Posted by Brett Zamir (12.248.92.43) on August 01, 2003 at 01:54:53:
Dear friends,
I am extremely happy to share with you the news that it has finally been possible for me to put up a website which aims to spread the idea of a world auxiliary language. The main page which you can visit is at http://onetongue.com (or if you prefer at http://onetongue.org ). The site has not been fully completed as of the present (Aug. 1, 2003), but it should work well enough to handle what I describe below.
If you are unclear on aspects of what a "world auxiliary language" entails (or if you are for some reason unconvinced of our need for one), you can find out more about the idea at the Frequently Asked Questions page at http://onetongue.com/faq .
If you are already convinced of the need for a world auxiliary language, I invite you to fill out our form at http://onetongue.com/form . Although it may take a minute or so for you to fill out, the data should be very useful to us, in at least two ways:
1) Your data could be included at a future date (unless you indicate otherwise) in a petition to our respective representatives (local or national), asking them to take some action as they deem fit (such as by convening a meeting with other elected representatives around the world) on this immediate need.
2) Besides asking you to fill out the form, the world language campaign also asks each supporter (including you!) to pass on the idea (and the website address) to at least two others (and ask them to fill out the form and pass the idea on also--and so on). If we all could find just two others to do the same, and if we told these two within a week, the idea should encircle the entire planet in 32 weeks!!! (and this does not take into account people who find more individuals, media effects, and so on). To encourage our participants in this campaign to realize that the idea really is in fact spreading beyond the few people they have told, the data obtained on the form at our website may, if and when the website can be fully programmed, be used to display statistics to our site visitors showing them information such as how many supporters of our campaign currently exist in specific countries, how quickly the idea has been spreading, and how much longer it should take to cover the earth at the present rate of spread.
This "each-one-teach-two" campaign was in large part sparked by the film "Pay it Forward" (which I was viewing on an international flight across the world to China). In this movie, a child comes up with the idea to help the world by doing a good deed and asking its recipients to also pass on a good deed to at least 3 others. The influence of a simple good deed is well rewarded as the idea spreads, and I think this campaign will offer the same to its promoters.
For those who think the idea of a world language is too much of a utopian dream, this campaign could give us the hope that we can in fact do something simple to bring it into reality (even the deepest cynic should admit it couldn't hurt to find just two people to pass the idea on!).
With great hopes for what humanity can achieve (and understand more about one another on this interconnected planet) once it is united in this critical area (and unburdened by the great inefficiencies and costs faced by individuals, businesses, governments and institutions in requiring translation)... (and in an area which should well redound to benefit all future generations on our planet),
yours most gratefully,
Brett Zamir
p.s. Please feel free to pass on this posting to others (unless you would like to write your own message to them)
p.s.s. If you may have the interest to help translate the website into other languages (or if you could help program it), I would be most grateful--contact me at onetongue AT bci.org . Any other feedback is welcome (though I cannot promise I will always be able to faithfully reply, you can try me!).
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