Imagine if all the people around the globe just speak one language, would this be better ? For me, the difference of our languages is not something else except the grace we should be happy that we have in our life.
Imagine and tell me what is your opinion?
I spend about two hours a day learning languages. With that time freed up, I might refresh my childhood memories and reopen the bible to Genesis 11: 1-9.
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
6 And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
No judgment either way but If we all spoke one language, I wonder if those who believe in the Word could reconcile these verses.
I understand that is your opinion about the advantage of difference of languages just religious, I agree with you that the difference of languages is religious whatever our religions, but there are other advantages I see the are important than that , so to speak, like it make us Curious to discover and meet other people and this emphasize the ties and the peace between humankind.
People invent slangs to have secret languages. The only one global language would anyway have many possibilities to transmit secret messages.
I think every language has at least 2 functions:
- to be understood by others,
- to be NOT understood by strangers.
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“it make us Curious to discover and meet other people and this emphasize the ties and the peace between humankind.”
That is a really beautiful understanding.
If we were all the same, what could we learn from one another? Would there still be desire?
For example, if you are a tourist, what would you prefer? Doing domestic journey or visit different country with different language; the answer depends on the person, but you will find the majority tend to discover new fresh thing, kill the boring and meet people who think different than their people, and this accumulate the sanity.
Or because the languages had founded in different environments where people face different circumstances and need special terms.
I disagree. As I am learning French, I find I am expressing myself differently, I can feel a deep yearning when I use the conditionnel that I don’t feel in English and it tells me a great deal about myself. I have also recently learned that at least one of the First Nations languages works on verbs, not nouns like English and French, so language was a major reason the native North Americans had no concept of land ownership.
I feel that if we lose other languages, we will be losing a lot of diversity. Language represents culture and the world overall loses a great deal when we lose a language.
As a devout catholic, I feel the tower of Babel story teaches lessons that can go far beyond what language we speak and does not necessarily preclude all speaking the same language.
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I respect your view, and you are right and I quote “Language represents culture and the world overall loses a great deal when we lose a language”
If everyone in the world learned all of the other languages, would they then merge and hybridize into one extraordinarily complex and rich multi-cultural language?
And if this new, one world language was also part of a new ‘heaven and earth’ where peace flourished and words such as worry was no longer used and faded from memory, and no more animals were killed or trees cut down, no hungry children, no more war, only pure water and skies…I think I could get used to this one multi-cultural language.
I do not think so, the issue of war, environment, hunger…etc is related to religion, morals, politics, economy and these stuff. What I say is that the difference of languages tend to push people to meet each others.
“…languages tend to push people to meet each other.”
I agree. There is a mystery and attraction to languages and people’s we are not familiar with.
That could be lost if there was just one language.
John Lennon had a similar idea, and look what happened to him. Just sayin.
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I speak the same language with Russians and Ukranians but I am not sure I understand their maentality completely. The same I may say about Rissians and Ukrainians.
One language cannot make thoughts similar.