>Seems more like basic economics than 'cultural imperialism' to me.
>The German market is very small, the English market very large.
Yes, and the English market is so very very large because... :)
>The German market is very small, the English market very large.
Yes, and the English market is so very very large because... :)
Further, I'm not sure to what extent it affects the market size for books. I would guess, not being privy to any actual information on the topic, that the vast majority of English books are consumed by majority-English-speaking nations. There are probably exceptions for outsized blockbusters like Harry Potter.
On the flip side, English is only the first language of 9.6% of South Africans.[1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_South_Africa#L...
Because the British Empire (and the Spanish and French empires) killed a great many of them, and forcibly imported their own cultures, people, and languages.
Which is unquestionably imperialism, and undoubtedly cultural. Hence: cultural imperialism.
If it weren't for cultural imperalism, the only native English speakers would be the population of the UK, which is about on par with Germany.
;-)
Making up artificial delineations on arbitrary segmentation of time gets a bit wearying.
Various cultures have their time in the sun and then retreat- it’s as old as humanity itself.
My main point, dont pretend 'cultural imperialism' was invented by the Anglo saxons. Dont give them too much credit. Their egos are inflated as much as it is. All of history had a dominate 'culture'. I think the major difference to this shift to English is the fact the language is so damn easy and efficient compared to others. Maybe not as eloquent. But when it comes to information transfer, English is by far one of the best languages. Maybe that's why its inherently popular? I mean, in Polish, the word for the number 2 can be conjugated 50 some odd ways. Some intelligent anglo in history looked at other languages that conjugate like crazy and said it's fucking stupid. Obviously I'm being slightly hyperbolic. Only slightly.
Plus, the English culture is one where being upfront and abrupt is alright. Makes business real damn easy. It's a very "get to the goddamn point so I can go drink whiskey early" type of culture.
So yea, as a dirty slav, English is champ right now for very good technical reasons.
No one was saying this. As you correctly point out, other cultures and languages have been culturally dominant before, and now English is. It's entirely possible in another century or two it will be Mandarin, or Hindi, or who knows what.
> I think the major difference to this shift to English is the fact the language is so damn easy and efficient compared to others
That's a pretty rare take on English. Most people seem to think it's a PITA due to how many different languages it's cribbed from, resulting in next to zero consistent rules.
Most people I know that do t speak english natively, picked it up pretty damn quick and easy.