What If We All Spoke the Same Language?
A lingua franca is a language that is spoken between two groups of people who do not share a native language. As early as the 1800s, many individuals imagined creating a global lingua franca, or even a global language.
Some have suggested that English is the best candidate for such an endeavor. Both Spanish and Chinese have more native speakers than English. But English is used far more often as a lingua franca as there are around 1 billion non-native English speakers globally (compared with around 100 million non-native Spanish speakers).
This is partially due to the fact that the British Empire was so large that it was often referred to as "the empire on which the sun never sets."
The English language is still used in many ex-British colonies, some of which, such as Canada, Australia, and the U.S., have become prominent global powers. This means that English has significant cultural, political, and economic influence.
The British essentially thrust their language upon the peoples they colonized, a practice that today seems repugnant. Culture and language are closely intertwined, so it would be ridiculous to suggest that non-English speaking countries would be willing to drop their native languages in favor of English.
To get around this very problem, L. L. Zamenhof constructed a language called Esperanto in 1887. His goal was for it to be taught as a second language in every country and become “a means of international communication.”
Esperanto is by far the most widely spoken constructed language. It is estimated that around 2 million people can speak Esperanto as a second language.
Studies conducted in the U.K., the U.S., Canada, Germany, and New Zealand found that school children who learned Esperanto had less difficulty learning subsequent languages. This is because learning a subsequent foreign language is easier than learning one’s first foreign language.
