Why Don’t We All Speak One Language?

As various estimates would put it, there are roughly 6,500 different languages in the world today. It’s still a mystery, however, why nations around the world don’t speak the same one.

The question of why the world has so many languages is often answered by a biblical account, which states that there was a time when all people spoke the same language. Seeking to glorify themselves, the people erected a tower, which angered their deity. As punishment, God destroyed the tower and caused men to speak in different languages, while vowing they would never speak the same one again. 

Aside from this reference, there was no other offered explanation for the diversity in language.  To date, no satisfying evidence has come up to show that the world once spoke one language, allowing experts to only make educated guesses about how language was developed. One of these was that early humans tried imitating sounds from nature to communicate simple ideas, such as how to use tools or obtain resources like food and water. 

This theory is considered the most plausible. The practice may have been prevalent in people who lived in small groups, and needed a way to understand each other. It’s also fair to assume that another group in another part of the world developed their own set of words that meant something to them, but nothing to others. This may or may not explain everything, but in absence of proof, all we could do is speculate.