A World Language...?

April 11, 2008, 10:15 PM

Today at college, our teacher was talking about the world and how it's evolving and blah blah, and she mentioned something that really interested me.She thinks, within 30 years or so, the world will pretty much speak the same first language probably English.
Of course there will be different dialects and that, and each country with have their own little sayings and that, but the language will be spoken by pretty much everyone. She also thinks it will progress further and further until most languages die out and we are all speaking the same language.What do you think about this? Like, do you believe it or not, and why, and what is your view on it if you think it will happen something like this?

April 11, 2008, 10:21 PM

I've had similar discussions in the past.

Early man had to communicate with one another in the same way in order to be able to ... well, understand anything. Their language was clearly primitive, if it was anything beyond grunts. I've often wondered how languages have developed. My train of thought led me to wonder which language was spoken, globally, before the world was given borders?

Or did every "colony" of early man develop their language in the same way but used different methods, thereby bringing rise to other languages?

I think a lot of people will find it difficult to let go of their own language and its heritage purely to conform with English and I truly can't see all languages converging into one.

April 11, 2008, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riku

My train of thought led me to wonder which language was spoken, globally, before the world was given borders?

I doubt it, because even with the same language you have differences, Spanish for example, they speak three kinds in Spain alone, so i doubt whether that happened, and a world before borders would have been very simplistic, so most interactions could probably be very simple, so body language and gesturing would have sufficed.

I agree though, people are unlikely to give up their own language, which comes with a country's heritage and culture just to make communication easier. Necessity will make it so more people speak one language, for business etc. However I doubt that would ever threaten the existence of other languages

April 11, 2008, 11:07 PM

I don't think there would be any possibility to get only one language... in fact, there would probably be more languages, with each dialect diverging into a new language.

As a matter of fact, each spanish-speaking country's dialect has major differences from each other, and even within the same country there are a lot of differences.

April 12, 2008, 2:45 AM

In 30 years? haha

I very much doubt we'll all be speaking English in a mere 30 years. English is heavily practiced around the world, but I don't believe it'll ever become the official language for each country.

April 12, 2008, 5:18 PM

Nope, no way, I really can't see this ever happening. And even if it ever did, I wouldn't imagine it would be as soon as 30 years, unless there is some big war and the world gets put under a dictatorship but... what are the chances of that happening?

I really *really* doubt that people would be willing to give up their own languages. Imagine if it was you and you were being forced to learn fluent mandarin and completely leave behind the English language. You wouldn't be too overjoyed at that, would you? Besides, what would be the point? Different languages are all part of different cultures, and imo, that is what makes the world a more interesting place to live. I, personally, love learning foreign languages and learning about different cultures. It would be utterly disastrous if we all conformed to the same language. Okay so it might make travelling 'more convenient' but so what? People have coped for, well, ever using different languages, and it has never really posed any *huge* problems before.

Although if this ever were to happen, I must admit I would love if we were all to speak German, that would be hilarious.

April 12, 2008, 6:37 PM

I don't see English being spoken worldwide by most any time soon. True most countries teach English now, but languages are a huge part of countries cultures, and many countries around the world don't want to lose that. Plus, in countries like in Africa and Asia, and even South America where the education isn't that good, those people are likely to never learn English

April 13, 2008, 8:29 PM

While it would be convenient for every country/society to speak the same language, I don't think it would happen, either. There's already arguments and conflict over culture preservation, and having the hundreds of languages and dialects morph into one in three decades is ridiculously farfetched. And to be honest, I wouldn't want it to happen, either. I think all of the differences there are in mankind is what makes the human race so interesting and versatile.

April 14, 2008, 5:55 AM

South Park's episode Goobacks had that. All the races had mixed into one bald, brown-skinned race with one language. I do believe they got the idea from Blade Runner.....or some other cyberpunk movie I saw, but I think it was Blade Runner.

Anyway, I can see one language being spoken by all (first and second world) countries , but not as a first language. It would be useful for commerce and travel, but I doubt every country would be willing to give up their native language as a first language. Like others have said, there's the whole "preserving culture" issue and whatnot. Plus it's just a pain in the ass to learn a new language, let alone make it your primary one.