THE "DÉLÉGATION POUR L'ADOPTION D'UNE LANGUE AUXILIAIRE INTERNATIONALE"
One of the most important problems of present day civilisation is the introduction of an international auxiliary language.
We boast of our international intercourse. The civilised world has extended to new nations and has embraced whole regions of the earth, and yet, in spite of the magnificent means of material communication, nothing of a similar nature has been done for the purpose of uniting minds together in an equally practical manner. Recently, however, an event has occurred at Paris which brings us a step further in this direction. The Délégation pour l'Adoption d'une Langue Auxiliaire Internationale, which was formed in 1900 as a result of the Paris Exhibition, has, after an activity of seven years, arrived at a definite decision.
The very fact that modern international relations have brought about such a delegation and entrusted it with work should be sufficient to emphasise the importance of the problem. It is not true that the need for an international auxiliary language disappears with the knowledge of several national languages, as has been asserted by many who, on account of their personal knowledge, have not experienced it. This is especially true of some philologists who overlook the fact that languages form the object of their special studies, and draw conclusions from themselves concerning the needs of others. Expertness in the use of languages does not come so readily to the scientific investigator and the technologist, whose work lies in other directions, and so it is in these quarters that the movement for the introduction of an international auxiliary language receives the greatest support. To this must be added the fact that, as Ostwald has aptly remarked, the scientific investigator regards language only as a means of making himself understood. Language is not for him something "which thinks and poetises," but rather an instrument for conveying his knowledge and wishes to other people, much after the fashion whereby the musician is enabled to convey his feelings by means of musical notation and the instruments of the orchestra. The question of the suitability of a language is important in this connection; and so it does not appear so very strange that it is just the scientific investigators, technologists, and philosophers who have never been quite satisfied with living or dead languages. How otherwise can we explain the fact that it is just they who are constantly solving philological problems and constantly occupied with the invention not only of new signs and symbols (mathematical, chemical, crystallographic), but also new words? The fact is that science, philosophy, and technology are constantly waging a fierce battle with existing languages. What they want is a language as simple and clear as the fundamental laws of nature, as logical as the precision of experiment, and as many-sided as the complexity of the facts which it has to describe. And so they are constantly working at the creation of this language, all the words invented by science finding their way unceasingly through the channels of technology into the general vocabulary. These words possess the special property of being international, that is to say, understood by all civilised nations, including the Japanese. We do not wish, however, to stop at this stage of development; we wish to be able to internationalise not only single ideas, but also the whole train of thought. For this purpose it is impracticable to make use of any of the national languages, since they are all so unsuitable, illogical, capricious, and complicated that the student must learn to steer clear of thousands of difficulties before he is able to express himself fairly correctly. It is possible to construct an artificial language with such a regular structure that it can be employed at once without making mistakes.
In accordance with these ideas, the programme of the Delegation was as follows:—
"(1) It is desirable that an international auxiliary language should be introduced which, though not intended to replace the natural languages in the internal life of nations, should be adapted to written and oral intercourse between persons of different mother-tongues.
"(2) Such an international language must, in order to fulfil its object, satisfy the following conditions:—
"(a) It must be capable of serving the needs of science as well as those of daily life, commerce, and general intercourse.
"(b) It must be capable of being easily learnt by all persons of average elementary education, especially those belonging to the civilised nations of Europe.
"(c) It must not be any one of the living national languages.