Would you be willing to adopt a single, world-wide
spoken and written international language as a second
language in order to facilitate the global exchange
of information? I would, and I currently speak only
English.
Let me state up front that I am
not of a One-World mindset. I am an ardent believer
in sovereignty of countries and the rights of citizens
to defend their countries from aggression with or
without the help of other countries (unilateralism),
including preemptive actions. I would celebrate
the dissolution of the United Nations, whose top
administrators pocket food-for-oil money and permit
Iraqi citizens to be starved and abused, to mention
just one contemporary atrocity.
That said,
I do believe that breaking down the communication
barrier across the globe represents a paradigm shift
that would precipitate the single greatest conservation
of resources imaginable. Consider the time, material
and opportunity lost to accommodating the world’s
plethora of languages, which no single person can
even come close to learning. The goodwill benefit
would be huge. No one would be forced to espouse
such a universally agreed-upon language, but those
refusing to get on-board would by default be voluntarily
relegating themselves to eventual isolation from
much of the outside world. People in the business,
scientific, technical and medical worlds would likely
be the early adopters since they have the most to
gain.
Arriving at a universal language would
not be an easy task and might be destined for failure
since some ill-appointed, politically-motivated
committee would probably be convened to take up
the chore. If, however, representatives of the aforementioned
likely early adopter groups took on the commission,
a reasonable solution might result. Perhaps the
project could begin with a study of existing communications
and search for a dominating language or group of
languages, then poll the user population based on
results. I’m no linguist or etymologist, but it
seems many of the language groups have large similarities
that could be reduced to root forms, producing maybe
three or four base languages that could then be
combined to generate a singe universal language.
Admittedly, finding a way to combine European and
Asian languages would not be a simple task, but
the ingenuity of some people is amazing. Computer
programmers in concert with a world full of Einsteinian
thinkers that can write code for dissecting the
human genome surely are up to the challenge.
This global language would not eliminate the
native tongues of cultures, but would eliminate
the burden of deciding which other language or languages
to learn when a person’s livelihood is dependent
upon exchanging information internationally and
across cultural boundaries. Preservation of existing
languages is indeed crucial for historical and ethnical
purposes. There will always be plenty of people
ready, willing and able to learn other languages
of the world either as a hobby or for specific vocational
work. Those of us who find learning new languages
to be akin to a sculptor learning differential equations
would appreciate the help.
- Kirt Blattenberger
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