300. Why Don’t We All Speak the Same Language? (Earth 2.0 Series)

Freakonomics Radio

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Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 32K Ratings

🗓️ 14 September 2017

⏱️ 43 minutes

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Summary

There are 7,000 languages spoken on Earth. What are the costs — and benefits — of our modern-day Tower of Babel?

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm sorry, I didn't understand.
0:07.0	I understand.
0:10.0	I don't understand.
0:12.0	I'm sorry.
0:15.0	Sorry.
0:18.0	I don't understand.
0:20.0	Sorry.
0:22.0	Sorry.
0:24.0	Sorry.
0:25.0	You don't understand?
0:27.0	I'm sorry.
0:30.0	I don't understand what you're saying.
0:34.0	I'm sorry.
0:35.0	I don't understand what you're saying.
0:39.0	Making yourself understood.
0:41.0	It is one of the most defining acts of being human and among the most important.
0:46.0	But after all these millennia on Earth 1.0, we haven't perfected it.
0:52.0	It almost makes you wonder if we're working through some ancient curse.
0:56.0	The story of the Tower of Babel is told in the 11th chapter of Genesis.
1:00.0	What did it happen to note? It's not for me to judge.
1:03.0	And it comes down to us as a myth about the origin of linguistic difference.
1:07.0	But it is definitely important.
	...

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