Debate: Better Off With Fewer Languages? - YouthSpeak
Welcome to a special edition of YouthSpeak. In these two special episodes, we gathered some of the brightest debating talents in Taiwan to join us for a public forum to discuss two hot-button topics. Our host for these exciting debates is former high school debate champion, Kim Wang. The teams for these debates are the top performing schools from Taiwan’s National High School Debate Tournament in 2023. Since 2015, the National High School Debate Tournament has encouraged critical thinking, persuasive language and debate skills in English for high school students. In this first session, teams from Taipei Private Tsai Hsing High School and Taipei First Girls High School go head-to-head in an intellectually stimulating debate on the topic of: “On balance, the world will be a better place if there are fewer languages.” First, we started with the Pro constructive speech that covered the arguments for fewer languages and why that would be good for international business, Indigenous communities and society. The Con side proposed that having fewer languages would decrease cultural diversity, increase racial aggravation and that the loss of language would negatively affect a country’s development. The debate continued in traditional debate style with more crossfire, rebuttal and concluding remarks with each side debating passionately for their stance.
