The idea of having a common international language for the global community may seem unnecessary at first until one considers the vast pool of possible inventions that could be created if it were not for the multitude of linguistic backgrounds. While retaining cultural and linguistic indentities is extremely important to people, mankind should strive towards more efficient means of communication.

Every day, people across the globe attempt to break language barriers. Whether it's learning parts of a foreign language for a romantic trip to Venice, a business trip to Japan, a historical tour of Moscow, or an adventurous hike up the Himalayas, most of us are taking small steps to broaden the ways we communicate with one another. However, learning languages is a difficult, time-consuming, and often frustrating process. Although language learning is enlightening and opens up windows of knowledge, it would be a waste of resources to attempt to learn a new language every time one traveled to a different region. One cannot help but wish we all used a second common language that would serve as a bridge among cultures of the world. To learn more about the necessity of an international language we recommend that you refer to Edward Sapir's article first published in Romanic Review in July 1925. You can access it by clicking on the following link Sapir's Article

Another example of the inefficient use of human resources is the increasing translation costs for the European Union (EU). According to the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) the EU officials say that the recent expansion from 15 nations sharing 11 languages to 25 nations with 20 languages could almost double the number of interpreters needed in 2004. As a result, the EU, whose translation budget was 105M euros ($134M) in 2003, will have to increase it in 2004 by 35M euros ($45M) more. ( If you are interested in knowing more about translation costs in the EU click on the following link EU translation costs).