On May 29, 2026, Bodo-Uhse-Bibliothek hosted the lecture Is a Universal Language Possible? as part of the Science Salon series.

Linguist and specialist in theoretical semantics and lexicography Boris Iomdin introduced participants to the centuries-long efforts of linguists, philosophers, mathematicians, and language enthusiasts from around the world to create a universal language — one that could be easily understood by all of humanity. Although there are more than 7,000 languages spoken worldwide, hundreds of millions of people study foreign languages, tens of thousands teach them, and thousands develop translation apps, misunderstandings caused by language barriers continue to arise every day.

The speaker then invited the audience to decipher texts written in languages that had already been created as part of these attempts to develop a universal language, in order to find out whether they could truly be understood without any prior knowledge.

During the lively discussion, participants explored thought-provoking questions: “Is a universal language possible? Will such a language ever emerge?”