Okay, so today in TOK we were discussing different languages and whether or not it would be better to have one major language (Esperanto, correct?) or the bunches of little languages that we have now. I can definitely see the advantages to having one major language, like for example English. If everyone in the whole world knew English, everything could just be translated into English for products and their labels and everyone would know what everyone was talking about. I don't know how I feel about that. I like the concept that everyone would be able to know what everyone is talking about; however I feel like things just would not be the same and not in a good way. I feel that without different languages we would miss out on a whole bunch of culture. I mean, yes the pieces of literature and what not could be translated into English, but it wouldn't be the same thing. I know that with learning Spanish, I feel excited that I can now understand more people around the world because I can speak their language now. I feel happy that I have become the progressed as a human to learn multiple languages.
Without all of the languages that identity as that type of person I feel would slip away too. I mean, if all the people in Spain were to convert to just English, then first off the translations from their language to ours would be different, plus they would become more "American" and think more "American-like". By doing so, I kind feel that that would be a bad thing because they lose their history, culture, and traditions, as well as their "Spain" way of thinking. The advantages are great, but right now I think that it is interesting in how different everyone is, even if it means harder work for us to figure it out. Now everyone gets to be themselves throughout the world.
The idea behind Esperanto is that everyone should have their own native, or ethnic, language, but should also enjoy communication with a neutral common language, as well.
ReplyDeleteCan I add that Esperanto is not only a great idea, but is now a living language.
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Esperanto is a great concept, but I feel that by creating a universal language, information and interpretation would be lost in translation. Plus, for everyone to agree on how a universal language should be constructed would be a very difficult problem, because I don't see many countries agreeing really easily. Also a lot of effort would have to be put forth by everyone in the world, and I don't think that the world is ready for that because having different languages is considered an upper advantage by a lot of countries. I'm not saying that it's bad, but it would just take a lot of work to get the WHOLE world to the point of agreeing on having a universal language that would not lose any one culture. Thanks for commenting though, I am so happy!! ^.^
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