Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-10-03
A SECOND

IT may be that the organization OF the League
CT Nations will result, among other things, in the ac-
complishment of a linguistic feat which all other
iagencies have failed to bring about, namely, the
adoption of one language as a means of international
communication, that language to be studied as a
second" language by a very considerable part of the
worlds population.
The difficulties which differences in language
create, to serve as obstacles in the way of common
effort, are set forth in the graphic story Of the tower
OF Babel. And these obstacles have stood in the way
of concerted effort all through the history of the ma
tons. Latin, French, English, German and Spanish
have all figured largely in the field Of international
communication, the former two chiefly for diplo-
matte purposes, and the others for purposes of COM
merce. But there has been no common language,
and the lack of one has been increasingly felt as the
nations have become more closely knit together
through their various activities and by the develop
ment of means of access.
Naturally the need for a common language in
creases with the number of nations represented at a
conference, and the lack Of such a language is de-
cidedly noticeable at the gatherings of the League of
Nations, with its delegates from so separate
countries, speaking at least a dozen differ
ent languages. A committee of the League
assembly has proposed a resolution setting
forth the desirability of /. common language the use
of which will facilitate the exchange OF IDEAS, and
expressing the hope that the artificial language,
Esperanto, may be taught in the schools of the sew
eral countries as a second language, so that in time
there may be one language which will be in very
common use for international purposes.
A list of the countries represented in the pres
%entation of this resolution is interesting: The coun-
tries are: South Africa, Rumania, Persia, Belgium,
Czecho- Slovakia, Colombia China, Finland, A.
bania, japan, Venezuela, India, and Poland. 1t is
easy to imagine the difficulty that representatives of
those thirteen countries would have in understand
ing each other, and the addition of the other 81
would increase the difficulty in almost that
proportion.
Enthusiasts have labored for a long time for the
development of Esperanto as a secondary language.
Not much progress seems to have been made. On
the part of the general public there has been a ten
dency to ridicule the idea of a ready-made language.
It may be that the thing will work. Until conditions
change more than we can conceive there is likely to
be no such thing as a universal language for ordin-
aIy use.s1f all the old languages were abolished and
the memory Of them were obliterated, and a single
Language were adopted throughout the world, it
would not be long before local conditions would de-
velop local variations which would create diverse
dialects, and in time distinct languages. But it may
be possible to keep = manufactured language, taught
tor a particular purpose, free from such variations,
and to maintain it in a single form. That, at any
rate, is the hope of a number of quite eminent men
who must have devoted some study to the subject.