Joanna

I've heard that Baha'i faith believes there will be a universal language. I was wondering, has anybody had any kind of information or understanding as to what language that would be? Or is this to be interpreted as a metaphor for universal love and brotherhood of mankind?

Orthodox

No such thing will come to exist, people of their own countries will cling to their languages as the primary languages.

whine of astonsihment

This is definitely NOT a metaphor but a very important principle. It's a universal auxiliary language however and does not seek to replace the diversity of languages in use.

Joanna

OK thank you both for your answers. I understand now what you mean, a language which would co-exist with the national languages yes.

Would that be Esperanto or is there going to be a unique language from within Baha'i faith?

whine of astonsihment

The universal language is to be decided upon by the people of the world not by the Baha'is. Some/many Baha'is have chosen to learn Esperanto in support of this principle of the faith. Personally, I hope it will be English!

Joanna

OK thanks for the answer! LOL yes I hope it will be English too :P

Brian

The promulgation of English as the world’s “lingua franca” is impractical and linguistically undemocratic. I say this as a native English speaker!

Impractical because communication should be for all and not only for an educational or political elite. That is how English is used internationally at the moment.

Undemocratic because minority languages are under attack worldwide due to the encroachment of majority ethnic languages. Even Mandarin Chinese is attempting to dominate as well. The long-term solution must be found and a non-national language, which places all ethnic languages on an equal footing is essential.

As a native English speaker, my vote is for Esperanto

Your readers may be interested in seeing Professor Piron was a former translator with the United Nations

The study course lernu!: Main Page is now receiving 120,000 hits per month. That can't be bad

MacGyver

I VOTE FOR ENGLISH ... lets make life easier! ...

arthra

You might see our former thread on the subject:

Esperanto

Early in the twentieth century many Baha'is were studying Esperanto as a universal auxiliary language recommended by Baha'u'llah.. Eventually the League of Nations encourahed teaching Esperanto in member nations schools.. It's up to the international community what language they wish to adopt but at one time it appeaed Esperanto was that language.

MacGyver

Esperanto is dead Arthra ... you really think it will work? ... No school anywhere teaches it just they teach English.

English is gaining popularity like a wild fire! ... In such a condition, we only need to keep aside our prejudices or feelings of repression, and quickly pick up the right thing which would be easier and quicker for a better chance towards a world language. Not to mention the already many barriers to it.

LordOfGoblins

As far as I am concerned people will always have their own cultures and there is nothing you can do to stop that and also it is fine and a good thing too. What is important in the modern world as we become more globalized is that a universal language is taught in schools. This is simply a more efficient way of going about doing things. It would save time in communicating and save money and also brake down barriers for predjudice. It is a very practical thing. People fear what they dont understand that is a simple principle that everyone knows even non-religious people.

Yeshua

I vote for ENGLISH!

Its essentially become the "lingua franca" of commerce...its probably the most common second language...and its Motherland, Britain, was the world's first constituional monarchy and emerging democracy...

Lunitik

Didn't the UN declare English the international language of business? I do not think any new language will gain momentum as the primary auxiliary language, but throughout the world English is taught basically universally where it is not the primary language and given a degree of importance due to its necessity in international affairs.

I suppose I can see why some might not see this as fair for those that aren't native English speakers, but alas it seems to be consensus already.

LarryK32

I'm not going to vote... But it'll probably be English.

And I think Esperanto won't grab any new speakers anytime soon.
How much people still speak it?

arthra

My wife and I took Esperanto classes many years ago from a family in our town.. They were an interesting couple .. The woman was a teacher and her husband was a refugee from the Hungarian uprising in the Soviet era.. Anyway we learned the language fairly quickly and began corresponding with other Esperantists.. In time I have lost much of the facility in the language but still enjoy hearing it. I'm adding some general information here..



A good over view of Esperanto can be found at

Esperanto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Esperanto in China:

Esperanto in China

"Esperanto speakers are more numerous in Europe and East Asia than in the Americas, Africa and Oceania, and more numerous in urban than in rural areas (Sikosek 2003). Esperanto is particularly prevalent in the northern and eastern countries of Europe; in China, Korea, Japan, and Iran within Asia; in Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico in the Americas; and in Togo and Madagascar in Africa."

Esperanto - Academic Kids

Free course:

Learn Esperanto Online Free

Esperanto Magazines | Esperanto-USA

Statistics shows there are about 10 million Esperanto speaking people in the world. China published its first Esperanto magazine "China Report" in 1950, and the All-China Esperanto League the year after. So far, China has more than 10,000 quintessential learners, among some 400,000 people who have attended Esperanto courses.

People's Daily Online -- China to host 89th International Esperanto Conference

BruceDLimber

A good friend of mine who was in DC, John Dale, is the Baha'i who translated Baha'u'llah and the New Era into Esperanto.

Bruce

Yeshua

"...If there is only one language, people [of different faiths] will understand one another, and from this understanding they will love one another and adopt from one another similar customs, which will create concord among them...Through the participation of one people with another there will be love and concord...For just as we have one God, one Creator, one Lord, we should also have one faith, one religion, one sect, one manner of loving and honouring God and we should love and help one another, and make it so that between us there be no difference [...] which causes us to be enemies with one another and to be at war, killing one another and falling captive to one another. And this war, death and servitude prevent us from giving the praise, reverence and honour we owe to God every day of our life...[And so] all men might be brought together, that they might have understanding, and love one another, and agree in the service of God...Let Christians who are well schooled and proficient in the Arabic language go to Tunis to demonstrate the truth of their faith and let Muslims who are well schooled come to the kingdom of Sicily to discuss their faith with Christian scholars. By acting in this way, maybe, there can be peace between Christians and Muslims, when in the whole world the situation will take effect that neither Christians want to destroy Muslims nor Muslims want to destroy Christians..."

- Blessed Ramon Llull (1232 – ca. 1315), Catholic mystic, philosopher,
logician and Franciscan missionary -
description of how believers of
the three monotheistic religions (Islam, Judaism and Christianity)
should treat each other


Jan Jans writes of the above:


"...In all his writing life, Ramon Llull advocated a peaceful relationship between the adherents of the monotheistic religions: they should debate and discuss religion with each other in peaceful circumstances on an equal basis in an open and respectful atmosphere. 'The Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men', [a Muslim, a Jew and a Christian] especially, has been praised for this spirit of openness, respectfulness and equivalence between conversation partners who are lacking any feeling of coercion to convert either the others or the Gentile...The end of the book is remarkable in that the three wise men do not want the Gentile to make his choice public, because they want to stay on speaking terms after his departure and be able to discuss further among themselves by force of reason and intellect in peace and harmony which religion will be the Gentile's choice..."


Blessed Ramón Llull had an ambitious project for a universal language which he called “Ars Magna”. I believe this was the first time in history that a person set out to create an artificial, universal language to unite all races, religions and countries. Llull used nine letters for his language, to which corresponded nine divine dignitaries or absolute principles, nine relative principles, nine subjects, nine questions, nine virtues, and nine vices.

He also suggested that Latin be used as an international auxiliary language because, in his own words, "Latin is the most general tongue". He stated that, "This will bring to pass a world in which there is but one language, one belief and one faith" following the unification of Judaism, Islam and Christianity in particular.

In 1274 Ramon Llull wrote, in Arabic, the Book of the Gentile and the Three Wise Men. Ramón Llull espoused the unification of the Abrahamic creeds, and in Libre del gentil had the pagan protagonist lectured to by three “wise” men – a Christian, Jew and Muslim – who gloss over the differences between the three faiths to make the case for monotheism.

The book narrates the story of a Gentile, deeply agonized by his inescapable certainty of death and hopelessness for anything more, who meets a group of theologians, one a Jew, one a Christian, and one a Muslim. (The term "Gentiles," as also in Aquinasí Summa contra Gentiles, signified those "without religion," in Llullís words, including "Mongols, Tartars, Bulgars, Hungarians from Lesser Hungary, Kumans, Nestorians, Ghanians, and many others.") The theologians of the three Abrahamic faiths unite together to persuade the Gentile of the existence of God and the fact of the resurrection by use of Llullís Universal Language (Art Magnus) in a popularized form.

His book describes the doctrine of "the names of God" (termed "dignitates Dei o virtuts divines" by Llull), which are essentially the same in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In this work, Llull also experimented with a shared use of religious language in the context of the Abrahamic tradition. In Llibre del gentil, the names of God, or the eternal virtues, comprise the fundamental principles of Llull's theological grammar. The names of God are the underpinnings of a context in which language is a springboard for religious dialogue, according to him, between the three Abrahamic faiths.

For example, mutual comprehension among the three wise men that appear in the book is facilitated by the mystical use of names as building blocks of a language whose unity also guarantees the unity of the three religions. At the end the Jew, Christian and Muslim decide that: "Just as we have one God, one Creator, one Lord, we should also have one faith, one religion, one sect, one manner of loving and honoring God."


Read this excerpt from an article:

"...Llull hoped that his new method would help
him to carry out his daring aim that he had
already expressed in the prologue of the Book
of the Gentile: one single faith and one single
religious law rather than different opposed
religions competing with each other; this was
Llull’s aim. This aim does not establish any
rivalry between the diverse ideologies or religions;
it does not know of wars and enemies
but rather joint action in the common worship
of God. This single universal religion would
entail evident advantages; in contrast, the current
disagreements only offer a great many
disadvantages: hatred, enmity and war – in
short, without religious peace there is no peace
in the world. Yet, the differences are not insurmountable.
Llull’s aim can only be achieved, as
the wise men suggest, through daily discussion
following the method of Lady Intelligence:
constant rational dialogue. This dialogue is
not just based on talking but also on listening!
Sometimes listening is the most important part:
the pagan wants to listen to the explanations
of the three wise men about their respective
religions...Llull was convinced that the three major
monotheist religions shared a common notion
of God; at least in all three religions, God is
the creator and judge of the world..."

arthra

Your good friend John Dale turned up in a wkipedia article about Baha'i Faith and Esperanto!

under the recent activities of the Baha'i Esperanto League:


To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the League, a brochure of about 60 pages was published, with the title "Bahaismo kaj Esperanto. Festlibro okaze de la dudekkvinjariĝo de la Bahaa Esperanto-Ligo" (Bahaism and Esperanto. Commemorative Volume for the Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Bahá'í Esperanto League). In this brochure, BEL looks back on a long history of the relationship and the cooperation between Bahá'ís and Esperantists. The congratulatory openings by the Presidents of the Universal Esperanto Association (UEA) and of BEL itself are followed by Bernhard Westerhoff's essay on the changing, and not always completely harmonious, relationship between the Bahá'ís and the Esperantists. This is followed by two essays by and about Lidia Zamenhof, which show how the youngest daughter of Zamenhof found her spiritual home in the Bahá'í Religion. Several central Bahá'í texts on both the question of the international language generally and Esperanto in particular — including a recent recommendation from the Bahá'ís that the UNO should adopt an international language — are used to illustrate the Bahá'í point of view on this subject. A lengthy essay casts light on the historical growth of the relationship between Bahá'ís and Esperantists, presents biographical sketches of prominent Bahá'í Esperantists and describes the development of BEL. Finally an introduction to the Bahá'í Faith and an overview of Bahá'í literature in Esperanto rounds off this 60-page booklet.

One important BEL project, initiated by John Dale, is the publication of a compilation of texts, taken from the Bahá'í Writings and other sources, concerning the principle an international auxiliary language and the merits of Arabic, Persian and English as possible candidates.

Bahá'í Esperanto-League - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Site for the Baha'i Esperanto League :

Bahaa Esperanto-Ligo (BEL)