The Language Barrier

It is little known, even among the late Dr. Asimov’s fans, but he wrote more on the Encyclopedia Foundation than you might think. At least more on the galaxy in which it existed.

For instance, in his short story “Blind Alley” there are a group of aliens that must be dealt with by the Trantorian Bureaucracy. They apparently read minds, and this helps them escape. Though while dealing with aliens, there is no mention of language difficulties.

In the universe of the Encyclopedia Foundation of Terminus, there are some references to aliens of a sort, like the Gaians or the Solarians. The Gaians are basically human, though. And the Solarians are human derived. We could also count the sentient robots, but they are humaniform, and originally created by humans.

In almost no cases are there serious language difficulties. “Galactic Standard” is spoken every where, with only minor and quaint regional dialects. In “Foundation’s Edge”, Golan and Janov find themselves on Sayshell, and see a sign that says “Sayshell Outworld Milieu” which translates to “Sayshell Tourist Center”.

On Trantor, in the same book, we see the Hamish speaking a very thick dialect, in which “scholar” is pronounced “scowler” and even some words have a different meaning, such as “thoughtful” meaning “smart” instead of “considerate”.

But in one particular case, the dialect was so different as to be virtually a different language. On Solaria, robot protectors were designed to interpret anyone not speaking the local dialect as non-human threats. Yet even there, Galactic Standard was still known by some there listening to broadcasts.

By all accounts then, the Encyclopedia Foundation of Terminus could create the Encyclopedia Galactica in just one language, and be confident that no matter what section of the galaxy needed rebuilding, that the collected works of knowledge would be ready to aid them.

Not so here at the Encyclopedia Foundation here on this planet. There are various estimates, but to say there are over 6,000 languages would not be an exaggeration. If one is trying to preserve knowledge for ten thousand years, one must take this into account.

Consider. It is 8,000 BC. Writing hasn’t been invented yet, but what if it were? What language would you pick to make sure it survived readable till the year 2000? If you had great foresight, you might pick some proto-Sumerian tongue. That would be the most popular language for many thousands of years. Or much later in history, when Sumerian faded as the language of scholars, you might choose Latin. And for two thousand years you would be correct.

But neither of those languages lasted. And who really could foretell that Sumeria would be where civilization started, or that Rome would become civilization long after that? And as to English, that is a good one now. More speak it as a first or second language than any other. But it will it always be so?

The smart person would have writing in several languages, to increase the odds of it being understood later. So what do we do now with 6,000 languages to choose from?

There is a project of the Long Now Foundation called “The Rosetta Project”. They have had a three inch disc constructed that has 1,000 languages on it. If one then had that, then no matter what language was popular in the future, it could allow them to translate the English of the discs into whichever of the 1,000 languages was in fashion.

And it is a fact that the majority of the people of Earth speak English, Chinese Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic. So long as those five languages are included, the likelihood is that one of them will survive for 10,000 years. One must also consider that our languages have “frozen” a bit. They used to change a lot, but with the invention of the printing press, the words got “frozen” in meaning. The difference between English now and English 300 years ago is not very much at all. But the difference between English 300 years ago and English 600 years ago is much greater. Compare “The Canterbury Tales” with “The Complete Works of Shakespeare”. But also compare “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” by John Locke with any book now.

The written word – not to mention the standardization of language that television, movies and the internet brings – will keep (we believe) our current major languages roughly unchanged for several thousand years.

However, the Encyclopedia Foundation – us! – are not going to rely on probabilities. We will have that Rosetta Disc. But for our own purposes, we will have the top five major languages in dictionary form transcribed on metal plates that require the same type of magnification we will use for all of our preserved works. And we’ll go ahead and include instructions as to how to grind lenses and build a microscope to see the Rosetta Disc with those 1,000 languages.

For the next ten thousand years then, no matter who comes across the Encyclopedia Foundation’s plates, they will be able to read it, or translate it and read it. Unless they are illiterate, but that is another article…