Stance on universal language
With globalization on the horizon, the possibility of a universal language has come to awareness. English is a major contender for the current dominant language, and some people think we should make it the official global language. Personally, I don’t think there’s much chance of this happening, as world leaders would be well aware of the dangers and many countries would be reluctant to be assimilated.
…But I’m going to tell you what I think anyway.
You couldn’t decree a universal language at this point as one simply isn’t available. There is no one language, or even combination of languages, that could assume dominance without hugely compromising entire cultures.
The biggest problem we would face would be inherent cultural loss. Concepts that couldn't translate into the dominant language would be lost, as the old languages would eventually suffer neglect. For instance, Japanese accommodates for spiritual ideas that don't translate into English- there are no words to describe them, as the West has no concepts like them. Even among relatively similar languages, things get lost in translation.
If you were to uphold one language you would be destroying an enormous amount of knowledge. Even if you weren’t doing away with the secondary languages, you would still be parading the ideas and values inherent in the dominant language, and reinforcing (in the case of English) Western concepts and philosophies. And while Western science and philosophy are all very well, you would be cutting out all alternatives. Think about how many centuries of aboriginal knowledge have already been lost to assimilation.
Languages have been evolving apart for so long that it would take centuries for them to merge into any truly universal language. And that language certainly isn't one that exists today, or that could be easily created overnight.
…But I’m going to tell you what I think anyway.
You couldn’t decree a universal language at this point as one simply isn’t available. There is no one language, or even combination of languages, that could assume dominance without hugely compromising entire cultures.
The biggest problem we would face would be inherent cultural loss. Concepts that couldn't translate into the dominant language would be lost, as the old languages would eventually suffer neglect. For instance, Japanese accommodates for spiritual ideas that don't translate into English- there are no words to describe them, as the West has no concepts like them. Even among relatively similar languages, things get lost in translation.
If you were to uphold one language you would be destroying an enormous amount of knowledge. Even if you weren’t doing away with the secondary languages, you would still be parading the ideas and values inherent in the dominant language, and reinforcing (in the case of English) Western concepts and philosophies. And while Western science and philosophy are all very well, you would be cutting out all alternatives. Think about how many centuries of aboriginal knowledge have already been lost to assimilation.
Languages have been evolving apart for so long that it would take centuries for them to merge into any truly universal language. And that language certainly isn't one that exists today, or that could be easily created overnight.
Posted on July 27th, 2008 at 01:04pm
lol Yeah I guess you're right, but the Chinese have that calculator thing, and us Americans call it 'math', and then the different ways of teaching it from country to country tend to vary too. I know from experience that Singapore, Britain, and Australia have similar methods in most schools, but compare that to the American version and it's different. It took me awhile to get used to it.
For the most part, it's usually the terminology that changes, but that still affects the actual math part of it.
Dreaming in Color, August 2nd, 2008 at 02:59:02pm
The real global language is maths, it's the same in every country.
Roonil Wazlib., July 27th, 2008 at 06:54:09pm
I personally don't really like English. It sounds so harsh compared to other languages, almost barbaric really, and it's so damn confusing.
I don't like the idea of a global anything. What's the point of having a world to explore if everything is the same from place to place no matter how far from home you travel?
Learning multiple languages is so much better than having everyone speak the one language. It brings more culture to the world instead of taking it away.
Dreaming in Color, July 27th, 2008 at 04:22:07pm