Globalization of Communication
Globalization of Communication
It is easy to take language for granted. From when we are born, we breathe language in like air. Words surround us and penetrate us, and as we grow, we internalize them. Language becomes a tool so natural to us, that we fail to even notice it. It becomes indistinguishable from our thoughts, simply a part of us. This may be why our species fails to question the languages we work with. While language does create a means of communication between an individual and others, the way in which language has evolved has built artificial walls, which divide the global community along racial, ethnic, social and cultural lines. These unnatural divisions help to enforce xenophobia and bigotry. Perhaps more importantly, though, they make communication between individuals of different backgrounds more difficult than it could be. In effect, this inability to share ideas and collaborate has slowed the evolution of human thought.
Civilization is constantly evolving. Our understanding of ourselves, each other, and the universe in which we exist have been refined and updated with every generation, allowing us the power to shape and mold our lives more effectively. This is where language comes in. The capacity for creating such intricate systems of communication is uniquely human, as is the success and development it has brought this species. Language has enabled every major advance of human thought that led to this success. During times of revolutionary academic pursuit and discovery, entire regions come together to discuss and collaborate. From the Renaissance, ushering humanity out of the Middle Ages to the Islamic Age of Enlightenment and its concomitant scientific and philosophical revelations, language has been essential. Each of these revelations, however, was driven by a single cultural group.
Every unique dialect, every unique accent and every unique language grew out of the needs of its speakers, and therefore reflects only that group. A black slave toiling away in a 19th-century cotton field needs different tools to express different ideas than a French bourgeois in a lavish sitting room. Consequently, the slave and their descendants will speak differently than the bourgeois and theirs. This means that the slave and the bourgeois are even less likely to collaborate for the betterment of humanity as a whole. If every cultural group experiences the world and thus speaks about the world in a different way, intercultural communication becomes problematic. With fewer possible contributing voices, progress moves slower.
So language helps us, but the way it has evolved is hindering us. What do we do? If the obstacle to global collaboration is the wall of language, then we must eliminate that wall. By learning more than one language, multilingualism, an individual gives themselves the key to cross the language barrier. As G. Richard Tucker points out in A Global Perspective on Bilingualism and Bilingual Education, there are now more multilingual speakers in the world than monolingual speakers. This multilingualism may close the gap between speakers of different languages, but it is not without its shortcomings. The most widely spoken language in the world is English. English, however, was originally spoken in medieval England. Since that time, English has been the language of the English people and their descendants. It is their language. If English were to become the language of intercultural communication throughout the entire world, it might be perceived as having a higher value than other languages. In turn, this might place its original speakers, the people of Britain, Australia and the United States of America, above those who more recently adopted the language. While adopting one of the world’s many organic languages on a global scale is one option, it would be inefficient to use an existing language based on these cultural ties.
What we need is an easy-to-learn language of intellectual thought, which is understood worldwide. It needs to feel organic, but must not have ties to any one group. It needs to be simple enough for anyone to use it, yet able to express thoughts that are entirely unimaginable now. Some have created such lingua francas in the past. In 1887, Dr. L. L. Zamenhof created Esperanto, the most widely-spoken constructed language in the world. It is an easy-to-learn, fully-developed language, and is not specific to any individual group of people. Unfortunately, the two-million-speaker Esperanto movement has seen limited success. If we want globalization of communication, we need a global effort.
A more perfect global society, whatever that may entail, is within the realm of possibility. Improving life for every resident of this planet through advances in science and philosophy is within the realm of possibility. Such advances can not be achieved by a fractured society such as ours, and the first step towards a unified global community is unity in language. We must redraw the maps, and erase the artificial lines of language. With the ability to share every idea, every worldview and every perspective on every issue, humanity could not help but thrive.
"A Global Perspective on Bilingualism and Bilingual Education" Center for Applied Linguistics. Tucker, R. G.. 3 Nov 2013. Web.<http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/digestglobal.html>.
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