Alexander Mikhailovich Kondratov (1937-1993) was a remarkable man. He lived in Russia during difficult times, when freedom of expression was severely limited. Yet he managed to survive, even though he was full of intriguing ideas about history and many of the mysteries of our world.
Among other things, Kondratov was a linguist, a poet, an enthusiast of the sciences, and perhaps even something of a Zen Buddhist. That he could accomplish so much, and publish dozens of books on varied topics, was something of a miracle. More data at:
I have a book of his on linguistic issues, Звуки и знаки, Sounds and Signs (Moscow: Знание, 1966). In it, Kondratov discusses many issues of interest to the Acadon project.
In a chapter entitled ‘Tower of Babel,’ he addresses various concepts of a universal or mediating language. He mentions the Biblical story of that tower.
I’ll cite a version here:
In those days the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, with tar for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. And the Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them! Come, let us go down and confuse their language, so they will not understand each other.” In this way the Lord scattered them from there over the face of the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why the place was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the mankind. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Alexander says of the story: “. . . there is truth in it. When people are united they are capable of great deeds, and language is a tool by which unity and understanding can be attained. Man has by now reached into the sky without building a tower. . . deep into space. . . . But the world still lacks a common language. To reach into the cosmos proved easier than to create a universal language for the inhabitants of earth.”
He goes on to recount the various ‘mediating languages’ that were in fact used in wide areas of the world for intercommunication: Ancient Greek, Latin, Sanskrit, Classical Chinese, Classical Arabic, the various pidgins and lingua francas. He then discusses invented languages such as Volapük and Esperanto, both products of the late Nineteenth Century.
Ultimately Kondratov despairs of such efforts. “A language only gains currency when it is indispensible,” he observes. All scientific literature, he asserts, is being written in Russian, English, French, or German. Almost nothing in anything like Esperanto. So even if an invented language is vastly easier, it will not be learned. The useful language will be studied, even if it is exceedingly difficult.
However, he adds a paragraph:
“An artificial language would become widespread if by some miracle the bulk of scientific and engineering journals and books were written in that language. But miracles don’t happen.”
Acadon does not claim to be a miracle by any means, but it is capable of doing precisely that!
The Acadon system can put everything currently in English into its format, almost instantly and completely seamlessly. No translation errors at all.
Acadon differs sharply from all previous proposals for an ‘international language’ in that it does not rely on utopian hopes and dreams for the future. Instead, it is designed to bring immediate value to anyone who uses it right now. It does not even need to be ‘learned’ before it can be put to use. With its built-in technology, any relatively simple computer can automatically transfer Acadon texts back and forth into English. It is a tool designed for the age of the Internet and for immediate use. In practice, simple exposure and use will teach people Acadon, not complex grammatical explanations.
Furthermore, the Acadon system takes advantage of many opportunities and is able to form a language that is in many ways better than English. Yes, better.
The English language is very popular worldwide and provides value to people of almost every nation and culture. To create a language that is better than English in any significant way, is a remarkable achievement.
We believe that we are in the process of doing that.
No comments:
Post a Comment