+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?
Then you still run into a problem with the fact that there's more than one sign language... which one do you use?
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.
Then we can't do anything else while we're speaking to each other.
Why do we need a universal language???
I wouldn't mind it. Plus, the world could talk to monkeys =D
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.
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.
Like this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto
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.
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.
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.
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.