The Language Barrier Different languages are not only different ways of coding meanings into sounds and signs, they are also different ways of looking at the world.

An English speaker does not see life, the universe and everything in the same way as does an Aboriginal speaker. They parse and classify what they see and feel about the world according to entirely different criteria.

The prophetic divine intervention at the Tower of Babel which divided the speech of mankind into different languages, is, however it may have happened, probably now the only natural force which prevents any one socio-economic ideology from taking over the entire world. A nation's language gives its population an outlook which is different from that of other nations. It imbues it with its own unique culture, traditions, tastes and styles.

The language barrier hereby ensures that the nations of the world will always be beset by some degree of mutual misunderstanding. By thus constantly frustrating all human attempts at global unification, the confusion of languages guarantees the survival of the nation-state.