The world will be a better place if everyone spoke the same language.

The world will be a better place if everyone spoke the same language.

Another General Paper question which asked candidates to discuss.

Definitely a question for the Arts students. This is such a wide-ranging question that almost anything goes.

1. Advantages of speaking the same language
a. Technological standardisation: a flight almost crashed because volumetric measures (imperial ounces and litres) were misunderstood by different ground crew accustomed to their own practice. The plane took off with severely insufficient fuel.
b. The world as a global village will shrink into a global house: people are able to communicate among themselves that all transactions, especially financial, can be carried out efficiently
c. Medical sciences will evolve evenly: common language means common understanding, which means knowledge can be shared quickly and efficiently.
d. School children can have a common syllabus. (Is that really good?)

The list can go on but what price do we pay for getting a common language?

2. Disadvantages
a. Cultural erosion
b. Loss of nuances
c. Foreign language literature made obsolete
d. What should the common language be? Apparently, one was proposed but it never took off.
e. Assimilation issues - adoption of a common language will bring about a lot of turmoil, especially for things that are lost in translation. Case in point - the standardisation of European currencies to the Euro already caused so much problems. Britain, Switzerland refused to join in. A common ASEAN currency may not even happen. So how do a common language come about?

Conclude by suggesting why your stand (for or against) is superior to the other. (I would say that the world would NOT be a better place, but that's me.)