Poll: One world language?

[USSR]

Russian!

Come on!

 

[Latinidiot]

NO! As a very big part of culture, Language forms the mind. We MUST keep variety, as with the human genome, or the mind might become too unadaptive to 'survive' crises.

 

[alliedlama]

In my opinion, the idea of a "world language" is stupid. Everyone should have the right to speak in whatever language they want and practice their own cultural beliefs. Trying to make everyone speak one language is in essence forcing them to give up a part of their identity and what makes them unique.
Another reason I don't like this idea is because it is usually held by english speakers who are usually too lazy to learn another language and misguidedly believe that if everyone was the same as them there would be less war and division, which isn't entirely true. The English language and ideals have been forced on other cultures and people before- as was done through the british colonial empire. I know that my views here sound rather anglophobic but the same can be said of other languages like french and spanish which have both been forced upon various other people around the world not to mention their parallels to welsh and gaelic- such as breton, catalan and basque.
I would also like to add there is no such thing as a useless language- you seem to believe welsh and gaelic are dying out but this isnt entirely true, the welsh language is now spoken by more people than ever and gaelic is still spoken in many areas of ireland and scotland. Languages are not useless just because you can't use them across the wider world- it is enough for them to be spoken by their own peoples.
Thank you.

err you do know I'm not actually talking imposing English on anyone right? I'm talking about natural cultural evolution, the world is getting more and more interconnected, I honestly think if we give it a century or two Europe wont even have countries anymore, rather provinces of the EU, that's the kind of thing I'm talking about.

As for being too lazy to learn another language, I speak four. English, French (very rusty), Japanese (not as rusty, but getting there I think, I need to use it more), and Gunditjmara (the traditional language of where I was born).

This thread isn't about forcing anyone to do anything, but rather a debate about the merits of a global language.

Personally I think in a perfect future a thousand years from now most if not all of the major languages are still around with 3 related synthetic languages providing the middle ground; basic lingua (trade, very basic, think pigeon English), Lingua (every day English, for conversations, novels, etc), and high lingua (for science and philosophy). Everyone is mandated to at least learn basic, but most people would learn the middle ground, and only those that need it learn the high version.

We're getting close to the point where we totally understand how the language centres of our brains work, and once we do we can design a language that will be easy to use and learn.

Well thanks for making that clear. After re-reading your post I see that you yourself havent put forward any such idea of forcing english or any other language upon others, although it does seem that some people who have also commented seem to be swaying towards this sort of idea- which does sadden me.
In response to your idea of some form of Global language then, I would like to say it does sound like a good idea for being able to convey ideas between different peoples while they are able to retain their own cultural traditions. I'm still a little unsure about using english as a framework for this gloabl language however- it could be an entirely new language for example, taught- as you have suggested, in some basic form to as many people as possible.
I would also like to reiterate that I am not an anglophobe, although I do believe that the english language has a negative influence on some other languages- such as Welsh, my own language, as it is a much larger language and attracts people due to its wide use in popular media.

 

[Baradiel]

New-speak.

We should also combine countries into three supernations. That'll solve all the worlds problems :/

 

[tkioz]

No Spanish? And I don't understand why you put Japanese on there.

I imagine it's because I'm Australian and grew up in the 80s/90s when Japan was our biggest trading partner, everyone was pushed towards learning their Language and culture in school and at home (my grandfather was an importer); now days it's Mandrin and Indonesian that everyone is learning in school, Australia is located far closer to Asia (if I hear one more person call us part of Asia I'm going to smack them with an Atlas... and those things are heavy), so it's just generally something that we take for granted.

I guess that's why I left out Spanish, but if you were from North America you'd do the same for Spanish, it's just closer too you, and you've got more exposure to it. So it wasn't a slight, more an oversight.

 

[Lt. Vinciti]

I dont even want to begin where this is so bad...

So you must work for the UN and their dream project of a One World Government...

1 Language
1 Currency
1 Govt

Slow changes we see everyday

 

[randomsix]

Unfortunately, we've already past the time when we could probably switch to esperanto globally.

 

[tkioz]

In my opinion, the idea of a "world language" is stupid. Everyone should have the right to speak in whatever language they want and practice their own cultural beliefs. Trying to make everyone speak one language is in essence forcing them to give up a part of their identity and what makes them unique.
Another reason I don't like this idea is because it is usually held by english speakers who are usually too lazy to learn another language and misguidedly believe that if everyone was the same as them there would be less war and division, which isn't entirely true. The English language and ideals have been forced on other cultures and people before- as was done through the british colonial empire. I know that my views here sound rather anglophobic but the same can be said of other languages like french and spanish which have both been forced upon various other people around the world not to mention their parallels to welsh and gaelic- such as breton, catalan and basque.
I would also like to add there is no such thing as a useless language- you seem to believe welsh and gaelic are dying out but this isnt entirely true, the welsh language is now spoken by more people than ever and gaelic is still spoken in many areas of ireland and scotland. Languages are not useless just because you can't use them across the wider world- it is enough for them to be spoken by their own peoples.
Thank you.

err you do know I'm not actually talking imposing English on anyone right? I'm talking about natural cultural evolution, the world is getting more and more interconnected, I honestly think if we give it a century or two Europe wont even have countries anymore, rather provinces of the EU, that's the kind of thing I'm talking about.

As for being too lazy to learn another language, I speak four. English, French (very rusty), Japanese (not as rusty, but getting there I think, I need to use it more), and Gunditjmara (the traditional language of where I was born).

This thread isn't about forcing anyone to do anything, but rather a debate about the merits of a global language.

Personally I think in a perfect future a thousand years from now most if not all of the major languages are still around with 3 related synthetic languages providing the middle ground; basic lingua (trade, very basic, think pigeon English), Lingua (every day English, for conversations, novels, etc), and high lingua (for science and philosophy). Everyone is mandated to at least learn basic, but most people would learn the middle ground, and only those that need it learn the high version.

We're getting close to the point where we totally understand how the language centres of our brains work, and once we do we can design a language that will be easy to use and learn.

Well thanks for making that clear. After re-reading your post I see that you yourself havent put forward any such idea of forcing english or any other language upon others, although it does seem that some people who have also commented seem to be swaying towards this sort of idea- which does sadden me.
In response to your idea of some form of Global language then, I would like to say it does sound like a good idea for being able to convey ideas between different peoples while they are able to retain their own cultural traditions. I'm still a little unsure about using english as a framework for this gloabl language however- it could be an entirely new language for example, taught- as you have suggested, in some basic form to as many people as possible.
I would also like to reiterate that I am not an anglophobe, although I do believe that the english language has a negative influence on some other languages- such as Welsh, my own language, as it is a much larger language and attracts people due to its wide use in popular media.

Well, my idea for the lingua's isn't based on English, more using English as an example, they would be true synthetic languages; which given that we're starting to understand how the brain works will be doable within our lifetime, the ability to construct an easy to learn synthetic language. The current synthetic languages (Esperanto for example) were made by very smart people who understood language, but they didn't have all the facts that we do now, and will have in the future, which is why they never took off.

A true synthetic language that everyone speaks in addition to their own language would help the world as great deal; well at least it would prevent things like the story my grandfather use to tell me. He was in Korea during the conflict there, his unit was in a village and they needed to speak leader, only no-one there spoke English, but one village spoke very basic French, and so did my grandfather, so through the use of three languages there were able to get the idea across, in about ten times the time it would have taken if he had spoke Korean or someone had spoke English.

As for Welsh, well honestly languages die out over time; just look at Latin, it's dead, there are no native speakers left (people who learnt it before all other Languages), it's just the natural order of things, sad? yes? but it's not English's fault, the English (the people) maybe (my UK history isn't as good as I'd like), but not the language.

 

[Cakes]

I picked "none", but I'm not sure it's exactly what you meant. I'm fairly anti-cultural genocide.

 

[tkioz]

I dont even want to begin where this is so bad...

So you must work for the UN and their dream project of a One World Government...

1 Language
1 Currency
1 Govt

Slow changes we see everyday

Well A) I'm not forcing my views on anyone, just asking for a debate, you know something you do to convey ideas.

B) I don't work for the UN... I don't even like them (toothless tiger waste of money)

C) One world government might work, in a thousand years when we've grown the hell up, but not now. Something like the EU might work on the world level though.

D) One currency, HELL YES! DO IT NOW! I'm so fucking sick of the global business community screwing over the world with their crap, we need a single currency, why the fuck should something in the US cost $60USD when it costs $110AUD... which is worth $110USD at the current exchange rate... No. One Currency NOW.

 

[Ziggy]

Imperial Gothic of course.

no no no
elvish language

 

[Declaro]

I really have a hard time believing we'll have one world language in our life times, especially if the dominant language is anything other than English, because native English speakers tend to be such whiners about learning a second language. (This is speaking AS a native English speaker)

Personally I loathe the very idea, though it's always a possibility. The loss of languages is the loss of a serious chunk of personal and cultural identity. My opinion, of course, is extremely biased because I love languages and with only one world language I'd be forced into the slow hell of Academia like a Latin professor.

I have no objections to a lingua franca, such as the way English and French have been used (and Latin, if you want to go back further) but people need to keep their own languages alive as well.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Those who said French 0.9% are correct, French is the Language of the Diplomats.

 

[RedDeadFred]

If we lost English, we'd lose the word cellar-door, the most beautiful word of our language.

But in all seriousness, it's the most widely known language. It really should be the world language. Plus I'm too lazy to learn a different one.

 

[Daverson]

Once we've suitably advanced in neuroscience, it won't be too difficult to reverse engineer humanity's "programming language". If there ever is a single world language, it'll be this. This won't be a language of spoken words, of course, what it will be, I couldn't really tell you. I'd expect we'd either communicate through some form of radio, or "speak" in binary.

 

[Luke Cartner]

A combination of English, Spanish and Simplified Chinese

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Lots of languages are dying off, you just need to like at the UK and the huge amounts of money they are spending to "save" languages like Gaelic and Welsh (?) to see that, but do you think we're moving towards a single one world language and would that be a good thing?

If so, which language should / will it be? Mandarin and Cantonese are both spoken by a lot of people, but then you've got English which is pretty much the de facto "lingua franca" (and isn't that a funny phrase when used in this context) of the business and digital world at the moment.

Or should we develop an artificial language like Esperanto (only you know better...)?

You do know Gaelic refers to Irish which the UK has nothing to do with and actually the level of Irish speakers is supposed to be on the rise and is not actually declining at the moment.

OT: It is not a waste to save languages such as these. Languages are more than just a thing you speak they signfy difference, diversity and culture. Languages have very different nuances and something directly translated into something else will have an entirely different meaning. Keeping native speakers of these languages alive is important otherwise these cultures will be forever lost as with the nuance of the language.

If Irish, Welsh and Scot's Gealic die out that is basically the Celtic culture wiped from the face of the Earth completely. These are main languages with strong Celtic influences left. So I do not think that such ventures as saving a languages native speakers or any such revival efforts are a waste.

 

[PrototypeC]

I don't know... I feel like there should be some language database with pronounciations, auditory examples, visual cues of the throat and tongue vibration, hell, whatever is necessary to keep the language in question alive. That way, thousands of years in the future, one could still learn Ainu or Cajun French if one had the time and patience.

That said, language is a constantly evolving thing. I like the idea of Esperanto being taught at least as commonly worldwide as English, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, etc., so we could have the best of both worlds, i.e. having our own languages, accents and dialects while still having a united language should the need to converse quickly with a stranger arise.

I guess that shows how little I know of the current linguistic situation, huh? I read too much sci-fi.

 

[ElTigreSantiago]

English is way too hard and way too complicated, seemingly for no damn reason. It's like they made it up as they went along. Therfore I say German; it's a whole lot simpler.

 

[tkioz]

Those who said French 0.9% are correct, French is the Language of the Diplomats.

Yeah... in 1885...