While some claim that creating a new universal lingua franca may be beneficial, I maintain that the downsides of implementing such a measure will be greater than its advantages.
Granted, certain benefits such as streamlining international businesses and allowing greater unity among peoples may be implied with inventing a new international language. Were this new common language to be spoken by all members of the human race, we would no longer be separated by our differences in birthplaces and our access to language education, allowing easier communication. In business, for example, activities involving international communication would no longer require interpreters or translators, as all messages would be directly traded by senders and receivers, saving both time and labor. Also, this would allow greater precision in conveying information, as companies would no longer have to rely on a third party to interpret their message to one another. In another development, as language is a reflection of cultural values present in our society, the prevalence of a universal lingua franca would present us with a greater degree of cultural uniformity and understanding among different races and ethnic groups, potentially leading man to change human civilization in a more solidarity-oriented manner.
However, the implementation of such a measure could prove to be infeasible, while common languages for international communication have already existed. As the time expenditure of many are limited due to important priorities such as work or taking care of their families, a number of people will be unable to acquire this new language to the level of mastery they have with their mother tongue or other languages they speak due to time constraints. The benefits of having a new universal tongue, however, are only implied when assuming all members of the human race speak it. This would make the premise for arguments for inventing this new language collapse, as the universal acquisition of this language does not instantly happen. Moreover, creating a new language simply for international communication could be unnecessary, as lingua franca such as English, French, Mandarin, among other, are already being used to communicate between people of different nationalities and backgrounds, and are among the accepted working language in international business, politics, etc. Pursuing the creation of such a language with no guaranteed universal usage could be a waste of manpower and capital invested in the research process, as seen in the case of Esperanto – an attempt at creating a new lingua franca, where the result is a now rarely used language.
In conclusion, the invention of a new language for worldwide communication could have potential benefits including building greater solidarity among races and speeding up international business, but only under the assumption that all members of society would acquire it in some way, which is an unrealistic expectation. However, the downsides of such a measure would be pronounced, as learning such a language would take up much time, while there is no guarantee of the language being used worldwide, as other lingua franca already existed.