To translate or to learn languages? An evaluation of social efficiency

Abstract

In a multilingual Community persons face two alternatives: (a) to organize a System for translating messages, (b) to acquire additional languages personally. These two alternatives are compared with regard to their collective benefits and costs. In order to do so, first, the probability that two different multilingual persons communicating randomly have a common language is calculated. This calculation allows us to expect increasing communication efficacy for the members of the Community from a policy inducing the learning of additional languages, even if this policy does not promote a single common language (as usually happens with English in Europe) but proportional or random choices ofthe languages to be learned. Second, an estimation ofthe social benefits and costs of learning languages, evaluated in time units, is presented. Finally, the social Utility of learning foreign languages weighed by their communication efficacy is compared with the Utility of translating. It appears that learning one foreign language is more efficient than translating in communities with up tofive languages, while learning two foreign languages is more efficient than translating in communities with ten languages or more. This conclusion could support a policy inducing the learning of different foreign languages in a proportional manner, without reducing the variety of the linguistic environment.

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