The march towards a single language could easily be thrown off track if another powerful nation such as China suddenly received global power, since Chinese is the most commonly spoken language it would be easier to adopt by other countries. The disadvantage of this would be that most people would have to learn it; English is recognized by many nations, it is often taught in school, and used when two people with different native languages communicate.
A march towards a single language maybe very useful on a global scale. It would ease communication between different people. The media would be able to display information directed to the whole world instead of only English speakers, or only French speakers. This would create a variety of information. For example news broadcasters would not publish media in different languages but since everything is in English, they would aim to create more stories to report on. Education would be made more uniform. People would find it easier to communicate through education. As math is a universal language, thus all subjects would be a universal language through English. People would become closer and the world would become more interactive between countries. Since people would have more in common and easy communication it may lead to less racism. In a sense, the different languages are slowing down technological and scientific advances. Having a single language would speed these advancements up. In many developing countries it is essential to learn English if one is to go into international business or legal affairs, therefore it would be beneficial if English were spread worldwide. A universal language is a bridge joining countries together and easing contact.
If the world spoke a single language, one that everyone recognized and communicated in, it would leave many questions unanswered. What would happen to the other languages? What would happen to religion? Having English as a single language would lead to many undesirable effects. This march would mark the erasing of cultures, religion, and individuality. The language of a country carries its history with it, it may be seen as a gain in a universal language, however it is really a loss in different languages, histories, and cultures. While people would strive to learn a new language they would adopt that culture and uniformity, the differences in backgrounds would fade and the world would eventually form one nation. Many religions originated in different languages, for example the Koran is written in Arabic, but if English were used, people would forget their religion and their roots. It is a very controversial issue; many countries may feel that the universal language should be English, who is to decide? The case may be that if other languages are forgotten over time, people will lose their identity and privacy. For example if two people want to converse without another person understanding, they would do so in English, thus leading to no privacy. However they may also decide to create a new language, therefore creating a universal language would just lead to the creation of new languages. It would also be a problem for the whole world to speak English because they would have to learn it, and this would have to be done through promotion of education, but some areas are remote and therefore it is almost impossible for the entire world to speak one language. The Internet is the main source of learning English, and the place where one language is used the most, but many people do not have access to Internet. Another main problem is whether these countries will accept English as a new official language. There is also the difficulty of dialects, accents, slang words, and definitions, which may cause confusion and hence not creating an effective single language.
Through one aspect, English causes wide range of expressions, if English was to become a universal language, people would concentrate on creating more depth to it, and making it more precise. For example instead of translations from one language to another in a specific subject such as Chemistry, the topic of matter could just be more researched, thus leading to more global advancements and knowledge. However the idea of a single language is impracticable in a sense, because it would be a huge task for all the people in the world to learn English, they would have to be educated, maybe even learn to write a new language. Therefore a march to a single language maybe is useful and desirable, but it also has its negative sides.
Bibliography
Forrest, David. “Shared Global Language: Salvation or Threat?”. Dated August 2000. Viewed 3 Feb. 2003. <http://www.innovationwatch.com/connections.2000.08.00.htm>