If the world's people were to speak but one language, what should it be... and why do you think so?

Question

Wouldn't it be great if we could at least eliminate the language barrier between all peoples of the world? I think it would be the most feasible thing that could be accomplished to help achieve more tolerance, understanding and acceptance of people different from 'us' in other ways... it wouldn't be easy, nor an 'overnight happening', but what a beginning to greater things much more difficult.

Answer 1

Something similar has been attempted with the creation of Esperanto, an universal language, which borrowed different aspects from each linguistic family. The result was known mearly among specialists but the general public hasn't heard or didn't care about it.
The conclusion? It has been tried and the result was a complete failure, because we are not yet capable to drop those barriers which make us belong to our nations, which allow us to identify to our people. It's going to be a dream for a long, long time.

Answer 2

At the rate things are going, if we ever do all speak one language, it will probably be English, simply because so many countries note it as one of, or their only, official language(s). However, the language I would choose to be the unified human language, would be either a mixture of all languages or Latin. For the mixture language, it would be simpler to learn; everyone would know at least part of the base of it, though the grammar would be one hard thing to get over, considering the differences in grammar from English to German to Italian to Spanish. Latin would also be a good one because almost everyone would be starting from the same amount of knowledge on the subject, and being that it is, in fact, a dead language, no one would be able to say "Well, our Latin is purer than yours because we've been speaking it this whole time." (See the argument between France and Quebec about whose french is the 'true' french.)
But, as I said, chances are it's going to be English that wins out. Almost all countries offer English courses in High School, or the local equivalent, or were colonized by the English. And considering that the world's Super-Power right now, the USA, speaks English, then you've got yourself a Global language.

Answer 3

You're not the first person to think of what a great idea it would be to have a universal language. Since language is such an intimate part of our individual and collective identity as a people, nation, tribe, etc., asking for a universal language would be akin to wishing everybody on earth shared the same personality so we can get along much better.

A better question would be "What keeps me from learning another language?" or "What's so wrong about learning a language other than my own?" The more globally connected we become as a society and as a nation, the direr the need we'll experience to become more foreign language-literate. After all, our market-driven economy needs buyers from everywhere, not just America. Hence, we need to speak the language of the buyers if we hope to keep enjoying the lifestyle we've grown accustomed to.

Answer 4

Arabic, because this is the first language on earth. From the beginning of the world people were communicate through that language therefore I am strongly believe that it will be more feasible for us to communicate in Arabic as it will help us to understand the features of the world very well.

Answer 5

English is already sort of the international language. All air traffic controllers have to speak it. Its common in most European nations too. So I'd go with English, although I'll admit to being a bit biased on the issue. There was a language created once...I think it was called Esperanto or somthing like that. It was supposed to unite the World.

Or maybe just the "language of love" would be enough?

Answer 6

People used to speak the same language remember...i was told that once..anyways i think i like the world like this because we wouldn't be unique and we do have to live with language barriers so we can accomplish learning different cultures and respecting the way everyone else is....Also i think that it would be hard to do since so many people would be pissed they didn't pick their language.

But if we were to choose i'd choose LATIN since no one speaks it because its a dead language.Everyone would have to learn it.

Answer 7

WELL I THINK THE LANGUAGE WOULD BE THE HOLY LANGUAGE WITCH IS AN UNKNOWN LANGO UNLESS YOU ARE BLESSED ENOUGH TO BE TOUCHED BY THE HANDS OF GOD HIMSELF. THINK ABOUT IT AT ONE TIME WE ALL DID SPEAK IN ONE VOICE BE EVEN THEN PEOPLE TURNED AGAINST GOD SO HE MADE A BARRIER SO WE CAN NEVER ALL WORK TOGETHER. IN OTHER WORDS IF WE ALL SPOKE IN THE SAME LANGO AND ALL AGREED ON SOME VERY BAD THING IMAGINE HOW FAST THE WORLD WOULD BE DESTROYED SO THERE IS A REASON FOR THE LACK OF UNDERSTANDING, WE ALL WOULD LIKE THE WORLD TO BE A BETTER PLACE. BUT PEOPLE GETTING ALONG DON'T MAKE IT BETTER, THE BIGGER THE GANG, THE WORSE THE DESTRUCTION.

Answer 8

my personal feelings would like to see Hebrew for the one language and i have more reasons then i can explain here. but ill work it down to a few concepts that will give the tip of the iceberg feel to it. first off its one of few truly spiritual languages and i have medical knowledge to substantiate this. everyone understands the nature of cross wiring in our bodies that our right brain controls left half of body. a more introverted and spiritual approach to reading would be in the direction from right to left instead of the left to right that English uses. this language is actually more materialistic and extroverted which is not spiritual at all. next there is numerical perfection in Hebrew. not only are the letters of the Hebrew alphabet they also double as the numbers for mathematical understandings. gematria is a Hebrew understanding of the code connection of math and words. in point of fact any bible code at all ever referenced to cannot be deciphered with out Hebrew. no English translation or any other translation could hold the codes and ciphers in place as well as Hebrew does. well as you can see i could easily go on but that is the spirit of your question and this my answer
hope it helped
mournyngwolf
solitary practitioner of wicca and wizardry

Answer 9

well the obvious answer would be English because it is the most widely spoken language, but I think spanish would be easy for most poeple to learn in the written sense at least because the words are written how they sound. I love the spanish language...it's so soothing, even when you're angry it sounds romantic and not aggressive! for example: it's much sexier to hear "quitar la ropa que te quiero besar por todo tu cuerpo" than "get your kit off girl and let's shag!" lol

Answer 10

I think it should be the simplest language available, one which does not declinate or anything. That way, there would be almost no grammar to learn, and words alone would do the trick. Some asian languages work like that. I'm told Chinese does. But its alphabet would pose a challenge to some. If there is an Asian language out there which does not declinate, but avails itself of the Roman alphabet (the simplest one out there), we'd have a winner.