Talk:Common language

RFC
Should this relatively new article be redirected to the lengthy and established page Lingua franca, since it appears to cover precisely the same topic area ("A common language can be used between or among demographic or linguistic groups that may be diverse or disparate in order to help overcome language barriers,")? 07:33, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Please place your comments in your own section, and avoid threaded discussions in others' sections. Thanks.

Comments from TreasuryTag
The article's creator informs me that the subject matter is "not similar" – but personally, it seems identical. Lingua franca begins, "A lingua franca is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons' mother tongues." This page begins, "A common language can be used between or among demographic or linguistic groups that may be diverse or disparate in order to help overcome language barriers. George Bernard Shaw said that England and America are two countries separated by a common language." Seems pretty much identical, topic-wise, to me: though admittedly I'm no expert. ╟─ Treasury Tag ►  Africa, Asia and the UN  ─╢ 07:33, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Comment from Martin Hogbin
I agree with TreasuryTag this article seems to have nothing to distinguish it from Lingua franca. It obviously does not just refer to a narrow specialist use of the phrase as it also mentions a computer language. Martin Hogbin (talk) 17:09, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Comment from Balloonman
I can definitely see Common Language and Lingau Franca being two separate articles, but the articles really need to be built upon and differentiated. The problem the articles have is because they aren't defining the terms properly. My understanding of the two terms (based upon personal experience having lived around the world) is that a Common Language is generally between individuals. If you speak French and German, and I speak English and German, we have a common language of German.

A Lingua Franca is a term used to talk about a language used by populations and regions generally to conduct business. If you are trading in China, you might have to know how to speak Mandarin because that is the language used in the region to conduct business. If you do business in China, you will look for somebody who speaks Mandarin. As it is the Lingua Franca of the region, it is the language that you need to speak to do business. You might have somebody from France, Germany, Albania, and England all communicating in Mandarin because it is the language used to conduct business in the region---it might be the only common language each of the participants speak.

At the same time, you might meet somebody in China, who doesn't know Mandarin, but you discover you both speak German. It is not the Lingua Franca, but rather a common language that the two of you share. The two terms are similar, but not identical.--- Balloonman  NO! I'm Spartacus! 07:48, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

Oh yeah, computer languages can be common languages. I belong to a user forum of computer programmers, I talk to people from all over the world. The Lingua Franca on the forum is "English." But there are sometimes people who post to the forum who do not know English. But we have a common language of the computer code. I may not know what they are saying, but I can often look at their code and figure out what they are doing or what they are trying to do.--- Balloonman  NO! I'm Spartacus! 07:52, 13 June 2010 (UTC)


 * 'Common language' is an English phrase with a fairly obvious meaning. It therefore does not warrant a Wikipedia article. Martin Hogbin (talk) 08:27, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

Comment from FormerIP
Agree that there is no need whatsoever for two articles here. Agree with Martin Hogbin that "common language" in the sense described by Balloonman is not an encyplopaedic topic. --FormerIP (talk) 22:17, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Propose redirect or delete
In order to try to bring this RfC to a close, I propose that this page is redirected to Lingua franca or else deleted. Martin Hogbin (talk) 20:09, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Support

 * 1) Martin Hogbin (talk) 20:09, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
 * 2) ╟─ Treasury  Tag ►  draftsman  ─╢ 20:14, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
 * 3) --Michael WhiteT·C 20:54, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
 * 4) bobrayner (talk) 11:34, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Merge proposal
The problem with the redirect is that all the content was lost. So I'm proposing a merger. Freakshownerd (talk) 14:59, 13 July 2010 (UTC)
 * But a consensus to redirect has emerged, very, very recently. ╟─ Treasury Tag ►  high seas  ─╢ 15:06, 13 July 2010 (UTC)