Would you prefer it if there was only one language?

If there was only one language used worldwide, would that be something you would prefer compared to the numerous languages that are present today? Would you trade cultural diversity for communicative efficiency?

I think I'd rather there be one means of communication known by everyone. Having cultures be so distinctly different, especially because of different spoken languages, is nice, but I think things would be so much better for everyone if we could all understand each other easier.

For whatever reason, I choose 'No'. There's something about language that can shape a culture, and thus an individual, in my opinion. Diversity also helps improve the world, to some extent.

Plus, if there was only one, it would inevitably be English, which would make me sad if our somewhat gutter-level language was taken in favour of many more sophisticated ones. Don't know why, but that would bother me.

No, then I couldn't look mysterious when I mumble to myself in another tongue.

Hell no. Different languages can serve different purposes. For instance, while English would make me sound like some type of medieval lord, Japanese would likely make me sound really goddamn cute. See? Different purposes.

Not really because I feel kinda proud of myself for learning a second language, would suck to no longer have that.

@Sooty said:

Not really because I feel kinda proud of myself for learning a second language, would suck to no longer have that.

I also know a second language, but I guess my point is that I wouldn't need to have become fluent in it if it didn't exist in the first place.

It would never happen. But it would be easier to order my McDonalds if we all spoke one language. This wouldn't mean that you couldn't know another language. Just that everyone would know English ( or whatever )

As I've learned from using Duolingo to learn German, learning a new language gives a really good natural high, since the brain rewards you for getting things right. Don't take my fix from me.

Around 2095, there'll only be about three widely used as the rest are no longer spoken. English, Spanish, and Mandarin are the three. That's not fact, but it's also not really what I believe. I always resort to this website when it comes to the future, even if it doesn't really happen.

http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2090-2099.htm#languages

Yes.

Edit: I change my answer to no, because despite thinking that it would make lots of things far more efficient, it would bring us one step closer to communism.

Yes.  Language, while a large part of cultural diversity, is not the single defining feature of it.  Culture will be fine while human communications will be made much easier.

Why did you change your avatar? : (

Then I'd have no profession, so hell god damn no. Especially not if it were English.

I was thinking about this as I watched the Babel Rising Quick Look. Actually I was wondering why Brad could just cast "many different tongues" and send the little construction workers into chaos. Anyway, wasn't Esperanto supposed to be adopted as the world language at one point? English is practically the one language now since it's the language of trade and commerce. From what I understand, all international air travel has to relay its messages in English. The British spread it around the globe at first and then American culture (for what it is) reinforced it through TV and film.

One language certainly would make everything easier but it would also sacrifice the unique peculiarities people develop from their ethnic languages. I love the high pitched voices some Japanese girls have but you don't regularly hear that octave range in American English. On the other hand, there's something sexy about the deep tones of Russian. Variety is good even if it comes at a price.

Sure, but only if it is latin.

Every language as its own heritage and history.

English is a very efficient and great for commerce, French can be really artistic and beautiful, Mandarin is complex and quite elegant...

No. Read Orwell.

If it means axing every other language, no. As unlikely as it is that I'll ever have to rely heavily on my Swedish or Russian, I enjoy learning new languages and everything that comes with it. It's the best gateway to a culture.

Wouldn't it be great if there was only one race, am I right guys?

Oh course not, differences are a strength not a weakness, they make the world more interesting.

That would be ideal.

@NTM said:

Around 2095, there'll only be about three widely used as the rest are no longer spoken. English, Spanish, and Mandarin are the three. That's not fact, but it's also not really what I believe. I always resort to this website when it comes to the future, even if it doesn't really happen.

http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2090-2099.htm#languages

While it's likely that English and Mandarin become a lingua franca for the world, other languages and especially dialects will remain. Consider Britain, and how a small country of 70 million can have such a diverse and localized array of accents. Consider a city like New York, there are specific New York accents based on something as small as boroughs. That will maintain. Even on the internet, communities form around their shared experiences and their values, this bleeds into their language.

No, cultural diversity is one of the things that makes life interesting.

@Metzo_Paino said:

Wouldn't it be great if there was only one race, am I right guys?

What the fuck? I'll acknowledge that comparison if you list even one effective reason as to why that would help society in the same way a single known language would.

And while we're at it, why don't we just make there be one kind of food, too? Languages are way too fun for me to want to get rid of any of them.

@FluxWaveZ said:

I'll acknowledge that comparison if you list even one effective reason as to why that would help society

No racism.

@FluxWaveZ said:

@Metzo_Paino said:

Wouldn't it be great if there was only one race, am I right guys?

What the fuck? I'll acknowledge that comparison if you list even one effective reason as to why that would help society in the same way a single known language would.

It wouldn't, I pointing out that getting rid of stuff to make things simpler is not always better.

To further the point that having one language would be silly/bad is because language can help you understand a culture and how it's life view differs from your own. If everyone spoke one language, which I assume you would want to be English because you know it and learning languages is hard there wouldn't be the Gaelic word Sgriob which means the itchiness that overcomes the upper lip just before taking a sip of whisky, or Mamihlapinatapai, which is Yaghan for: A look between two people that suggests an unspoken, shared desire.

Even if one language did exist what about all the different accents?

No.

Language is one aspect of many that makes cultures unique from one another. Take that away and our individuality is limited.

For some reason the idea makes me uncomfortable. So no.

Also I wouldn't be able to blame a language barrier for my inability to pick up a large constituency of ladies. Now they would just turn me down because I suck. Although they probably don't need to know what I'm saying to figure that out, anyway.

@Guided_By_Tigers said:

@FluxWaveZ said:

I'll acknowledge that comparison if you list even one effective reason as to why that would help society

No racism.

Sure, and that's the obvious one that I thought of from all being of the same ethnicity, but I feel that that's not an inherit benefit. The direct result of a true universal language is of total understanding of one another. Being of the same ethnicity would bring the indirect result of nonexistent racism, because really what has changed is people's perception towards one another, not the ever-present xenophobic hatred that the same people have. Really, I could see a byproduct of everyone being of the same ethnicity to make another kind of segregation become more significant.

No because sign language either wouldn't exist or be the only languange. I'm not gonna rob people without hands or mouths of the need to communicate, you, you monster!

Yes because I'm a rebel.

while it would certainly be very convenient to have just one, i have to choose "No". The reason for my response is that i have a strange enjoyment of difference, especially when it comes to language. i have learned about 6 languages over the course of my 30+ years, and would love to learn more. it is just one of those things that clicks in my head. language, i love it.

I guess having only one language would make travel and business easier but then again it also wouldn't be as interesting. Also I do believe that language helps keep cultures separate to a certain extent which can be a good thing in regards to keeping a culture or society individual and authentic.

if it's English sure

I love the nuances, subtleties and turn of phrases that exist in other languages, so I voted no. Language is a beautiful and incredible interesting thing; it'd be a shame for it to become so simplified.

A single language would undoubtedly ease international communication, but I worry that smaller cultures stand to lose much as a result. We are privileged to speak not only the most widespread language, but debatably, the one with the most expansive lexicon, too (although Chrome need to add "debatably" to theirs).

To an extent, language defines thought; if you cannot grasp a thought internally (as language permits us) how could you convey it to others? In English speaking countries we have created words for the things we encounter, but experiences are different the world over, and there are instances where I feel English is insufficient to describe things. Hell, even running your fingers affectionately through someone’s hair has a word in Brazilian Portuguese: "Cafune".

Additionally, the cultural nuances that languages form would be lost. Take the efficiency of German, for instance, or the romanticism of French or Italian; they would deteriorate under English.

Regardless, globalisation has already resulted in one-fourth of the world's population [communicating] to some degree in English. Source - NY Times It seems inevitable within the next century or two, especially given that the majority of the Internet is in English (source as above), as well as international commerce.

Wouldn't it be great if there was only one race, am I right guys?

Oh course not, differences are a strength not a weakness, they make the world more interesting.

@Aronman789 said:

As I've learned from using Duolingo to learn German, learning a new language gives a really good natural high, since the brain rewards you for getting things right. Don't take my fix from me.

:D So am I, and I'm loving it.

Die Frau trinkt das Wasser... Die Frau trinkt das Wasser... Die Frau trinkt das Wasser...

@ShaggE said:

@Aronman789 said:

As I've learned from using Duolingo to learn German, learning a new language gives a really good natural high, since the brain rewards you for getting things right. Don't take my fix from me.

:D So am I, and I'm loving it.

Die Frau trinkt das Wasser... Die Frau trinkt das Wasser... Die Frau trinkt das Wasser...

Das Kind isst einen Apfel

if it's English sure

It would be robotically efficient but we would lose a lot of beauty in our speech.

Besides, Tower of Babel people. Regardless of the parable's intentions or even if it's true or not, it's a pretty good illustration of how humanity as a whole could never agree on something like what language we should all use.

I voted "no" because I don't think the efficiency gained would make up for the beauty lost.

@Aronman789 said:

@ShaggE said:

@Aronman789 said:

As I've learned from using Duolingo to learn German, learning a new language gives a really good natural high, since the brain rewards you for getting things right. Don't take my fix from me.

:D So am I, and I'm loving it.

Die Frau trinkt das Wasser... Die Frau trinkt das Wasser... Die Frau trinkt das Wasser...

Das Kind isst einen Apfel

Donde esta la biblioteca, me llamo T-Bone la araña discoteca.

... Wait...

@ShaggE said:

@Aronman789 said:

@ShaggE said:

@Aronman789 said:

As I've learned from using Duolingo to learn German, learning a new language gives a really good natural high, since the brain rewards you for getting things right. Don't take my fix from me.

:D So am I, and I'm loving it.

Die Frau trinkt das Wasser... Die Frau trinkt das Wasser... Die Frau trinkt das Wasser...

Das Kind isst einen Apfel

Donde esta la biblioteca, me llamo T-Bone la araña discoteca.

... Wait...

T-Bone the Disco Spider sounds like some sort of children's cartoon from the 90s

@Aronman789: I'd watch the everloving hell out of that. As a wise man once said, "Buenos dias, me gusta papas frías, los bigotes de la cabra Es Cameron Diaz." I think we both can see how that applies.

No! It's more fun when you mix languages together. For example, "Look, I just found some agua in a dumpster"!

English is already pretty much a Lingua Franca and there's no need to get rid of the other languages.

I'd prefer if it was easy to learn other languages, or if I had the energy/drive to learn them etc. Other languages can be sexy, or funky and weird and I wouldn't want everything to be boiled down to 1 single language. Would that not create an insane amount of regional accents and ways of speaking the language anyways? I don't think you can actually truly have one solid language that's spoken exactly the same across the entire planet unless the entire planet is controlled and connected completely.

It would be better if, apart from the languages that already exist, there was one that everyone spoke.

No way! You would destroy unique cultures!

Koombaya Motherfucker.