EnglishClub.com managed to convince hundreds of readers that English could become the world’s “unique” language.
The press was full of April Fool’s jokes on Tuesday, but for language-lovers, the language-learning site “EnglishClub.com” pulled off the funniest farce. In a blog post entitled “U.N. To Ban Unnecessary Languages,” an unknown writer claimed that the United Nations was studying a proposal to gradually eliminate “all non-English languages.”
Citing a host of weighty arguments ranging from international security to the stress of language learning, the text even linked multilingualism to one of the world’s hottest issues: climate change. “According to UN officials, unnecessary languages require enormous amounts of paper for translations, resulting in huge losses of forested areas, and these losses have become ‘a major factor’ contributing to climate change,” claimed the spoof. “Furthermore, the eventual burning of this paper in incinerators has a direct effect upon global warming by boosting atmospheric temperatures ‘to an alarming degree’.”
The blog post elicited well over three hundred comments, mostly from horrified readers who had not noticed the posting time of 12:01 am GMT April 1st.
At Language Translation Inc., we are keenly interested in all aspects of foreign languages, both in the USA and abroad – and we certainly hope foreign languages will be around for a long time! Located in San Diego, we offer efficient, high-quality language services — translation, interpretation and localization — in over 40 languages. “Let us show you how good translation should be.”
Betty Carlson
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