Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Krusher on April 27, 2006, 01:11:47 PM
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I don't get it.
Why use French tax payers money to create a rival to Google? If French private enterprise went after Google, great have at it. But Jacques Chirac spending €2bn (£1.4bn) to fund projets aimed at beating Google and Yahoo seems like a waste.
BTW, the service is called Quaero
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Queero? Christ, they are making it so that we don't even have to think to come up with jokes.
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it isn't about destroying google or yahoo. French have this thing about their language, and it really burns their bellybutton that everyone insists on speaking english. Idea is to use the search engine to popularize french as a language of the masses... unfortunatelly for them, 1800s are well past.....
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Yep, it's le retarded IMO.
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Now, if I worked for Thales, I'd be making calls and getting a significant slice of this for myself. Corporate baksheesh masquerading as a battle for cultural domination.
I've seen some of the French press for this -- Google is portrayed as a big evil hamburger-eating monster, threatening to americanize world culture.
Now, their project to digitize the books from a bunch of libraries has undoubtedly an anglo-saxon bias; and we can only laud anyone wanting to pour money into making more things accessible.
But a search engine? Google didn't get where it is by having a huge amount of cash to build an engine. They entered a crowded market and delivered a superior product. Trying to beat Google at the search engine game, even in French, is throwing cash away.
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Originally posted by fd ski
it isn't about destroying google or yahoo. French have this thing about their language, and it really burns their bellybutton that everyone insists on speaking english. Idea is to use the search engine to popularize french as a language of the masses... unfortunatelly for them, 1800s are well past.....
Couldn't have said it better.
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will it be le Quaero or la Quaero?
and will there be a picture of Chirac in the logo?..or a picture of the Eiffel Tower and hundreds of cars on fire?...maybe a picture of advancing Panzers and Tigers?
Oh...le possibilities!
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Originally posted by fd ski
it isn't about destroying google or yahoo. French have this thing about their language, and it really burns their bellybutton that everyone insists on speaking english. Idea is to use the search engine to popularize french as a language of the masses... unfortunatelly for them, 1800s are well past.....
well think of it this way: your country's language has been the universal standard for centuries, then some punk island takes over the high seas and suddenly nobody speaks your language anymore.
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Originally posted by SMIDSY
well think of it this way: your country's language has been the universal standard for centuries, then some punk island takes over the high seas and suddenly nobody speaks your language anymore.
well..as David Lee Roth once said: "Here today; Gone later today"
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Originally posted by xrtoronto
well..as David Lee Roth once said: "Here today; Gone later today"
Just like his radio show
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le Quaero or la Quaero
does this mean I surrender he surrenders or she surrenders?
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not that i'm quite informed on the subject, but the way I think it is an attempt on preserving the language, and the French culture. The fact that the gvt is paying the bill makes sense, as 'preservation of the language', falls as preservation of heritage, such as national monuments, parks ...
I fail to understand why so many of u are prone to lauthing on the French effort of preserving their language, especially since it's close from "two millenium old".
It seems only a question of time before English takes over, and France already had to ban obviious words such as 'email' and create the French word 'emele'. As ridiculous as it seems, the effort can be understood.
Imagine that spanish becomes the dominant language in the world, and that your kids start to implement spanish words in their sentence, you would probably start a "wait a minute, that's not quite the legacy of our founding fathers, what can we do about it?"
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not that i'm quite informed on the subject, but the way I think it is an attempt on preserving the language, and the French culture. The fact that the gvt is paying the bill makes sense, as 'preservation of the language', falls as preservation of heritage, such as national monuments, parks ...
I fail to understand why so many of u are prone to lauthing on the French effort of preserving their language, especially since it's close from "two millenium old".
It seems only a question of time before English takes over, and France already had to ban obviious words such as 'email' and create the French word 'emele'. As ridiculous as it seems, the effort can be understood.
Imagine that spanish becomes the dominant language in the world, and that your kids start to implement spanish words in their sentence, you would probably start a "wait a minute, that's not quite the legacy of our founding fathers, what can we do about it?"
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It's not an attempt at "preserving" the language -- although the French are the best in the world at that: it's the best example of how a centralized effort at "preserving" the language can make the official tongue so rigid and inflexible that nobody actually speaks it. I hear bits of argot every day, but can't make sense out of it; and I'm the only one in the office who uses numeriser instead of digitaliser.
It's an attempt to have a european competitor to google. So they take Bertelsman AG and a company formed by a (french) former employee of AltaVista, and dump a lot of cash on them.
Google works perfectly well in French and quite effectively at that. What's going on here is the same sort of irrational jingoism that sunk the UAE ports deal.
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Originally posted by SFRT - Frenchy
not that i'm quite informed on the subject, but the way I think it is an attempt on preserving the language, and the French culture. The fact that the gvt is paying the bill makes sense, as 'preservation of the language', falls as preservation of heritage, such as national monuments, parks ...
There are 27 countries that speak French. I don't think the language is going anywhere.
And Google has a French search engine.
Google (http://www.google.com/intl/fr/)
Oh yea, quit repeating yourself :)
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Originally posted by SFRT - Frenchy
Imagine that spanish becomes the dominant language in the world, and that your kids start to implement spanish words in their sentence, you would probably start a "wait a minute, that's not quite the legacy of our founding fathers, what can we do about it?"
Sadly, that's already happening. Kids' shows like Dora the Explorer and Blue's Clues slip spanish in. Dora is the worst about it.
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Originally posted by CavemanJ
Sadly, that's already happening. Kids' shows like Dora the Explorer and Blue's Clues slip spanish in. Dora is the worst about it.
American English is a mixture of languages anyway. I'd venture to say that there almost as many "foreign" words in our language as there are "english" ones.
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I wonder what will it will do it you put in French Military victories?:D
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Originally posted by CavemanJ
Sadly, that's already happening. Kids' shows like Dora the Explorer and Blue's Clues slip spanish in. Dora is the worst about it.
Oh my goodness, whatever will we do if our children learn to speak Spanish?!
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Originally posted by Krusher
Why use French tax payers money to create a rival to Google?
I think perhaps a better question is... why do you care?
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Originally posted by SOB
I think perhaps a better question is... why do you care?
why do you care if I care?
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Because I love you, man.
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in a brokeback kinda way?
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Originally posted by SOB
Because I love you, man.
I have that affect on some people.
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Originally posted by xrtoronto
in a brokeback kinda way?
It is SOB to yes. Use your brain next time!
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Originally posted by Krusher
Just like his radio show
lol :rofl
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Most all of us speak a variation of latin when you get right down to it.
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Originally posted by GtoRA2
It is SOB to yes. Use your brain next time!
yeah, MORAN!
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My answer to Frenchy:
Well, I would adapt and learn Spanish... so I can carry on making buisness with the rest of the world.
Doesn't look hard, you just need to speak so fast no one will understand you anyway :D
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Originally posted by Saintaw
Well, I would adapt and learn Spanish... so I can carry on making buisness with the rest of the world.
You mean the third world? I've yet to run into one well-off hispanic here that doesn't speak English...
Hey, come to think of it, I can't think of a single well-off immigrant who can't communicate in English... Including all my grandparents?
But hey, they all had to learn English to survive, many families even had to Anglocize their names (too many c's and z's in my grandmothers I guess), but, nah, Hispanics shouldn't have to. That wouldn't be fair. America's a spice rack afterall... Coulda sworn it was a melting pot, but guess not.
(Talking about people I've met, not celebs, and trust me, working in the service sector in a good sized city you meet a TON of immigrants).
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Dear Vudak,
i was responding to Frenchy's supposition. (read above).
Be it hispanic, hungarian or vanuatu-ese... if it becomes the international standard, the best solution is to adapt and learn how to use it to your best advantage. don't you agree?
cheerio
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Originally posted by Saintaw
Dear Vudak,
i was responding to Frenchy's supposition. (read above).
Be it hispanic, hungarian or vanuatu-ese... if it becomes the international standard, the best solution is to adapt and learn how to use it to your best advantage. don't you agree?
cheerio
Yeah I noticed you were responding above after I posted, sorry if I came off as being against you, just was too lazy to edit.
And yes, I agree 100%, which is why immigrants to America should be learning English, just like little schoolkids are required to throughout much of Europe and the world :)
What I don't like is the attitude that comes across as "we're too lazy/don't feel like learning English even though every one of you and your forefathers had to. So, ATENCION, Spanish is now YOUR language."
I'd get more into it with real life examples, but running short of time.
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:)
I'm not saying that a language isn't important culturewise... but don't let it impede on buisness. that's all i want personaly :D
I have this grudge from my previous work, I was sometimes working with high ranking EU diplomats... they of course all spoke english, but only one country repeatedly asked for a translator ... this slowed things down tremendously, and was nothing but a pain in the arse. :furious
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Did it really slow things up, or more like speed things down?
:p
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Duh! Edited typo.
I signed an NDA stating I couldn't answer that when I left :p
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I don't see anything wrong with a country trying to keep their native language.
Even France. :p
I think it's only right that if you come to live in a country you must learn their language.
What I don't like is when our kids are forced to learn a second or third language because immigrants refuse to learn English.
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Originally posted by Mighty1
I don't see anything wrong with a country trying to keep their native language.
Even France. :p
I think it's only right that if you come to live in a country you must learn their language.
What I don't like is when our kids are forced to learn a second or third language because immigrants refuse to learn English.
BINGO :aok