What do you think of the "Interluinga" Esperanto?

[Druidus]

Do you think it would be a good idea to have a global second language? In this way, all government meetings could be a lot more efficient, with less translators. The U.N. especially, would be more efficient.

http://esperanto.net/info/index_en.html

Efficiency isn't Esperanto's only benefit either. There was a study that showed learning Esperanto (a comparitively easy language to learn, with some people, albeit rarely, learning the language in mere days) makes other languages easier to learn. There were two groups of students. One group studied French for four years, and the other studied Esperanto for one and French for three. At the end of the study, the Esperantists were more adept at the French language then those who studied it for four years. This is because your first new language is the hardest.

 

[Lintu]

I disagree that your first new language is necessarily the hardest. It's generally going to be easier or harder based on how close the new language is to your first language.

I think it would be good to have a universal language, but not Esperanto. It is biased towards Indo-European (and especially Romance) languages.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

It is biased towards Indo-European (and especially Romance) languages.

Kudos!

 

[Druidus]

I disagree that your first new language is necessarily the hardest. It's generally going to be easier or harder based on how close the new language is to your first language.

Still, in general, the more languages you learn, the easier it gets.

I think it would be good to have a universal language, but not Esperanto. It is biased towards Indo-European (and especially Romance) languages.

What language would you reccomend? It would probably be better for it to not be a naturally evolved language. Perhaps "Klingon"?

 

[Lintu]

Yeah, I dunno if there is a good language for it that already exists. I'm afraid that combining the different linguistic characteristics of all different language families would end up to be a horrible jumble. Certain characteristics need to come together to make sense, so I'm not sure that it would be possible to make a good, unbiased language without leaving out some groups.

Yes, perhaps Klingon

 

[jewscout]

we already have a global language....it's called English

 

[Jaymes]

Guh... I despise the English language. Damn its lack of non-gender-specific words other than 'it'!

 

[Lintu]

Guh... I despise the English language. Damn its lack of non-gender-specific words other than 'it'!

That's why we should choose Finnish. It's not Indo-European, and is very gender neutral. There are no gender-specific personal pronouns, and when it comes to issues like "stewardess" vs "steward" and the like, well...it's just not there. The only one I can think of off hand is kuningas vs kuningatar (king and queen).