Do We Need an International Language?

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 24, 27 December 1929, Page 12

Do We Need an International Language?

"THE age of international broadcasting is upon us, long before we are ready for it. The wireless medium is steadily becoming more and ‘more perfect, but we have no universal language; and there appears not the slightest hope that we are within centuries of attaining this very desirable end.

EOPLHE of the world are swift- . ly becoming internationalised. Though they probably are not as yet understanding each other very much better, they are becoming more and more interested in each other as fellow travellers through life in a common humanity. Very significant is the mass of current literature in all languages now increasingly available through translations. These are the first steps towards: mutual understanding. And here is additional argument for systematic "outside" broadcasts from overseas. Hven in the event of such broadcasts becoming regular features of pro-grammes-and with the increased efficiency of transmitting equipment they undoubtedly will-it will be impossible to appreciate them to the fullest extent, for we have no international language, Hvery nation of the world to-day spends hours daily in adding to the babel of confused tongues that combine in making the ether hideous

with their prattle. There is no single language that can be understood by the whole world, and it is obvious that we are not within centuries of attaining anything like a universal speech fit for transmission by radio, Speech and language are by | no means the same thing: language embraces perhaps all the means known to man of communicating with his fellows, whether by word of mouth, by written symbol; by sign, by gesture, by waving flags, by semaphore, by Morse code, or by knotted string. . Speech is a term restricted to that form of language which is made by the so-called organs of speech, and which is apprehended by the car. Speech is an act, or a performance, Certain rapid muscular adjustments have to be made, in certain sequences; the adjustments and the sequences vary

from nation to nation, or, as we say, from language to language. The muscular adjustments that are necessary fo. what is known as HEnglis. speech are quite unlike those required for French speech, and still more unlike those required for Siamese, for Arabic, and Japanese, The structure of the human body and mind is such that the muscular, mental, and nervous habits acquired in youth become very firmly ingrained, and are seldom uprooted, or modified in later years. The habits of speech are amongst the earliest acquired: we can perform the act called speech in the way we first acquired it, and there, as a rule, our familiarity with speech. our capacity to perform speech, ends. Every spoken language, in short, has its own sounds, its own rhythm, and its own intonation, and speakers of each language have by long practice acquired the habits necessary for the performance of these so thoroughly that they find it almost beyond their ability to disturb them. The first step towards a universal "speech" is to find, from among. the welter of sounds in the whole realm of speech, those that are common to all languages, if there are any. Our universal language must be such that

ali the nations of the earth can pronounce it without fear of being unintelligible. It will have to have a definite rhythmie system, and this will have to be. taught throughout the world. The rhythm of a language is as essential a part of its structure as its Syntax and its sentence formation; and in no respect are the languages of the world more at variance than in their rhythms, A universal speech is impossible unless and until all the nations of the world can be taught to perform the act of speech in the same way. Then they will have to be taught to think along the same lines, for speech and thought go hand in hand. What the universal language of the world will be, if it ever comes, it is impossible to say. It will most likely be the language of the race that will be economically most powerful in the

world of the future? It may be a form of English, or it may be a form of Chinese, which, when all is said and | done, is spoken in one form or another. by more people than any other language. If England and the United States can settle their political and economic ‘differences,. they might try their hand at settling their linguistic differences, for agreement in that di. rection will be a very big step toward: establishing the universal language of.4 at any rate the Western world.