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We've had a few discussions here about the way language and other aspects of culture can have an impact on what I have come to think of as "monetary culture" or "monetary philosophy." I continue to believe that this is a useful concept in evaluating the evolving relations between various power blocks, particularly regarding monetary policy.
So when I encountered this paper (Links that speak: The global language network and its association with global fame) I thought that it might interest a few people here on iTulip. One of the biggest surprises for me was the differences between the impact of languages in old vs. new media, shown most clearly on page 2 (of 7):
A teaser showing, as an example, book translations:
sn-languageH_2.jpg
While English remains central in all spheres, the secondary centers are evolving as media does.
Book translations (above) show French, German, Spanish, and a more isolated Russian to be important centers.
But Twitter seems to show no secondary centers at all, with heaviest translations into Malay, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Wikipedia shows a curious middle ground.
Another interesting point is shown by the directions of the arrows (figure 2, page 3). While English writing is heavily translated around the world, it appears that comparatively little (about a tenth of that?) of the world's thoughts are making it into the English language. Personally, I see this as permitting a troublesome opportunity for domestic groupthink, but perhaps there are other ways to interpret it.
And a final thought. While it obviously takes time for economic impact to translate into cultural impact, it appears that for the moment, there may not be as much to the idea of a rising China as some in the popular media might like to project. This is suggested by the Eigenvector centrality analysis of Figure 3, as well as the summaries in Figures 4 and 5.
If it is true that cultural impact stems from economic impact, it is safe to say that it trails by a fair length of time.
So when I encountered this paper (Links that speak: The global language network and its association with global fame) I thought that it might interest a few people here on iTulip. One of the biggest surprises for me was the differences between the impact of languages in old vs. new media, shown most clearly on page 2 (of 7):
A teaser showing, as an example, book translations:
sn-languageH_2.jpg
While English remains central in all spheres, the secondary centers are evolving as media does.
Book translations (above) show French, German, Spanish, and a more isolated Russian to be important centers.
But Twitter seems to show no secondary centers at all, with heaviest translations into Malay, Spanish, and Portuguese.
Wikipedia shows a curious middle ground.
Another interesting point is shown by the directions of the arrows (figure 2, page 3). While English writing is heavily translated around the world, it appears that comparatively little (about a tenth of that?) of the world's thoughts are making it into the English language. Personally, I see this as permitting a troublesome opportunity for domestic groupthink, but perhaps there are other ways to interpret it.
And a final thought. While it obviously takes time for economic impact to translate into cultural impact, it appears that for the moment, there may not be as much to the idea of a rising China as some in the popular media might like to project. This is suggested by the Eigenvector centrality analysis of Figure 3, as well as the summaries in Figures 4 and 5.
If it is true that cultural impact stems from economic impact, it is safe to say that it trails by a fair length of time.
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