Society relies on communication between people to evolve, but many language barriers rise when different cultures interact. International communication becomes difficult with hundreds of different languages existing all around the world. Despite Internet’s accessibility and versatility, many struggle to learn more than their native language. While some languages gain international usage, such as English, ignoring other languages does not solve the issue of language barriers. They can still be an obstacle to humankind’s overall development and even pose a danger to its success as a species. In the modern world, cross-cultural interaction between countries is a necessary part of politics and the economy, so when multilingual communication turns dire, it leads to discord, arguments, and conflicts between nations. While some may argue that language barriers are not an issue within society, this essay will demonstrate that crossing them brings prosperity to the economy, helps people form human connections, and helps humankind grow stronger.
While an economy can grow within a country, it truly prospers and reaches new heights when it crosses language barriers and reaches for foreign partners. On the other hand, companies and states that do not learn languages of their foreign partners suffer as a result of language barriers (Tenzer et al. 2). A company large by the country’s standard can become even larger when it turns into an international one. Microsoft, Apple, and Google have demonstrated that selling goods and services abroad gains more success than doing so only within borders. They use their resources to create multinational teams and establish themselves on the international market. Their success would be unreachable unless they worked on destroying language barriers in their multinational teams. Thus it became common to teach workers the fundamentals of foreign languages, allowing for better communication. It is also widespread to train employees to understand not only a language but also cultural differences. Language barriers do not consist of only linguistic education but also non-verbal communication (Segerstrale and Molnár 126). When dealing with foreign partners, one misunderstood word can lead to a conflict or even cancellation of plans (Tenzer et al. 10). Therefore, these examples demonstrate how important it is for companies to cross language barriers thoughtfully in order to succeed in business. A company can be successful in its local area or its country of origin, but it becomes truly prosperous and titanic when it reaches foreign markets.
On the other hand, it is not only monetary gain that requires people to cross language barriers but also a natural human need to understand each other. Throughout human history, people have traveled from one country to another and strived to learn about other nations. Thus the language barrier is one challenge that many people have always wished to overcome. Tourism and other forms of travel allow people to enrich their worldview by getting to know other places, but language barriers then create a communicational abyss between people. Another form of culture research took hold in the age of IT: researching cultures and learning languages online. Due to access to the Internet, people have new ways to see other countries and interact with foreign residents. It is much easier and more accessible to every category of public. In the modern world, people from all over the world can reach each other no matter the distance in a matter of seconds through social media. People can now read, see, and even watch how people from other countries live their lives, eradicating many myths and stereotypes. Thus, learning new languages is more accessible than ever before, and language barriers are slowly fading away. When language barriers are broken, people learn more about each other, become more accepting, and humanity grows stronger.
Economic prosperity and cultural enrichment are not the only reasons why breaking language barriers is important: international communication is essential in times of both peace and crisis. When wars, natural disasters, epidemics, and economic crises happen, countries affected often need to reach out to get international help. Language barriers must be overcome in those moments, as people of different nations need to come together. Countries within European Union (EU) have resources and connections needed to help each other in crisis, as their multinational teams are tailored for this work, and even when new languages come into picture, they can adapt to them easier. During the current immigration crisis in Europe, many people flee their countries due to war and famine and move to the EU. They need help to settle in and find better homes, but this is where language differences can become a problem. As migrants lack the necessary language skills, they need help adapting to a new country. Without these skills, adaptation can become lengthy and troublesome, but when they receive help and adapt, their quality of life changes drastically (Yu and Shandu 12). EU “embraces this unique multilingual characteristic” (John and Murphy 111), as it declared every state’s language official within the EU. So instead of forcing only one or several languages to become official, it provides its member countries with an opportunity to strengthen their languages and help them communicate with each other easier. They became adapted to multilingual culture and, thus, have the resources needed to accept even more languages entering their cultures. As this example demonstrates, when countries create systems to overcome language barriers, they become stronger and more united: so when a crisis happens, they can reach out to each other in times of need.
Nevertheless, many people disagree with the importance of language barriers: they either focus on learning one internationally common language or reject learning foreign languages at all. It is common to use one, usually dominant worldwide (such as English, Spanish, or Chinese) language to communicate. It is done to save time and resources as it is convenient and easy. Others, on the other hand, take an opposite stand and reject other languages at all, as they consider that damaging to the national language of their country. While usage of one language worldwide as international is cost-efficient, it should not replace learning more languages completely. Learning other languages is more than finding a common language for people to use, but also a tool to understand nations in depth. In most cases, commonly used foreign language is not native to countries interacting, therefore they are communicating with another culture using a language from a third country. It creates a further barrier between them and muddles the interaction. When languages are respected rather than ignored in preference for one, they do not lose their influence but instead gain better international visibility. Breaking language barriers is an important task that strengthens languages rather than weakens them, and ignoring all but one language in order to establish communication is a short-term solution.
Multilingual communication is essential to the modern world, as it assists economies’ growth, lets people connect, and helps them come together in times of crisis. As language barriers become weaker, humanity grows closer and, thus, stronger. It should inspire people to take further steps to learn other languages rather than take it for granted because humankind is stronger together.
Works Cited
John, Sarah K. St, and Mark Murphy. Education and public policy in the European Union: crossing boundaries. Springer, 2019.
Segerstrale, Ullica, and Peter Molnár. Nonverbal communication: where nature meets culture. Routledge, 2018.
Tenzer, Helene, Markus Pudelko, and Mary Zellmer-Bruhn. “The Impact of Language Barriers on Knowledge Processing in Multinational Teams.” Journal of World Business, vol. 56, no. 2, 2021, pp. 5-21.
Yu, Ke, and Balungile Shandu. “Overcoming language barriers: lessons learnt from migrant children.” Perspectives in education, vol. 35, no. 1, 2017, pp. 157-170.