Protecting the Diversity of Languages
Many people know that protecting the diversity of living beings is a great factor in protecting the balance of our environment; but few people are aware that the diversity of languages is of the same importance as the diversity of living beings, because each language represents a national culture. As a language is a carrier of culture, its disappearance means the disappearance of a national culture and tradition. The disappearance of a language is of the same importance as the disappearance of a species of living beings. In any geographical region where there are many different living beings,there are many different languages.
Today, the whole world is being gravely affected by economic globalization. English, a national language which has only 380 million native speakers, is wrongly learned and used in many countries as a dominating language, supported by the economic and technological advantages of the USA, the UK and other countries. The wide use of English inhibits the development of other national languages and is now causing the failure and disappearance of the languages of small and weak nations.
In conditions of economic globalization exchanges between nations have become increasingly common. Surely there is a need for an international language that is learned easily and does not harm any country. This language should not be a national one. Why?
Firstly, because using a national language as an international one brings advantages for the nation concerned but disadvantages for others.
Secondly, because national languages are formed over a long period and include many irregular and illogical features. They are difficult to learn. For example, the pronunciation and spelling of many English words are not the same; there are a lot of irregular verbs and idioms which must be memorized one by one.
So, although many people learn English, only a few people know it well because of the difficulty of learning it; but what language should be an international one?
An international language should be:
Neutral, belonging to every nation and easy for every nation to learn. Perfectly logical, with accurate construction, without exception, unifying oral and written language, spelling and pronunciation. Have the capacity of expressing subtle differences of meaning, and be translatable into any national language.
For solving the problem of an international language many variants of planned languages have been created, among which Esperanto, published by a Polish oculist, Zamenhof, in 1887, has the most influence and value; but a modern view is that Esperanto has two obvious shortcomings:
One is that there are 6 letters with diacritical marks, which cannot be typed on a computer easily.
Another is that about 70% of Esperanto root-words came from Latin languages, which is too big a percentage. Today, more and more people are learning English, so an international language should contain more English roots.
To overcome these shortcomings, linguists have made great efforts and suggested different variants. Mondlango, created by Chinese linguists, was born in July 2002. Many people consider that Mondlango has inherited the advantages of Esperanto, yet overcomes its shortcomings.
Mondlango is a neutral international language; it doesn't overwhelm or displace any national language, but promotes the development of national languages. Each person uses his or her national language in his or her country, but uses Mondlango in international cases. So we needn't worry that the national language concerned will be pushed aside by mankind or vanish.
Therefore, promotion of Mondlango will not only facilitate the interchange of information, but also protect national cultures, conserving and enriching our multilingual world-culture, so that our global village will be more prosperous and multicolored.
