2 TEDtalks came up with conflicting conclusions. Marc Pagel, a biologist, says that different languages come about as a way of protecting knowledge and skills from competing groups. If we want to deal with global problems, then we need a common language to enhance the speed at which we can share experience and solutions. But Patricia Ryan, a teacher, says that with different languages come different ideas and different ways of seeing the world. If you make everyone write in English, then you restrict creativity.
So the question is – does it pay to spend billions on translations, as the EU does, to perpetuate multiple languages?