+117 At first the language barrier seems like a tricky situation: Obviously we're never going to convince the whole world to teach/speak one common language: too much arguing about which one to choose & even if we did choose, it would take far too long to teach everyone in the world. But what about sign language? Besides the alphabets, words from all languages could translate to the same sign... or at least relatively close. Just an idea that's been stuck in my mind for a while. Interesting idea, ... amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It is an interesting idea. Maybe classes for sign language implemented as electives in schools? Although I'm kinda feeling mandatory would be too far. Definitely worth a discussion.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

That's what i'm gettin at. Like the equivalent of how we take Spanish or French here. Where i live, it's a requirement to take a language during every year of Middle/Intermediate school & at least two years in High school.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

I wouldn't mind it. Plus, the world could talk to monkeys =D

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Well, whenever it becomes feasible to do so, I'd say we pick the most widely spoken language. Today it's English, but is thirty years, it may be Chinese, or Spanish, or something. Alternatively, in order to make everyone equally unhappy, (because I know some people who would rather no one be happy than 10% more happy than others) create a new language and teach it in schools. In theory, this could be accomplished in one or two hundred years.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Like this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Doesn't count. It has roots in existing languages. We need a completely new language that was created for the express purpose of a universal language, so everyone's kids learn it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Then you still run into a problem with the fact that there's more than one sign language... which one do you use?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Good idea, except everyone would still type and talk on the phone in their native tongue. If we're ever gonna have a standardized language, it should be Latin, as it is already an established language yet no culture really has claim to it.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Then we can't do anything else while we're speaking to each other.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

How did this even get homepaged? This is incredibly dumb. Sign language is by far the least convenient language possible to bridge the language gap.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Why do we need a universal language???

by Anonymous 12 years ago

The post doesn't say we need a universal language... you guys jump to conclusions like crazy. We could learn this for the same reasons many people learn Spanish. Whether it be to travel, or for business. Except this way, one "language" would take care of anywhere you needed to go. Spanish would only help in Mexico, Spain, and others but not ALL countries. At least that's what i think this post is getting at. i think it's definitely interesting.

by Anonymous 12 years ago