Short post this time, sorry (or your welcome, depending on your perspective...)!
I'm sure we've all encountered a point where you wish you could speak Spanish, or French, or Chinese, or Korean, or some other language. I know I have, and many times too. Speech is an essential part of society, and without it, civilization cannot function nearly as well. But when you can all speak, just not understand each other, it gets even more frustrating. This is a clear issue and I don't feel the need to argue it.
On to a solution. Not likely to happen any time soon, but it is a good one. What would probably work best is having a universal language that is taught to and spoken by everyone. I'm not saying that it should be English. In fact, I think it shouldn't be English. English is hard to learn and complicated. But something that uses an alphabet, and all the rules are constant and grammar is simple and flexible. It should be easy to learn and easy to speak.
Of course, like I said, this is unlikely to happen any time soon. I mean, the US can't even switch to the metric system. How are we going to adopt a whole new language?
And finally, I'm not saying that we should ban all other languages, though I think that it would be most effective if people were encouraged to speak this universal language in public places. Other languages could be spoken at home, or for religion, but not for business.
I'm sure we've all encountered a point where you wish you could speak Spanish, or French, or Chinese, or Korean, or some other language. I know I have, and many times too. Speech is an essential part of society, and without it, civilization cannot function nearly as well. But when you can all speak, just not understand each other, it gets even more frustrating. This is a clear issue and I don't feel the need to argue it.
On to a solution. Not likely to happen any time soon, but it is a good one. What would probably work best is having a universal language that is taught to and spoken by everyone. I'm not saying that it should be English. In fact, I think it shouldn't be English. English is hard to learn and complicated. But something that uses an alphabet, and all the rules are constant and grammar is simple and flexible. It should be easy to learn and easy to speak.
Of course, like I said, this is unlikely to happen any time soon. I mean, the US can't even switch to the metric system. How are we going to adopt a whole new language?
And finally, I'm not saying that we should ban all other languages, though I think that it would be most effective if people were encouraged to speak this universal language in public places. Other languages could be spoken at home, or for religion, but not for business.
Megan, I see a couple problems with a universal language. First it would have to be created top down and managed. That is not how language works, or at least not how it has worked.
ReplyDeleteAnother possible problem is the choices that will need to be made. All languages have a native perspective, a perception of things. Part of the value of different languages is that they provide such a variety of perceptions. To have a single language might possibly loose that variety of perception, and stiffle much creative thought.
Generally there has been a lingua franca, and that language tends to be from the dominant culture, But without a universal language, we might be forced to accept a plain vanella cultural dominance, a managed culture lacking creative impulse.
Ultimately, such a universal language would likely break off into various dialects. Much like evolution, perhaps..
I see what you're saying. And honestly, I knew it wasn't perfect, but I feel like there has to be some similar solution to this issue, besides just everybody learning every language. But I see your point.
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