Universal Language- A Good Idea?

[Hologram]

First of all, English has already been adopted as the international language of sorts as it's required to be learned in many non-English speaking countries.

Second, it's impractical because there would be a huge amount of dialects that would emerge, making it nigh impossible to understand each other anyway.

There already ARE a lot of different dialects. Look at the US, the dialects vary from region to region, and state to state at times. Or the British Isles, etc.

I realize that, but if you compound that and include it into all the countries it will get very confusing. For instance, most Americans can understand each other well enough, no matter what the difference, but if you try to take an American and tell him to converse with Scot with a very thick accent or a limey from Liverpool it'll get real confusing real fast.

[ignotus]

We have it already. It is called Esperanto.

[Jenos Ridan]

well, english seems to be a complicated language: although it has many established spelling and grammar rules, there are so many exceptions to each rule.

True, but find another alternative that is just as widely used.

[Snorri1234]

well, english seems to be a complicated language: although it has many established spelling and grammar rules, there are so many exceptions to each rule.

english is actually gramatically very simple... when english evolved from old english, they got rid of a lot of complicated structures. english is pretty simple to learn

Please explain to me this:

The following sentences are grammatically correct:
"I turn the light off."
"I turn off the light."
"I turn off the road."

But, "I turn the road off" makes absolutely no sense.

Or, explain to me what the f*ck is up with "do" in our language. Why do we suddenly insert this word when we ask questions? Why is it used for emphasis? It makes no sense.

Just a few examples. Good luck in finding an explanation.

Well the problem is that other languages are just as complicated if not more. You should try learning dutch or french if you think english is complicated.

Imagine having to write each noun differently depending on where it is in the text. French has one word for "will have to go" and all other such things. While arguably french and german have fewer exceptions than english, they are vastly more complicated.

Added to that the fact english is so widespread, I think english would probably be the best universal language.

[lord voldemort]

Speak english! it is the language the bible is written in.

so naive

[greenoaks]

First of all, English has already been adopted as the international language of sorts as it's required to be learned in many non-English speaking countries.

Second, it's impractical because there would be a huge amount of dialects that would emerge, making it nigh impossible to understand each other anyway.

There already ARE a lot of different dialects. Look at the US, the dialects vary from region to region, and state to state at times. Or the British Isles, etc.

I realize that, but if you compound that and include it into all the countries it will get very confusing. For instance, most Americans can understand each other well enough, no matter what the difference, but if you try to take an American and tell him to converse with Scot with a very thick accent or a limey from Liverpool it'll get real confusing real fast.

spot on hologram, having people speak the same language, just different dialects would obviously be more confusing than having people try to speak to each other in different languages.

[InkL0sed]

well, english seems to be a complicated language: although it has many established spelling and grammar rules, there are so many exceptions to each rule.

english is actually gramatically very simple... when english evolved from old english, they got rid of a lot of complicated structures. english is pretty simple to learn

Please explain to me this:

The following sentences are grammatically correct:
"I turn the light off."
"I turn off the light."
"I turn off the road."

But, "I turn the road off" makes absolutely no sense.

Or, explain to me what the f*ck is up with "do" in our language. Why do we suddenly insert this word when we ask questions? Why is it used for emphasis? It makes no sense.

Just a few examples. Good luck in finding an explanation.

Well the problem is that other languages are just as complicated if not more. You should try learning dutch or french if you think english is complicated.

Imagine having to write each noun differently depending on where it is in the text. French has one word for "will have to go" and all other such things. While arguably french and german have fewer exceptions than english, they are vastly more complicated.

Added to that the fact english is so widespread, I think english would probably be the best universal language.

I happen to speak French, and I have been learning Latin for 6 years, so I know all about the complexity of inflected languages.

To native speakers, or even other speakers of Germanic languages (Dutch, for example, which happens to be closer to English than German), it can be hard to see English as complicated.

The problem is that comparing the difficulty of learning different languages is mostly subjective. To say that English is the best because it is the easiest to learn is simply... well, simple. And that's all I'm really trying to say.

EDIT: I read some of the earlier responses to my post, and I have to say I'm amazed. Americans really do know nothing about language.

Also, why is everybody putting words in my mouth? I never argued that English was more complicated than other languages, just that it's not as simple as many of you think.

[Snowpepsi]

Means: It is not the easy thing to do.

[jimboston]

It will happen.. just no time soon.

Right now English looks like it has a leg-up...

However... Mandarin or Spanish may overtake at some point in the future. With computers and the internet... some version of modified English, like an IM or Chat version, may explode as well.

[UCAbears]

do you think it'd be a good idea if we adopted a universal language (all throughout the world)? of course, other languages would stay, but one would be chosen as, maybe curriculum in schools around the world. do you think this is good idea, and what language would you choose to do so?

Maybe if you want thousands of people to die.

[InkL0sed]

Gittothe gistothe gnottothe gthetothe geasytothe gthingtothe gtotothe gdotothe.


Pronounced: Get the geese to the got to the geese to the get to the got to the goth.

Means: It is not the easy thing to do.


This is a secret language that a couple of neighbor kids made up and I was able to translate. It took awhile, because everything they would say sounded like the pronunciation above. They would say it so fast that I could barely decipher each different word. I was driving them somewhere one day and was just listening to them. And it all clicked. They had to stop talking it in front of me.


Say it out loud it sounds kinda cool.

How does that work, exactly? Is it just like every English word has an equivalent in this language? How did you figure it out?

[HayesA]

Having a "Basic" language will eventually be well adopted across the globe, and, perhaps, across the galaxy. (But definitely not in our life times.) Much like there will be a unified government to handle off-planet matters. Or at least, should be. This "Basic" will definitely not be the only language; the regional languages will still of course be adapted in their respected regions and across the globe as well.

None of this will happen in our life times, however.