Should we (as a species) make one language our "go-to" language?

[oliver.begg]

Who would agree to this?

You'd go to China and be all "Right, UN says you all need to learn English."

And they'd, rather rightly, tell you to sod off. Same if the UN decided that Spanish or Mandarin was the best option, both of which have more native speakers, says Wikipedia, and tried to get the US to cooperate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

Edit: My post might have sounded angrier than I meant it to sound. Sorry.

well they also have more english speakers then most english speaking countries. so i think the UN's about 20 years late

 

[Feedmeketamine]

Also a bit more on-topic there's a school of thought that believes the way you think is influenced by the language you speak, so every time a language dies humanity loses a unique cultural perspective on the world.

Stranger in a strange land is a good book that uses that idea. In the book there are concepts in martian that can only be conveyed in martian. Sorry this is a bit off topic but its a pretty cool idea.

 

[Caiphus]

well they also have more english speakers then most english speaking countries. so i think the UN's about 20 years late

You have a New Zealand flag as your avatar. Hooray!
But yes, population differences are funny things.

There are roughly as many Spanish speakers in the US as there are people living in Spain, for example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language_in_the_United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain

 

[tzimize]

It's a very practical idea, and English would definitely be the most logical first choice.

The only worry I'd have is that if everyone knows English there won't be much need or reason for people to become fluent in their native languages anymore. Why would they want to when the rest of the world speaks English including people in their own country? Slowly, native languages would start to deprecate until every country is like Ireland where only 2% of the population actually know Gaelic.

I'm tempted to say: So what? Do we really need thousands of languages? What do they produce? Other than a barrier for international understanding?

 

[Stu35]

It's a very practical idea, and English would definitely be the most logical first choice.

The only worry I'd have is that if everyone knows English there won't be much need or reason for people to become fluent in their native languages anymore. Why would they want to when the rest of the world speaks English including people in their own country? Slowly, native languages would start to deprecate until every country is like Ireland where only 2% of the population actually know Gaelic.

How about the Netherlands? Where despite most of their population being very well spoken in English, French and German (as well as Flemish in certain areas), they still manage with Dutch.

I appreciate what you're saying, however native languages don't die simply because people know other languages - English is already "Universal" (sort of), but only in nations where the English actually went out of their way to stamp out native languages (Scotland, Wales, Ireland), have these languages nearly died out.

Recently, attempts to bring about a resurgence of Welsh and Scots Gaelic have met with some success (moreso in Wales than Scotland, I think), can't speak for the Irish.


Also:

I'm tempted to say: So what? Do we really need thousands of languages? What do they produce? Other than a barrier for international understanding?

This.

I'm Scottish, I've never had more than a passing interest in Gaelic, and had I been made to learn it in school (as some schoolchildren are these days) I'd have probably resented it (I certainly resent it whenever anybody points out to me that "Gaelic" is Irish, and we Scots spoke/speak "Gàidhlig"... I basically hate nitpicking cunts).

So, yeah. I'm okay with an international language. I'd even be okay with it not being English if some pricks are going to get upset about it - I'm looking at the French here, who have a history for being utter shits when it comes to refusing to engage in diplomacy in any other language than their own. Seriously, go check out any official NATO document - it'll have been produced in English and French, despite France not even being properly integrated into NATO between the 1960s and 2009.

Seriously. Go look it up. The French are cunts.

 

[suitepee7]

yes, it would be good for most of the world. the problem is, which one? i would say english, because i speak english. but then people who only speak a different language will pick theirs. if there was a way to install a universal language matrix style, then hell yes we should do it

 

[Thaluikhain]

A Polish doctor tried to do this in the late 1800's but it never really caught on. The language was called Esperanto, which mean "one who hopes" and there's a documentary on it called "The Universal Language". Most languages have been created naturally over time, this one was created logically and aimed to combine a lot of the 'best bits' from many other languages.

http://esperantodocumentary.com/en/about-the-film

The problem with that is that a bunch of people had the same idea, and created their own different universal languages, which worked out even less well than it sounds. Nowdays about 2 million or somesuch number people speak Esperanto, which is a fair few, but very small for a global language.

 

[conmag9]

Even if one were to make a universal "go to" language, it would naturally evolve all on its own, re-splintering itself until it becomes unrecognizable. It's the nature of language to do so.

 

[Davey Woo]

Isn't English like, incredibly difficult to learn for most of the world? Also I think I read or heard somewhere that Spanish is actually the most common language on the planet, so it'd be more likely we'd use that.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

I don't think we'll ever have one universal language, simply because languages tend to change and fragment over time. If we ever did have a universal language, English would be the worst choice possible as it's incredibly complex to learn.

That said, it'd be nice if everyone had a very basic standard of English so that basic communication were possible, which is the way things are going with the internet. There are a lot of different fusion languages being created that are merging regional languages with English, which is quite interesting.

I have to stress how wrong you are about that. English is easily one of the easiest languages I've heard or seen. Hell, in english, verbs are only ever spoken in two forms (i drive, you drive, he drives, we drive etc.) whereas my native language has a different form for every person. Add to the simplicity of the basic language the fact that english is everywhere on tv, movies, magazines, ads, the internet and culture in general, and it's incredibly easy to learn.

Universal language? Hell, how many nationalities are represented on The Escapist? And what language are we using again to communicate?

I doubt there will ever be an "official" universal language, as language is a universally central part of culture everywhere, and its degradation is consequently seen as degradation of culture.

 

[Heronblade]

A common language is an excellent idea if you can get people to go along with it. English also makes for a decent choice. It actually is NOT the most common language out there, Mandarin takes that achievement (mostly by virtue of China's ridiculous population), but it is the language most widely used as a medium.

Other possible choices might be Spanish, Japanese, and German. (The former due to widespread popularity similar to English, the latter two because they are commonly used as a business medium)

The only requirement I would make is that we standardize English in a manner that makes sense. As it is now, it is a ridiculous amalgamation of several different languages, its difficult to learn, and even harder to master.

 

[OneCatch]

I don't think we'll ever have one universal language, simply because languages tend to change and fragment over time. If we ever did have a universal language, English would be the worst choice possible as it's incredibly complex to learn.

This. All the native English speakers will think of it as normal, but English is incredibly screwed up when it comes to inconsistencies and downright ridiculousness. Probably something to do with the fact that it's a meld of about 5 major languages and god knows how many smaller ones and subdialects.

Can't remember specifics, but my French teacher used to say that English grammar is extremely convoluted - it's just that native speakers somewhat instinctively learn the distinctions. I think that broadly this is what they were talking about:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language_learning_and_teaching#Grammar

English is actually one of the easier languages to learn. Together with Spanish and...one or two more I believe. In contrast Chinese and Dutch, for instance, are very difficult languages. English is already the go-to language in Science, travel, business, computer technology and the internet. There are also already quite a few western countries where English is mandatory in school. (My country being one of them.) Why not slowly extend that to the entire world over the next...say...25~50 years? I'm not talking about learning fluent English. I'm talking about having mandatory English classes so people from every country learn at least the basics of the language. So everyone in the world can at least communicate with each other, even if they're only able to use basic English.

Chinese is difficult for Europeans simply because it shares very few linguistic roots, and the same is generally true for Chinese people learning a European language. The reason it's easier for, say, an English speaker to learn German than Chinese is that European languages will generally have at least a smattering of Latin and Greek in common. It's not because European languages are intrinsically easier.

It's also notable that the dominant language changes significantly over time. English is the current dominant trade language, but before that it was, variously; Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian (mostly thanks to Venice), Latin, Greek. And that's just in the West!
And for a long time most scientific and intellectual discourse was in French, and the influence of that remains even in the scientific units we use today - SI stands for "Système International", and indeed the adoption of the metric system itself was because of French influence.
English probably won't remain dominant in any field forever, and even in your 25-50 year timeframe I wouldn't be surprised to see significant gains for the East Asian languages, as well as Spanish and Portuguese because of South America.

Lastly, English might be convenient for us native speakers, but I'd imagine that the rest of the world might not agree. How would you like to be told you (or your kids) had to learn Mandarin for the sake of convenience? It seems a bit... colonial to suggest imposing a national language in such a way.

 

[HoneyVision]

English is already the unofficial universal language. It is the language used for all international trade and communication and is THE default language of international air control.

...which is annoying because it's the most inconsistent language in the world.

 

[Terramax]

It's perfectly fine as a second language. I want countries to still adopt their own language though. Variety is the spice of life.

With internet media, already cultures are deteriorating as it is. Lets not have it deteriorate even more due to us all speaking the same language.

Worst of all, if it did happen, it would be likely American English would be taught in most places in the world. And, no offense, but the accent and the way Americans spell irritates me too much.

 

[OneCatch]

Recently, attempts to bring about a resurgence of Welsh and Scots Gaelic have met with some success (moreso in Wales than Scotland, I think), can't speak for the Irish.

I'm Scottish, I've never had more than a passing interest in Gaelic, and had I been made to learn it in school (as some schoolchildren are these days) I'd have probably resented it (I certainly resent it whenever anybody points out to me that "Gaelic" is Irish, and we Scots spoke/speak "Gàidhlig"... I basically hate nitpicking cunts).

Yeah, trust me, you'd probably resent it if you'd be forced into it!
That's what happens here in Wales. You get 11 years of utterly shite on-off tuition, and leave knowing less than you started. The teachers hate forcing people to learn it, the kids hate it because no-one speaks it down here (South Wales). But it's ok because the Welsh Assembly gets to talk about how 60% of school leavers speak Welsh.
Seriously though, even though I literally can't put a sentence together in Welsh I still got a GCSE in it because the grade boundaries are so pitifully low. I know for a fact I didn't get more than 30% in my exam back in 2006 and I got a C grade - I know people who did it while drunk or only showed up for one of the two exams who got D's. It was actually really difficult to not get a grade.

EDIT: Spelling - I apparently can't put a sentence together in English either!

 

[In Search of Username]

Like others have said, it would be practically useful to have everyone speak the same language, but also very difficult to implement, and probably a lot of people whose first language it wasn't would not be happy about it. If only one language existed that would be a good thing, but trying to make it so would probably do more harm than good for the world.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Yeah, trust me, you'd probably resent it if you'd be forced into it!
That's what happens here in Wales. You get 11 years of utterly shite on-off tuition, and leave knowing less than you started. The teachers hate forcing people to learn it, the kids hate it because no-one speaks it down here (South Wales). But it's ok because the Welsh Assembly gets to talk about how 60% of school leavers speak Welsh.
Seriously though, even though I literally can't put a sentence together in Welsh I still got a GCSE in it because the grade boundaries are so pitifully low. I know for a fact I didn't get more than 30% in my exam back in 2006 and I got a C grade - I know people who did it while drunk or only showed up for one of the two exams who got D's. It was actually really difficult to not get a grade.

As an aside, though, that is the case because the English were very good at stamping out the Welsh language in the first place. The Welsh knot comes to mind.