| Moderator: |
Gerhard Bischoff |
| eMail: |
Euyasik (at) gmx (dot) net
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| Author |
Brett Zamir |
Brett Zamir, living in the USA, initiated a web-site "onetongue.com". There he discusses topics concerning constructed languages. Included is an experiment how to spread the ideas of an international language.
World Auxiliary Language
I. Basic Questions
A) What is the Situation?
Ever since a language barrier has been present, individuals have been dismayed, saddened, or frustrated to be unable to discover the mysteries held within their fellow global citizens' minds or to reveal their own. This mutual unintelligibility, however disturbing, has perhaps contributed to enabling the evolution of a rich diversity of thought upon which we are now increasingly in the position–and need–of being able to readily draw for our collective advantage. Communication and transportation technologies; military and environmental threats; social, health, and economic crises; and many other developments, have pulled us together, ready or not, willing or unwilling, in our business, government, science, artistic, and religious worlds, and penetrating into our local neighborhoods and families. However, we remain unable to adequately deal with the challenges and possibilities before us due to our lack of a common language.
B) What is the Solution?
It is now evident that humankind as a whole is in dire need of a common world auxiliary language and script–a language which, whether to be invented or chosen from among the existing languages of the world, would be selected through a globally representative and democratic process, engaging experts in various disciplines (e.g., politics, media, education, linguistics, economics, social sciences, etc.) and leading to a decision binding on all countries. Such a language, once chosen, will be universally required and taught, alongside the country's native language, beginning in primary school, in all the countries of the world and be promoted as a universal medium for communication.
The world is becoming "smaller" and we are clearly interdependent just as a family. Just as a family could not function well without a common language shared by its members, so too is it with our world as a whole.
II. Benefits of an International Language
A) Summary of Benefits
The advantages would be vast, ranging from:
* easing social integration
* eliminating costs, delays, and misunderstandings associated with translation and language learning/teaching for individuals, organizations, businesses, and governments
* bringing convenience to travelers and emigrants
* facilitating scientific development and access for poorer peoples to education
* allowing the sharing of cultural, spiritual, and artistic heritages of various peoples to a world audience
* promoting peace and understanding through the elimination of suspicions and intermediaries' intervention brought about by our current lack of a common language.
The question we might instead ask is, whether there is any field of human endeavor which would NOT be benefited by a universal auxiliary language (and is not currently impeded by its absence).
(Some might argue -- particularly in the case of an invented language -- that the choice of such a language could also eliminate gender bias encoded in a language, that a language could be learned and expressed more efficiently, and there are even claims that such a language could help people think better/faster (though language is generally proven to be much more controlled by thought than the other way around, if the latter is true at all))
B) Elaboration on Benefits of Avoiding Translation and Language Learning/Teaching
To expand on the second point above as to costs of translation and language learning/teaching, we can see that they are great in the absence of a universal auxiliary language -- for translating services, translation machines or software, extra printing costs, hiring of specialized teachers and consultants, etc. The costs are enormous to society and the absence is an impediment to free trade -- the free trade of both commerce as well as ideas.
Moreover, translation involves inconvenient time delays and inaccuracies (which take time to resolve--and which can also cause emotional damage and can even be life-threatening).
C) Elaboration on Benefits to Peace and Democratic Ideals by Avoiding Intermediaries
A universal language could help build the sought after facilitated communication and world unity (through circumventing the intermediaries which deliberately or unconsciously breed distrust among nations or language groups and eliminating natural barriers which conduce to suspiciousness and misunderstandings).
A frequent tool of totalitarian regimes is censoring the ideas of others (and even fabricating their words). This would become much more difficult as access to a common language with the outside world emerges for all their people (and any nations not signing on to such a universal language agreement would nevertheless increasingly be internally pressured to educate their citizens in such a language as they would increasingly feel the need of giving their citizens access to this language for economic development reasons).
However, it would not be confined to such totalitarian regimes, as all peoples, in the absence of a common language, inevitably develop prejudices about those they do not understand (and cannot understand in the absence of a common language).
Just think of nationalistic identity. Language generally even trumps nationality (and even at times race) in terms of identity. How much can or do speakers identify with their ancestry’s native or national culture, for example if they don’t speak their language (and how much do those native speakers identify with those not speaking their language)? This is not to say it is good not to identify with the people of one’s national origin if they have another language (rather, the contrary), but the idea is used here as an example to show that if we had a world language where we could all communicate, how much less would be the excessive attachments to national identity versus a world-embracing one?
Although there are certainly plenty of conflicts between nations and peoples who share the same language (i.e., brothers fighting brothers), it should also be apparent that many of the world’s alliances occur most readily between those sharing a common language. Consider, for example, how more easily it is to identify with the people of another country if one share a language with them. It is most likely that one’s culture already has been influenced and intertwined with such cultures.
D) Who would Benefit from this Decision?
Everyone !
A world auxiliary language would offer benefits (as described above) to all of the inhabitants of the earth. The ability to freely read from, write to, speak to, and listen to any other person we may come across, without requiring any translating intermediary would, in time, be given to all on earth.
This is one very momentous opportunity -- one which never existed on such a scale in all of human history.
Access to feelings, ideas, opinions, and information -- scientific, historical, artistic, etc. are currently locked away on websites, in books, magazines, television and radio programs (news, entertainment, cultural, educational, etc.), in conference calls, etc. throughout the world. Now that technology makes it possible for large numbers of people to have ready technical access to these sources of information, how can we delay in effecting the political solution which will allow future generations to all have the linguistic access required to make use of such technological breakthroughs?
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