Tower of Babel

Growing up I remember always being fascinated by the story of the Tower of Babel. In the book of Genesis, the tower of Babel was the work of the King Nimrod. The Tower was built in the first city since the great flood. The story of the Tower of Babel was that all people speaking one language came together to create a tower that reached the heavens. However, the tower was built to worship false god and mans achievement. So God destroyed the tower and scattered the people around the earth. When the people were scattered they spoke their own languages and could not communicate any longer.

Recently in a class of mine my teacher, Mr. Burton, posed an interesting question about language. His question was: Is the English language by becoming the main language spoken around the world a good thing or bad thing? More specifically is it homogenizing the world or helping globalization?

I think that there is truth behind both these ideas. Yes, as cultures start dropping their native tongues ways of expressing certain things will be lost. As the world becomes more homogenized as native languages disappear so will ways of thinking with them. It is estimated that, “2500 native tongues will disappear in the next 100 years.” (Burton 127) So losing native tongues is a real thing that is happening.

However, on the flip side there are positives to everyone speaking the same language. When everyone speaks the same language people will be able to communicate better. By communicating better everyone in the world will have the chance to improve their standard of living.

When I take a step back and think about the story of the Tower of Babel it makes my imagination run. Like, if we all do eventually speak the same language will God smite mankind again and scatter us again throwing us back to different languages? Or maybe by speaking the same language humans will finally be able to make peace. Almost as if becoming unified would be the culmination of man kind. Obviously my imagination runs rampant sometimes.