4 ms·

I have a different opinion. I think people will stick to their languages, and some will die naturally. However, one new language will emerge. It will be a set

I have a different opinion. I think people will stick to their languages, and some will die naturally. However, one new language will emerge. It will be a set of 500 to 1000 words that anyone can learn and use to communicate world wide. Similarly to a programming language, this one will be limited in words and easy to pick up. This language will act as a framework, giving the essential people would need to have basic communication. 500 to 1000 words.

bgutierrez 12y ago
Sounds like a good prediction for longbets.org.
mdlthree 12y ago
an example of this in science - http://xkcd.com/1133/ http://xkcd.com/1133/
sp332 12y ago
My prediction for the new vocabulary: https://reactiongifsarchive.imgur.com/ https://reactiongifsarchive.imgur.com/
drhodes 12y ago
Btw, there is a machine readable subset of English called Attempto: http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/site/ http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/site/
JoshTriplett 12y ago
It's not at all obvious that that would be a new language, rather than a 500-1000 word subset of an existing language.
- rokhayakebe 12y ago
  I believe it will be because people have pride, so no-one will ask why English and not Farsi, Mandarin, Arabic, Swaheli, etc...
uberstuber 12y ago
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_English http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_English Basic English is 850 words
- rokhayakebe 12y ago
  It won't work because Pride. This language will have to be one that is not tied to any culture.
  - sho_hn 12y ago
    What culture is English tied to anymore, though? India, South Africa, even Asia to some degree have significant unique English vocabularies, having recombined or reapplied existing morphemes to fit local cultural contexts. Consider the Korean "officetel" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officetel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officetel). You're not wrong to point to basic xenophobia as shaping what people do, but I think the "ownership" of English is diffuse enough now that it would take much less effort to dilute it further than coin a new language (which doesn't really happen anyway).
    - rokhayakebe 12y ago
      English is a Western language. It belongs to the Western culture. At least that is how the rest of the world sees it.
jodrellblank 12y ago
Your hundred year prediction is already more than a hundred years out of date. Welcome to 1880's Bialystok in not-yet-Poland, and the birth of Esperanto. Here we are in 2015 and the one hundredth annual Esperanto Congress is coming. The reasons approximately nobody speaks Esperanto now, are the same reasons nobody will speak your universal language in 2115.
- rokhayakebe 12y ago
  Yes, but back then they did not have the Internet, apps and such.
  - jodrellblank 12y ago
    What difference will that make? You don't speak Esperanto now, and we have those things now.
    - rokhayakebe 12y ago
      It was ahead of its time, perhaps. I never heard of it until this thread. It would good to learn from its failure and not repeat the same mistake. But certainly just because something did not succeed does not mean another solution won't.
      - jodrellblank 12y ago
        True, it does not mean another solution won't - but what is there to suggest another solution will do any differently? None of these alternatives: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_constructed_languages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_constructed_languages have spread even as far as Esperanto. Whatever Esperanto did, it did something right. (And the way you say "learn from its failure" - it's still around and widespread on the internet and available in Apps; you can learn it from http://www.kurso.com.br/ http://www.kurso.com.br/ and http://www.lernu.net http://www.lernu.net and talk about it at http://www.reddit.com/r/esperanto http://www.reddit.com/r/esperanto and write in it at http://www.reddit.com/r/esperante http://www.reddit.com/r/esperante and chat in it on IRC on Freenode, or verbally with Mumble http://retbabilejo.net/ http://retbabilejo.net/ , there are decks on Memrise for it, it's in development on Duolingo http://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/eo/en/status http://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/eo/en/status and there are Facebook and Skype groups, Anki flashcard decks https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/esperanto https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/esperanto and heaps of Youtube videos in / about it https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=esperanto https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=esperanto ) and yet it still isn't very popular (despite the Internet), and you still had not heard of it. That's a failure of it. I think it's more likely that most people don't want to invest thousands of hours of effort into learning another language, and those who do, do so because they like a particular country/language/culture, than any big mistake it made.

bgutierrez 12y ago

Sounds like a good prediction for longbets.org.

mdlthree 12y ago

an example of this in science - http://xkcd.com/1133/ http://xkcd.com/1133/

sp332 12y ago

My prediction for the new vocabulary: https://reactiongifsarchive.imgur.com/ https://reactiongifsarchive.imgur.com/

drhodes 12y ago

Btw, there is a machine readable subset of English called Attempto: http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/site/ http://attempto.ifi.uzh.ch/site/

JoshTriplett 12y ago

It's not at all obvious that that would be a new language, rather than a 500-1000 word subset of an existing language.

rokhayakebe 12y ago
I believe it will be because people have pride, so no-one will ask why English and not Farsi, Mandarin, Arabic, Swaheli, etc...

uberstuber 12y ago

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_English http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_English Basic English is 850 words

rokhayakebe 12y ago
It won't work because Pride. This language will have to be one that is not tied to any culture.
- sho_hn 12y ago
  What culture is English tied to anymore, though? India, South Africa, even Asia to some degree have significant unique English vocabularies, having recombined or reapplied existing morphemes to fit local cultural contexts. Consider the Korean "officetel" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officetel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Officetel). You're not wrong to point to basic xenophobia as shaping what people do, but I think the "ownership" of English is diffuse enough now that it would take much less effort to dilute it further than coin a new language (which doesn't really happen anyway).
  - rokhayakebe 12y ago
    English is a Western language. It belongs to the Western culture. At least that is how the rest of the world sees it.

jodrellblank 12y ago

Your hundred year prediction is already more than a hundred years out of date. Welcome to 1880's Bialystok in not-yet-Poland, and the birth of Esperanto. Here we are in 2015 and the one hundredth annual Esperanto Congress is coming. The reasons approximately nobody speaks Esperanto now, are the same reasons nobody will speak your universal language in 2115.

rokhayakebe 12y ago
Yes, but back then they did not have the Internet, apps and such.
- jodrellblank 12y ago
  What difference will that make? You don't speak Esperanto now, and we have those things now.
  - rokhayakebe 12y ago
    It was ahead of its time, perhaps. I never heard of it until this thread. It would good to learn from its failure and not repeat the same mistake. But certainly just because something did not succeed does not mean another solution won't.
    - jodrellblank 12y ago
      True, it does not mean another solution won't - but what is there to suggest another solution will do any differently? None of these alternatives: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_constructed_languages http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_constructed_languages have spread even as far as Esperanto. Whatever Esperanto did, it did something right. (And the way you say "learn from its failure" - it's still around and widespread on the internet and available in Apps; you can learn it from http://www.kurso.com.br/ http://www.kurso.com.br/ and http://www.lernu.net http://www.lernu.net and talk about it at http://www.reddit.com/r/esperanto http://www.reddit.com/r/esperanto and write in it at http://www.reddit.com/r/esperante http://www.reddit.com/r/esperante and chat in it on IRC on Freenode, or verbally with Mumble http://retbabilejo.net/ http://retbabilejo.net/ , there are decks on Memrise for it, it's in development on Duolingo http://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/eo/en/status http://incubator.duolingo.com/courses/eo/en/status and there are Facebook and Skype groups, Anki flashcard decks https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/esperanto https://ankiweb.net/shared/decks/esperanto and heaps of Youtube videos in / about it https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=esperanto https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=esperanto ) and yet it still isn't very popular (despite the Internet), and you still had not heard of it. That's a failure of it. I think it's more likely that most people don't want to invest thousands of hours of effort into learning another language, and those who do, do so because they like a particular country/language/culture, than any big mistake it made.