Within this shared common language they are able to see a commonality or a common existence and, despite the many other differences that exist, this common thread will hold a society together.
Thus, it can be said that, according to Marx, language is the great equator. Within language a society is able to claim equality as, at least at the time of his writing, societies, regardless of how many classes it may have had, shared one basic language. However, this is not necessarily the truth today. As societies become more and more intermixed, due to immigration and the global economy, languages are beginning to clash and the emergence of class-based languages are starting to arise (such as Ebonics). When these clashes occur, one begins to see sub-societies rally behind their language and thus, their right to identification. When someone else tries to translate ones language as being the foreign one, the great equator of language begins to unravel and thus so does the ties that bond the society.
This belief is along the lines of how Kafka viewed the Yiddish language. Kafka existed in a unique world as he was a German speaking, Czech Jew. Thus, he, in a sense, represented the modern day, mixed-language society. However, although Kafka saw Yiddish as a limited language, he still held it dearly as, according to him, it was in Yiddish that Jews could find their true...
To him, the languages shared numerous commonalities, namely because of the long relationship between Jews and Germany. Thus, the languages shared phrases and ideas that superseded the need for translation. Thus, according to Kafka, the two languages were not necessarily foreign languages to each other but instead, shared or related languages.
It is this Kafkan idea of a related language that must be adopted today in order to overcome the current trend of the dissolvent of societies based on languages. For example, in the United States, instead of an English vs. Spanish mentality of all-or-nothing, one instead should view the two as related, especially when one considers the numerous shared ideas and words found between them. However, as soon as one begins to start translating one language, this commonality is lost and, instead of being viewed as a shared or related language, the languages become foreign and, instead of uniting a society, becomes the reason for its divide.
Bibliography
Crumb, R. (1996): Kafka. New York: Kitchen Sink Press, Inc.
Marx, Karl. (1998): Communist Manifesto. New York: Penguin Group.
