Because a language barrier isn’t the only barrier and it isn’t even that important of a barrier for mass media: dubbing is cheap. Yes, people all around the wo

Because a language barrier isn’t the only barrier and it isn’t even that important of a barrier for mass media: dubbing is cheap. Yes, people all around the world know Mr Bean, but they know it as something British and foreign. Look at how many British shows get adapted for the American audience despite almost complete absence of a language barrier. The last point is more controversial and political. But a common language for places like Papua New Guinea is probably far more important than trying to adapt everything for every tiny linguistic community. Even people who speak very common languages of advanced economies such as German or French are at great disadvantage if they don’t know English. It is very unlikely that someone is going to translate a graduate textbook into Ipili, or share a post how they got into YC in that language, or even share a video on YouTube how they fixed their pipe at home.