TED Conversations

Hugo Wagner

Prospective graduate student in Mechanical Engineering,

TEDCRED 200+
TED TranslatorAssociateLanguage CoordinatorTED Attendee

This conversation is closed. Start a new conversation
or join one »

Is our destiny to be one world with one language?

Are we heading towards a world with one common language?
If you think so, do you believe that it will happen naturally (because globalization requires it) or because of one country's leading "soft power"?
Would it enhance international cooperation and promote better understanding between countries?

On the other hand, what would it mean for human cultures and civilizations?

Related Talks:
Topics: Languages World Peace globalization international cooperation
+17
Share:

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.

  • thumb

    Katerina Verman

    • 0
    TED Translator
    Aug 8 2011: Yes, i think it's great when you communicate with someone from other part of the world and he or she understands you. You don't have to explaine a lot of things, because that someone comprehends it very well. But from other point of view, a lot of people will loose their jobs and the first one will be translators and interpreters, cause there will be nothing to translate. And сoncerning culture and uniqueness of every nation: every country has it's own history in which a crucial role belongs to their ancestors. Some people choose to preserve this language, another choose to learn languages which will lead them to undersrtand other people, so it will make our life easier and more interesting.
    • thumb

      Petr Frish 100+

      • 0
      TED Translator
      Aug 10 2011: Katerina, culture and uniqueness of every nation will be preserved when most people speak International language,
      International english.

      It will just be easier to share their unique experiences and traditions with larger set of people.

      To rely on translators, no matter how good, means introducing a bottleneck, which filters that uniquness and richness of that cultural variety.

      AND all those unemployed translators can became teachers of International english and write stories about the
      life and cultures of foreign lands :-)
      • thumb

        Katerina Verman

        • 0
        TED Translator
        Aug 10 2011: Petr, it sounds like a good idea with bottleneck and new employment of translators.

        But i think linguistic process as any processes on this world is not ruled only by educated people or simply by people, it is also determened by law of nature in some way.

        For example, you can teach children at school ukrainian language but at home they will communicate russian. And it happens also with many dialects, which are spoken around the world within the family or tribe.

        But i agree with you that english language is spoken by most people of the world which gives to it a lot of chances to become the only one language on our planet :-)

Showing single comment thread. View the full conversation.