Why isn't there a universal language?
Why is it that there is not a language newly formed or previously made in the world that can be spoken by the 6.4 billion people through out the world.
Cultural and societal factors may have an influence along with many others, but surely language can still be understood and spoken.
Its a bit weird of a question but I would like to know your opinions and what you think about it, if you havent before
Thank you.
Cultural and societal factors may have an influence along with many others, but surely language can still be understood and spoken.
Its a bit weird of a question but I would like to know your opinions and what you think about it, if you havent before
Thank you.
Scroll to see replies
I think an international language would be good, but difficult. It would be impossible to teach everyone (unless you're planning on it taking hundreds of years) or it would be very expensive. Maybe for top international businesses it would be useful but they seem to be doing okay already.
Maths.
... because one universal language would result in the decreased use of original languages that are not as useful such as English, French or whatever. And since these are inexplicably linked with a country's culture, you'd be hard-pressed to find people to give it up. Not to mention the difficulties in coming up with a brand new language in society now. Should it be Romanic or pictogram based etc...? It all ties in with politics and society. More people speak Chinese yet English is more wide-spread. Endless problems. The actual formation of a new language and its adaptation would only take one generation or so (looking from the examples of the slave trade and their evolved pidgen languages).
... because one universal language would result in the decreased use of original languages that are not as useful such as English, French or whatever. And since these are inexplicably linked with a country's culture, you'd be hard-pressed to find people to give it up. Not to mention the difficulties in coming up with a brand new language in society now. Should it be Romanic or pictogram based etc...? It all ties in with politics and society. More people speak Chinese yet English is more wide-spread. Endless problems. The actual formation of a new language and its adaptation would only take one generation or so (looking from the examples of the slave trade and their evolved pidgen languages).
(edited 12 years ago)
there once was and all the upper echelon spoke latin and all information could be understood by the learned but then we (the average person) gained power and we decided to be happy with just our own language so latin died
Original post by TheCaledonian
there once was and all the upper echelon spoke latin and all information could be understood by the learned but then we (the average person) gained power and we decided to be happy with just our own language so latin died
Europe =/= World.
Original post by Ajacob2
Why is it that there is not a language newly formed or previously made in the world that can be spoken by the 6.4 billion people through out the world.
There is. It's called Esperanto. It was designed for exactly that purpose.
It's actually very easy to learn compared to other languages, yet many people have a bad attitude and don't bother to learn languages, hence why it didn't take off as much as it could have. It's still spoken by millions around the world, though, including me.
music, mathematics and programming are all universal languages. humans since the young age always try to differentiate from each other. take the arab countries for instance, they all speak arabic and i frankly cannot see much effect.
Original post by Ajacob2
Why is it that there is not a language newly formed or previously made in the world that can be spoken by the 6.4 billion people through out the world.
Cultural and societal factors may have an influence along with many others, but surely language can still be understood and spoken.
Its a bit weird of a question but I would like to know your opinions and what you think about it, if you havent before
Thank you.
Cultural and societal factors may have an influence along with many others, but surely language can still be understood and spoken.
Its a bit weird of a question but I would like to know your opinions and what you think about it, if you havent before
Thank you.
There is, it's called maths.
No seriously, it's because everybody's languages formed in different areas to each other, hundreds of years ago even people in the same countries spoke different languages, there were different types of English, French and German all in the areas we call England, France and Germany (e.g in France there is Occitane, Basque and many others, these are all regional languages still spoken today to some extent.) I imagine before that when only tribes existed (no countries) each tribe had their own language.
Why is this?
Well if you're in your tribe, how would you know about the language of a tribe 500 miles away? The point is you wouldn't, so everybody developed their own languages. As society became more organised, these came together and languages evolved, and some languages were lost and new ones formed out of the old ones. Indeed, even today many many languages are being lost each year, when the last person who knows how to speak it dies. This is why a lot of English words are similar to French, German and Latin, they come from the same place if you go back far enough.
With the internet and television things are mixing up even more, there are a lot of English words in European languages, and a lot of Americanisms are creeping into our language. Language evolves all the time but in different directions in different places. Maybe in 1000 years everybody will speak the same language, who knows.
Oh and to actually answer your quesion..people like their languages, they don't want to forget them and go to the huge effort of learning a new one in it's place!
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by LeeC
There is, it's called maths.
No seriously, it's because everybody's languages formed in different areas to each other, hundreds of years ago even people in the same countries spoke different languages, there were different types of English, French and German all in the areas we call England, France and Germany (e.g in France there is Occitane, Basque and many others, these are all regional languages still spoken today to some extent.) I imagine before that when only tribes existed (no countries) each tribe had their own language.
Why is this?
Well if you're in your tribe, how would you know about the language of a tribe 500 miles away? The point is you wouldn't, so everybody developed their own languages. As society became more organised, these came together and languages evolved, and some languages were lost and new ones formed out of the old ones. Indeed, even today many many languages are being lost each year, when the last person who knows how to speak it dies. This is why a lot of English words are similar to French, German and Latin, they come from the same place if you go back far enough.
With the internet and television things are mixing up even more, there are a lot of English words in European languages, and a lot of Americanisms are creeping into our language. Language evolves all the time but in different directions in different places. Maybe in 1000 years everybody will speak the same language, who knows.
No seriously, it's because everybody's languages formed in different areas to each other, hundreds of years ago even people in the same countries spoke different languages, there were different types of English, French and German all in the areas we call England, France and Germany (e.g in France there is Occitane, Basque and many others, these are all regional languages still spoken today to some extent.) I imagine before that when only tribes existed (no countries) each tribe had their own language.
Why is this?
Well if you're in your tribe, how would you know about the language of a tribe 500 miles away? The point is you wouldn't, so everybody developed their own languages. As society became more organised, these came together and languages evolved, and some languages were lost and new ones formed out of the old ones. Indeed, even today many many languages are being lost each year, when the last person who knows how to speak it dies. This is why a lot of English words are similar to French, German and Latin, they come from the same place if you go back far enough.
With the internet and television things are mixing up even more, there are a lot of English words in European languages, and a lot of Americanisms are creeping into our language. Language evolves all the time but in different directions in different places. Maybe in 1000 years everybody will speak the same language, who knows.
This. Kids TV is making my little sister speak so many Americanisms! This morning i was trying to reinforce that we say 'Draughts' not 'Checkers'
Why would I want to learn a universal language?
It's always been something that people have thought about and tried, but it's just too difficult to actually work out. It would be wicked expensive to actually try to teach one language universally, and then you run into the issues of people not wanting to give up their own language. It could make things simpler, but it may not be worth giving up on cultural traditions.
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