Thorough the history, humanity has been using national languages to communicate internationally. That works well for understanding each other, but it brings along some bad effects, creating an unjust and oppressive environment. Our society needs an international language. One that would belong to no nation, but would be neutral and easily learnt by all people of all countries.
Whenever people use a national language to communicate, the nation to which the language belongs gains an unfair advantage. That advantage won’t show itself in pairs or small groups, but certainly in bigger communities. Along with every language, which is tied to a country or nation, the culture, power, and political importance of that country or nation will grow. By using such language in every international act, one helps the culture of those countries or nations expand, at the expense of other cultures. The effects can already be seen around us.
Nowadays, the most internationally used national language is English. Almost everyone knows it, and many are being forced to learn it. Very often this forcing is only implied; for example, English is the language used with computers. Most programming languages are constructed from English words; most keyboards have English alphabets and labels on them; program interfaces, protocols, and documentation are first written in English. Therefore, if one comes in contact with computers, only barely can they avoid English; and only barely can one avoid computers nowadays (in prosperous countries).
Unfortunately, there are also examples of explicit forcing to learn. In Czech Republic, English is a necessary part of the study plans in elementary schools. In order for the student to attain elementary education in this country, they must know not only the Czech language, but also a language of wholly different countries – although their locations are not the closest, and their ties not the strongest. Of course, Czech language takes more time and attention in school, but for about six yeras, the students must also learn English.
English is at home in several countries, most obviously in Britain and the United States (both of which are big and powerful). Those lands directly profit from the popularity of their language. Their citizens can speak to the rest of the world right off the bat, and they are more easily approachable to the others, because those already know how to communicate in there; visiting and living there becomes more attractive for everyone. Foreign companies will find it easy to talk with the local ones; students of the language (sometimes all students of a given country) will find it convenient to travel in there in order to learn from the source.
The internal affairs of those countries also become much more accessible to the rest of the world. Because everything is in the national language – English – other nations can more easily understand it, and naturally take more interest in it. It becomes very easy to observe the politics of Britain and United States; to watch their movies; to read their books; to absorb their culture and communicate with their citizens.
Because the culture of those countries is accessible to everyone, it quickly spreads everywhere. It becomes famous, very familiar, and finally commonplace – both in international space, and inside of other nations. Internet forums and games normally use the English language. That gives an advantage to English speakers and their culture. The internet spaces often officially celebrate Halloween and Christmas in the style of United States, and the culture of such countries often becomes the subject of conversation; much more so than that of other countries. Therefore, national culture becomes the culture of an international space – in other words: the international space becomes less international.
In the corporal world, the same thing repeats. People very often watch and talk about movies and TV series from the United States. Listening to the radio, you’ll hear mostly songs that are either in the national language, or in English. (Even musicians without English background often write English texts, because that’s more convenient for them.) While out to buy clothing, you’re likely to find a lot of shirts with English writings on them. Travelling by public transport, you may read labels in the national language, and very likely also in English.
No other countries have such a big advantage. They can spread their languages inside of themselves, but the rest of the world will prefer to learn English, because it’s much more convenient, and many others are already doing so. The language and culture of those countries stop growing at the borders, by a large part. It becomes inconvenient to translate the cultural works and adapt to the language, in comparison to the English culture.
English becomes more and more powerful, and along with it the English countries and culture. In contrast, the rest is being subjugated by those. If we were not to give in to the English rule, and were to support our national languages, or other less widespread languages instead, we would surely stop it, and break away from the cultural and linguistic subjugation. However, by losing a language of mutual understanding, we would also lose the mutual understanding. That’s why we need an international language.
With an international language people could still communicate easily – probably even more so than with English, as international languages, such as Esperanto, successfully aim to be simpler and easier to learn. However, because the language would belong to no nation, no nation would gain an unfair advantage over the others; no one’s national language would become the norm – on the contrary, all nations would stand equal before the international language. That is why it’s important for us to support an international language.