The very active conversation on my post asking, is English the universal language, quickly turned out to be my second highest commented post ever. The entire discussion is a nice, full read but in this special edition of the best comments of the month I’ve pulled some of the best excepts.
- “Yes, one can get by traveling with just English, but if one goes off the beaten tourist path and outside of major cities (even in Europe in countries like Spain, Germany, France, and in South America and Central America) it WILL be “an issue”.” –Soultravelers3 (Reply to this comment)
- “Regardless of how convenient or acceptable English has become, it can never substitute the local language.” –Final_Transit (Reply to this comment)
- “I never said that it isn’t worthwhile to learn another language. I’d personally like to learn Spanish. However, for any non-English speakers, I think it is pretty obvious in the 21st century that English is the other language you should pick up. –Gary Arndt (Reply to this comment)
- “I’m not at all sure that English is a universally understood lingua franca, and I’m not convinced that it should be.” -Bill Chapman (Reply to this comment)
- “You won’t find Spanish or French speakers everywhere, but you will always find someone who either speaks English, knows English literature, or listens to American music. It’s as simple as that.” -Deniz (Reply to this comment)
- “I agree with Soultravelers3, you need more than one language! I know it’s come very useful for me on many occasions.” –Marina K. Villatoro (Reply to this comment)
In case you can’t get enough of this question, you can read and argue (or agree) with my post, why English is the universal language.
[photo by: eye2eye]
I was wondering if Bahasa Indonesia wouldn´t be a good universal language! Not that many people around the world speaks it except those in Indonesia and maybe Malaysia of course, which are not few. But think of the other advantages: BI was created as a simplified version of Malay, without different verb forms or distinction between singular and plural for example, therefor it is much easier to learn than any Western language; It is spoken in the world’s largest muslim country which would make it more likely to be accepted in the world’s muslim community; It is also spoken by millions of ethnic Chinese and Indians in Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia (I think).
I don’t think that Bahasa Indonesia has the economic incentives for it to become the universal language. The closest one that comes to English right now is French. Chinese also has a shot in the future, perhaps.
No matter how easy or difficult a language is, people will learn it if the economic incentives are there. I’m intrigued though and would like to learn more about the grammar and characteristics of BI.
It is certainly an interesting choice and Indonesia’s economy is strong and growing, so it may expand in the region. I’m curious do you think BI will become a universal language over, let’s say, the next 50 years?
Maybe you are right about economic incentive. But it is the closest attempt ever to materialize something like esperanto. However, in the case of BI it was based on a real need, namely that of unifýing all the Indonesia islands., with many different local languages, upon independence in the 40’s.
A second language which is easy to learn does not have to compete with a local, culturally richer language.
But it was more food fore thought than a real belief. Indonesia has a humble attitude in the world community and is not exactly pushing this subject.
I think that English is a good language, but Spanish to me is also a great language which can become the universal language.
I’d say after English, French and Spanish could be in line. I don’t think that happens anytime soon though.