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CHAPTER VII
One World—One Language
Whether or not it all began with man’s vain effort to storm the gates of Heaven from the Tower of Babel, there are now some eight hundred different languages in use in the world today. Most of the world’s inhabitants are bound within the barriers of their native tongue. Only the cultured few acquire means of communication with other nationals by the study of Ianguages.
Most fields of human activity today are organized on a world scale. The conferences and conventions of all kinds of scientists, artists in many fields, educators, service and welfare organizations, cultural interests of all kinds, in addition to official and governmental agencies, now meet constantly with fellow members from all over the world.
After World War I the Versailles Conference had to have each proposed part of the peace treaties and all preliminary debates thereon translated thirty-six times. United Nations was faced with a similar linguistic obstacle, more effectively met by reduction to five official languages—with still further reduction to three (English, French, and Spanish) for simultaneous earphone translation.
The growing interchange of students and the vastly increased output of scientific textbooks in every field present another immense translation task.
We can now realize the import of Bahá’u’lláh’s advocation of a world auxiliary language, to be taught universally. “The day is fast approaching when all the peoples of the world will have adopted one universal language and one common script. [And when this is
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achieved] “to whatsoever city a man may journey, it shall be as if he were entering his own home. These things are obligatory and absolutely essential. It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action. . . .”
The machinery for the adoption and ineulcation of the auxiliary language, as outlined by Bahá’u’lláh almost a century ago, is extremely simple. All that is required for this planetary achievement is that the nations of the world by delegated conference should agree either upon an existing language, or an artificial language such as Esperanto, and then require it to be taught in all the schools of the world. Thus in a single generation the universal language would be in effective use.
It is not solely or chiefly for practical reasons that
Bahá’u’lláh proclaimed the necessity for establishing a
universal language. It is the psychological and spiritual
influences that give to a universal language, in the purpose of Balia’u’llah, its primary importance. World
rulers have always realized the eflfectiveness of language
as a means of unity. The Turks enforced such unity of
language by forbidding the use of any subordinate
languages, in written form at least, within their Empire.
The written use of Bulgarian, Armenian and other
languages languished among its‘ subject peoples. Not
until the Nineteenth Century did dictionaries exist
of such languages, and these were compiled by American missionaries. This ruler-psychology of the Turks
appears justified by the fact that the restoration of these
national languages actually did create an aroused sense
of nationalism among the conquered peoples, a national
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50 Tomorrow and Tomorrow
ism which eventually expressed itself in revolutionary movements.
The United States of America presents a striking example of the power of language to unite various racial strands. Had the colonies continued separate linguistic cultures on the part of British, Swedes, and Dutch; then adding to this confusion of Babel the languages of subsequent masses of immigrants: Italians, Norwegians, Poles, Jews, Mexicans, etc.,—there never would have been successfully achieved that national unity which gives both prosperity and potency to this country. The existence of our literate, monolanguaged people of one hundred and fifty millions is something unique in all history. Unity of language has been one of the most important factors in our advance of education, of invention, of standards of living; in fact, of all that goes to make up the American civilization.
Thus, if language can help to create a sense of nationalism, it can equally well help to create a sense of internationalism.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá emphasized this viewpoint in a talk given to Esperantists in 1912 in Washington: “Unless the unity of language is realized, the ‘Most Great Peace’ and the oneness of the human world cannot be effectively organized and established; because the function of language is to portray the mysteries and secrets of human hearts. The heart is like a box and language is the key. We can open the box by using the key, and observe the gems it contains. Therefore the question of an auxiliary international tongue has the utmost importance. Through this means, international education and training become possible; the evidence and history of the past can be acquired. The spread of the known facts of the human world depends upon language. The explanation of divine teachings can only be conveyed through this medium. As long as diversity of tongues and lack of comprehension of other languages continues, these glorious aims cannot be realized.
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One W0rld~—Onc Language 51
Therefore the very first service to the world of man is to establish this auxiliary international means of communication. It will become the cause of the tranquility of the human commonwealth. Through it, sciences and arts will be spread among the nations, and it will prove to be the means of the progress and development of all races. We must endeavor with all our powers to establish this international auxiliary language throughout the world. It is my hope that it may be perfected through the bounties of God, and that intelligent men may be selected from the various countries of the world to organize an international congress whose chief aim will be the promotion of this universal medium of speech.”
We come now to the important question of what language would or should be selected for this purpose. Plainly an existing language would be more economical than an artificial one. For one of the major existing languages, if selected, would be already a going concern and would have a large and rich literature immediately accessible to all the peoples of the world.
The chief obstacles to the selection and acquisition of an existing language are nationalistic jealousies and inertias. Language, as has already been shown, has been an important factor of imperialism. It has also been conceived as a potent weapon of economic and cultural nationalistic penetration. Thus while the selection of an existing language would greatly simplify the establishment of linguistic unity, the obstacles to such a selection are almost insuperable at present.
It was with this point in view that Zamenhof conceived the idea, over half a century ago, of creating an artificial language based on the major European languages, which he named Esperanto (one who hopes).
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A humble school teacher, this ardent linguist devoted his spare time to creating and perfecting his auxiliary language—to which he devoted his whole life and his modest professional income with great zeal and sacrifice. Zamenhof’s chief motive in the creation of this universal language was the factor so strongly emphasized by Bahá’u’lláh—-—the establishment of unity and friendship between all the peoples of the world.
Zamenhof did a good job on his Esperanto, so good that no subsequent attempts at the creation of a universal language have taken the lead from Esperanto. The International Auxiliary Language Association, in a recent scientific study of the various competitive artificial languages, came to the conclusion that Esperanto, because of its simplicity and its long priority in the field, had an important lead over all other artificial languages.
It is claimed that Esperanto can be learned in six weeks and acquired with fluency in six months. Its vocabulary, being based on the Latin, Teutonic, and Slavic derived languages, is especially easy of acquirement by Western people. And its grammar is reduced to almost nothing.
Esperanto made great progress in the decades subsequent to the first World War, reaching the point of being prescribed in secondary schools of some European nations and allowed as optional in others. The rise of Hitlerism and the second World War proved a setback to its progress. Meanwhile new competitives have appeared in the field—such as Novo Latino, Ido, Esperantido, and Simplified English.
After due consideration of all these artificial candidates for planetary usage, one's mind reverts to the great advantages of an existing language, if one could be harmoniously selected. Any artificial language would be lacking in that aesthetic charm which has accrued through centuries of usage to the world’s historic lan guages.
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Quite dispassionately, one may cite several advantages of English as a candidate for world usage. First, by reason of trade, travel and political influence, English has already encompassed the world. Secondly, either in original composition or in translation, there exists a larger body of literature in English than exists in any other one language; larger in volume, perhaps, including translations, than all the other literatures of the world put together. Thirdly, English grammar is more simplified than that of any other of the existing languages. Against the easy acquisition of English is its abominable variations in spelling and pronunciation. This lamentable weakness would have to be remedied for world usage. It may happen, indeed, that English will promote its own usage so rapidly that, by the time the world is ready to make a selection, English will be a “fait accompli.”
Historically, there have been brilliant cultural epochs which flourished under the advantage of a common cultural language. In the Roman Empire Latin was the universal official and cultural language. Throughout the great Islamic Culture which flourished from India to Spain, Arabic was the universal language of learning, of culture and of science. In Medieval and Renaissance Europe, Church Latin became the universal language, facilitating the Church Leaming and universalizing its culture in all European countries. History thus proves the truth and logic of Bahá’u’lláh’s. advocacy of an international auxiliary language for 21 world that is rapidly approaching a single orbit—tlic orbit of the Commonwealth of Man.
From looking backward it is possible to look forward and envisage what a truly universal auxiliary
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language would mean to the expansion and enrichment of everyone’s life, and to the facilitation of governmental, trade, scientific and industrial activity.
If, as Bahá’u’lláh advocated, the countries of the world should by conference select one of the existing languages or an artificial language and require its study in all the schools of the world, within a single generation thereafter the auxiliary language would be a going concern. Then indeed wherever one travelled it would be “as if entering one’s own home,” for we should be able to understand all those about us. wherever we went.
Trade and travel would be both stimulated and aided by the universal language. The availability of the whole world as a unit for the exercise of vocational and professional abilities would undoubtedly accentuate the flow of cultural and physical wellbeing everywhere. The benefits of. a world language understandable by all seem so obvious that one wonders why radio and movie magnates, aviation and other travel companies do not begin to promote the idea, if only from the viewpoint of practical and business advantage.
The great dynamics of the plan, however, are essentially dedicated to the spiritual and cultural advancement of the race. “The proper understanding of man is man.” Language is the sole agency of that understanding in most of human relationships. It surely is essential to a one-world society, that men should have one common means of expressing that understanding.
