Christmas is a time of year when many families and friends come together for a period of joy, peace and goodwill.

The story of the birth of Jesus Christ has been translated into thousands of languages over thousands of years.

And while you may hear it differently, the message is the same.

From carols to conversations, Christmas reminds us how united we can be. But there’s still one thing that sets us apart and prevents us from truly understanding one another - language.

Esperanto, created in the late 1800s, was the most ambitious direct attempt at creating a singular way of speaking.

Its struggle to spread beyond a committed community shows us how deeply languages are tied to identity, power and history.

This week on The Inquiry we’re asking: Will there ever be a single global language?

Contributors:

Presenter and Producer: Daniel Rosney

(Photo: Earth. Credit: Planet Observer/Getty Images)