastructure, access difficulties, lack of financial support and poor quality of educators are a few of the most pressing of problems.

 Quality mid-day meals are also attracting students and giving them the fuel they need for learning.There is also the Right To Education Act enshrining the rights of all children to free and compulsory education. These and other initiatives have over the past four years led to the increased enrollment and attendance levels in schools.  (97% and 71% respectively, according to the ASER 2012 report ).The big question, however, is whether enrollment and attendance are the right barometer for evaluating the progress of rural Indian education. In the mad search for numbers, has quality been ignored?

This is definitely a cause for worry.  Are They Learning? A comprehensive survey conducted by the NGO Pratham, called ASER (The Annual Status of Education Report 2012) – which has reached about 3,00,000 households and 7,00,000 children, spanning every rural district in India –   has put out interesting and alarming statistics.
 Rural schools are not only failing existing students, but also poised to fail the 15.8 crore (158 million) children in the age group of 0-6 who are slated to join the ranks of primary school goers in the coming years.

The Poverty Effect: Secondly, families in rural India struggle to make ends meet. Their low income is hardly enough to cover daily supplies of food and shelter let alone education.

Also, more children in the age group of 5-14, whose parents are not educated seem to be opting to go for work instead of staying in school (UNICEF report 2011). Clearly financial stability and awareness of the opportunities provided via a good education are big factor in ensuring continued education in these families. Children are needed to work in fields, which eventually means that they drop out of school, usually after their primary education. A report by UNICEF estimates that there is a 40-percentage point difference in attendance rate between primary (69.4%) and secondary (39.1%) students coming from poor families.

Opportunities: The opportunities for improving rural education are endless. Governments must do their part, but NGOs and private-sector companies will play a vital part as well. We are actively seeking additional entrepreneurs across India who have plans for scalable and affordable educational services or products that will help India’s children get the education they deserve. Unitus Seed Fund has made its first education-sector investment in Hippocampus Learning Centers, a for-profit BoP Startup that’s already improving the education of children across 80 villages in south India. .

IMPORTANCE OF KNOWLEDGE TO A GROWING BUSINESS

This guide explains the basic sources of knowledge available to your business, how you can best harness and exploit this information and how to create a knowledge strategy for your business. All businesses have access to an extensive pool of knowledge - whether this is their understanding of customers' needs and the business environment or the skills and experience of staff.The way a business gathers, shares and exploits this knowledge can be central to its ability to develop successfully. This doesn't just apply to huge multinational companies. Knowledge management can benefit everyone from a local newsstand to a manufacturing firm.

WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE IN A BUSINESS?

It's much more straightforward. Using knowledge in your business isn't necessarily about thinking up clever new products and services, or devising ingenious new ways of selling them.
Useful and important knowledge already exists in your business. It can be found in:
1.the experience of your employees
2.the designs and processes for your goods and services
3.your files of documents (whether held digitally, on paper or both)
4.your plans for future activities, such as ideas for new products or services
5.The challenge is harnessing this knowledge in a coherent and productive way.

Existing forms of knowledge

1.You've probably done market research into the need for your business to exist in the first place. If nobody wanted what you're selling, you wouldn't be trading. You can tailor this market knowledge to target particular customers with specific types of product or service.
2.Your files of documents from and about customers and suppliers hold a wealth of information which can be invaluable both in developing new products or services and improving existing ones.
3.Your employees are likely to have skills and experience that you can use as an asset. Having staff who are knowledgeable can be invaluable in setting you apart from competitors. You should make sure that your employees' knowledge and skills are passed on to their colleagues and successors wherever possible, e.g. through brainstorming sessions, training courses and documentation. See the page in this guide: create a knowledge strategy for your business.
Your understanding of what customers want, combined with your employees' know-how, can be regarded as your knowledge base.Using this knowledge in the right way can help you run your business more efficiently, decrease business risks and exploit opportunities to the full. This is known as the knowledge advantage.

BASIC SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE

Your sources of business knowledge could include:

1.Employee and supplier relationships - seek the opinions of your employees and your suppliers - they'll have their own impressions of how you're performing. You can use formal surveys to gather this knowledge or ask for their views on a more informal basis.
2.Customer knowledge - you should know your customers' needs and what they think of you. You may be able to develop mutually beneficial knowledge sharing relationships with customers by talking to them about their future requirements, and discussing how you might be able to develop your own products or services to ensure that you meet their needs.
3.Knowledge of the business environment - your business can be affected by numerous outside factors. Developments in politics, the economy, technology, society and the environment could all affect your business' development, so you need to keep yourself informed. You could consider setting up a team of employees to monitor and report on changes in the business world.
4.Market knowledge - watch developments in your sector. How are your competitors performing? How much are they charging? Are there any new entrants to the market? Have any significant new products been launched?
5.Professional associations and trade bodies - their publications, academic publications, government publications, reports from research bodies, trade and technical magazines.
6.Trade exhibitions and conferences - these can provide an easy way of finding out what your competitors are doing and to see the latest innovations in your sector.
7.Product research and development - scientific and technical research and development can be a vital source of knowledge that can help you create innovative new products - retaining your competitive edge.
8.Organisational memory - be careful not to lose the skills or experience your business has built up. You need to find formal ways of sharing your employees' knowledge about the best ways of doing things. For example, you might create procedural guidance based on your employees' best practice. See the page in this guide: create a knowledge strategy for your business.
9.Non-executive directors - these can be a good way for you to bring on board specialised industry experience and benefit from ready-made contracts.