Books & Literature

What If Everyone Spoke The Same Language?

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It is the language that we can communicate our feelings & thoughts so easily. Language is by far the most important element of any culture and civilization that exists on this planet. But what would the world be like if everyone spoke the same language? What if there were one world one language?

As of today, there are over 7000 languages spoken worldwide, but only around 30 of them are well recognized and account for more than half of the world’s population, in which English has a more global influence than any other. But despite this, it is still not officially considered an international language.

Let us suppose if the world had only one language to communicate? Wouldn’t it be better for all of us? or, is it even possible to have one global language? What would have been the scenario then?

Here’s what the world would look like from my perspective:

A World That Speaks the Same Language (Positive Impact)

According to my opinion, there are a variety of reasons why it would have been better. If you look at the positive side, you’ll find:

  1. We can travel to any part of the World with confidence and without obstacles as there is no language barrier.
  2. We all have the same sort of music and understanding the lyrics of Despacito, Lemalem, and Alors on Danse & Gangnam style would be just a cup of tea.
  3. Telecommunications of all sorts would be easier. You can easily communicate with fourth-world communities, which aren’t a normal part of society.
  4. Leaders of various governments would have a meeting without the fear of being misunderstood.
  5. All the novels and literature need not be translated and can be read in the original. As translation can never do justice to the spirit and elegance of the original.
  6. Although interpreters and translators lost their jobs we would save billions on translation costs.
  7. Writers all around the world would get a way higher number of views and authors can sell their books anywhere they want.
  8. Language barriers would not be used as an excuse for misunderstandings.
  9. A single language would enable new forms of global artistic expression and collaboration.
  10. A more unified world could require new forms of global governance to address challenges like climate change and resource distribution.
  11. Standardized education systems would be easier to implement.
  12. The pressure to learn multiple languages would be eliminated.

And there is one thing I can say It would have been much easier for us to write here without letting people misunderstand them. Because it happens a lot when English is not your first language.

Sometimes people misunderstand what we are trying to say, just because of language barriers and cultural differences. There is a direct correlation between writers and communications.

Writers written work may not be coming out exactly as they mean, and English as the first language speaker may be taking it the wrong way.

Just for example, calling someone ‘Dear’ might be a nice gesture from you but it might be extremely condescending in other parts of the world if you don’t know each other.

Calling women ‘divas’ might be normal in your society but it is also often used as an insult in various regions of the world. It may look normal to you but have a huge impact on how someone takes your words because the language barriers exist between you and them.

So, imagine if everyone spoke the same language (except accents) wouldn’t it have been a blessing for all of us?

A World That Speaks the Same Language (Negative Impact)

Well, it has its pros that would have brought a completely different picture of the world. But there would have been some serious concerns also, for instance:

  • With one world and one language, the difference between cultures would start to diminish too.
  • The joy of learning a new language and other cultures would be eliminated forever.
  • If everyone spoke the same language there would be no privacy.
  • Talking in the native language in other countries is a matter of pride, that’ll be lost.
  • Many languages are already endangered. A monolingual world would accelerate this process.
  • While a common language can facilitate communication, it doesn’t guarantee peace.
  • A single language could facilitate the spread of propaganda and disinformation.
  • A single language could facilitate the spread of harmful ideas and ideologies.
  • A single global language could have unforeseen effects on mental health and cognitive processes.
  • Constant communication in a single language might lead to mental exhaustion.

So, with global language, our World would become a boring place to live.

Many believe that perhaps English can be the global language of communication as it has more influence. But the truth is, no one wants to ever give up their Mother tongue or native language as it’s a part of their culture.

Let’s take my country, I’m from India, previously colonized by the British Empire. Therefore, despite Sanskrit being our deeply rooted language, English has a greater influence on our society. And, this is also because of the fact that the spread of the English language occurred parallel to the spread of the British Empire. Many erroneously believe that Sanskrit is a dead language, but the fact is that it is very much alive today.

And ironically, the British now have many universities which teach Sanskrit to every child for the first five years, Even Germany also has several colleges and universities teaching Sanskrit in Europe.

The ancient Indian scriptures are a window to the National soul of India, and most of the scriptures are in Sanskrit. Sanskrit can be called the ‘Grand Mother tongue’ of every Indian and European.

In a country as diverse as India where there are 22 official languages, English is among them. There is a huge linguistic ocean of 122 to 300 major languages and around 1600 lesser know-ones. After every 15-20 Km language and accent change in my country.

As Kailash Kher, a famous Indian singer once said, “For us Indians, I don’t think English can ever exclude that magic of emotions which our Mother tongue can”. Therefore, people would never want to leave their native language as it connects them to their roots.

Surprisingly, most of the languages we speak today are somewhere interdependent on each other if we go back in time. You can easily find similarities among some oldest languages like Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Arabic, etc. Some words we speak in our language have had origin in some others.

For instance, English has borrowed words from numerous languages. Examples include “sushi” (Japanese), “karma” (Sanskrit), “café” (French), and “pizza” (Italian). Spanish has incorporated words from indigenous languages like Nahuatl (Aztec) and Guarani. Examples include “chocolate” and “tomato.”

But, Despite this deep linguistic ocean around the world, expert agrees that there are fewer languages around today than yesterday.

The United Nations observed:

“When language fade, so does the world’s richest tapestry of cultural diversity”

When a language dies, a whole culture dies. Losing a language is like losing an identity.

According to UNESCO, 230 languages have fallen silent since 1950, disappearing forever. Moreover, a staggering one-third of the world’s languages currently have fewer than 1,000 speakers. When the last speaker of a language passes away, the language itself dies with it, taking its unique culture, history, and identity with it.

Learning a language is not only learning the alphabet meanings and arrangement of words but also learning the society and its cultural customs.

Other languages like English provide you wings to fly but your native language is the indispensable root.

So, what do you think of a world where everyone spoke the same language? Let us know down below.


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Ritish Sharma

Ritish Sharma is an author, editor, and creator of Aspiring Blog. He is dedicated to sharing unique and thought-provoking concepts through his writing and has a distinct perspective on various topics. His work is available for readers to enjoy.

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  • 230 languages got extinct😨😨😨 this is so bad, though having a global language can make a life lot easier but our language represents culture and heritage which can not be lost at any cost. Very well written and well-detailed post 👏👏👏 kudos to you

    • Thankyou Vani.
      And yes, It's actually bad losing a language. Languages are also the different colours of our World. Reports also even states that every two weeks language dies with it's last speaker.
      Therefore, We should preserve our culture and heritage.

  • Great question and excellent post Ritish. I think ultimately it would be a bad thing. The things that make life easier - like globalisation - dilute the cultural differences that make different walks of life so interesting. What if we all had the same colour skin? All ate the same kind of food? Held the same beliefs? What a boring world that would be.

    • Thankyou so much
      And well said.
      Diversity in language is incredibly beautiful. We need them because we need beauty, we need cinemas, we need poetries, Symphonies, we need different cultures.
      World without all this will surely be a very boring place to live.
      Unfortunately, some languages are disappearing at an alarming rate. And only future knows..What will happen next?

  • Wery well argued for the diversity in everything, not only in languages. Excellent post.
    Thank you.

    Joanna

  • This is a great question! I try to write in three languages and but have become aware that more and more bloggers just write in English, which I consider a great pity! Vielen Dank e cari saluti

    • Danke. Ich bin froh, dass es dir gefällt.
      And yes majority of bloggers write in English and majority of readers have their first language English as I said it has more global influence than any other languages. (Even if we try to write, people simply won't understand unless we provide them translation button, but that too works weird)
      But still the true emotions lies in our mother tongue only.

      • You are certainly right with what you say, but I have a doubt concerning your last sentence. Personally I prefer to read in English!!

    • Wow, I didn't know abou Frisian tongue. I'm amazed to see that Europe actually has a this much Language diversity.
      The work they are doing and their enthusiasm is highly commendable.

      I'll be glad to share this with one of my professor, He is a linguaphile. He would love to know more about it.

  • We already have such a universal language: it's called 'math'. That's why it's the language of real world knowledge. But there is a rich tapestry of meaning that some languages excel at capturing while others have great difficulty. (Consider the emotional appeal and release of music, for example.)

    Anyone who 'speaks' multiple languages fluently grasps (not just the grammar but the phonemes and pragmatics and so has) the understanding of this important aspect regarding nuanced meaning and we know from neuroscience how different languages access and/or utilize very different parts of the brain. But at the root, the point of language is to facilitate communication between people. Having a common tongue is a very practical net benefit for this purpose but there is no reason at all not to recognize and appreciate that having access to a depth of refined and nuanced languages is also a net benefit. English, for example is an excellent compilation of many languages that is flexible enough to keep on growing and changing over time but has zero ability to catch the nuance of object gender that shapes a French understanding. These examples are many.

    Anyway, it's a very interesting topic. Thanks for presenting it for consideration.

    • This is a very elaborating comment. Thankyou for this.
      Yes, mathematics is same all over the world and I do believe that English is often seen as a Lingua Franca for national and international communication, is also considered a necessity and excel at capturing.
      But as you said, has a zero ability to catch the nuance of object gender that shapes a French understanding.

      Thankyou so much for reading.

    • Oh yes, my bad..😐 Just skip from my mind while writing reply.
      Thankyou Joanna and I’m sorry.
      (And it's corrected now)

  • I really enjoyed reading this post Ritish. I'm English, born in England and have English ancestry, and so I'm more than happy that English is a universal language - but the world would be a much poorer place without all these other languages - and in this context, the word 'poorer' means poor from a cultural point of view, not financially.

    • Absolutely, as it is said Education gives both wings and roots to the person.
      While learning both native language and English well enough will be great.

      Thankyou so much for sharing your views. Have a great day.

  • Ritish it is really great work of yours. I appreciate such kind of which talks about everyone and proud of what they are & their culture. You are inspiring many people. I am proud of my mother tongue and my culture.

    ❤️Love it.

  • Good discussion. Many languages express great subtly in areas that are important to their culture. One language can't substitute for those aspects. It's so sad that many indigenous languages are being lost today.

    • Well put,
      Native languages are the deeply rooted element of any culture that can't be substituted.
      But sadly some indigenous languages speakers seeks to learn more prestigious languages to gain social advantage and to avoid discrimination.
      And end up losing their identity.

  • Congrats on 50! Nice ! ! !
    The idea of one language is at first glance a great, sweeping, romantic idea.
    But then on second glance....yeah, a lot would be lost for the sake of homogenization. Boring and bland would just be the tip of the iceberg. I don't think mere convenience would outweigh the cons.

    Wasn't Esperanto created as a language that everyone could supposedly learn and would be spoken everywhere? I have a vague memory of this. Maybe they had an idea of oneness that could be a go-to while everyone still maintained their languages and identities..........

    • Thankyou so much Seliza,
      And so true, world would be a boring place if there is no diversity.
      You right, an attempt was made by L.L Zamenhof in 1887 to create a global langauge i.e., Esperanto. But as of now it only has around 2 million speakers, therefore it can't be recognised as an international auxillary langauge.

      And this also seems to suggest that people was & would never give up their native languages as it is deeply integrated to their culture.

  • Just as the beauty of a garden comes from different types of flowers in it, similarly the beauty of the world is from different languages, culture. There may not be a universal language or culture, but this is not a problem, better means of movement, progress of science, and technology will continue to make valuable contribution in establishing coordination among different languages. Thinking of a universal language is destructive like, one religion, (THERE IS NO GOD BUT GOD)one idea (COMMUNISM)

    • I agree that diversity is the beauty of the world. But this is just an What if? Scenario.
      ‘Thinking of a universal language is destructive’ then why English is considered to be?
      And sadly, even the reports shows that indigenous languages are dying at an extreme rate.
      Isn't its those 'withering flowers'?

      • If everyone starts following one religion, will the religious conflict come to an end.
        How many Chinese people know English? How many Japanese, Germans, Jews, Russians, French know English? How can English be a universal language. Does the world mean only England? ( thinking of well). The mother tongue of America is not English, the official language of the US government is English. If many regional languages ​​are dying, then we are responsible for that.

        • You are certainly right.
          But I do believe that Learning both Native or regional language and English well enough to get into the spirit of the literature in both these languages will be great.
          Btw I'm proud of my Mother tongue and our 'Grand Mother Tongue'

  • I think differences such as language make us who we are and make the world a more diverse and beautiful place to live in.

  • Thanks for looking that up, Ritish. I had NO IDEA Esperanto was conceived of so long ago!! 1887!!!
    Wow. Yeah, I guess it didn't take, huh? lol

    • Haha, You know That according to Judeo-Christian scriptures there was a time long ago when everyone on this planet spoke the same language. And there was some story about 'Tower of Babel'. It may be a religious story but it's really interesting to know about it.

  • Ritish, I enjoyed reading this post and many of the interesting comments. I have studied both French and Spanish, but never became fluent in either. Ideally, it would be great if Americans spoke a second language, but most of us don't. I think part of the reason is because we start to learn other languages too late-- in high school-- and also because most of us don't hear languages other than English in our daily lives.

    I think technology may be of some help here as automated translations improve. Some of them are awful, especially when it comes to poetry!

    Have a great week!

  • Ritish, Very interesting topic and very well-written post! <3 I have enjoyed reading this and many of the excellent comments.

    I very much admire multilingual people. I have studied both French and Spanish, but never became fluent in either of them. Most Americans speak only English. I think one reason for that is that most start very late to learn a second language, in high school. Before age seven it is easier. Another reason is that most of us don't often hear other languages spoken in daily life.

    I think technology holds much promise. Some current translators are awful, especially when it comes to poetry! I think they will improve over time.

    Have a great week!

    • Thankyou Cheryl

      You are certainly right, and even the further research shows that multilingual have a better mental development, and when they grow old, they are less likely to get Alzheimer's disease.

      Thank you for sharing your views. Have a great day.

      (Im replying late, because for some reason I'm not getting the new comment notification)

  • Please delete duplicate comment. Sorry! I am having technical difficulties. :)

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