In general, I believe there is hope for a universal language. The general mission of Esperanto is inspiring, to have an easy to learn and speak language both politically neutral and uniting. But, I have observed over the last year an outstanding revival of  emoticons working hard in places where several languages converge in one informal place: the online comment space.

Instagram and Twitter have provided users the ability to gather data across country borders, forming communities that are multi-lingual and diverse. Check out this cute little guy who excited an array of dog lovers on Instagram. His Japanese keeper, who posted the picture, simply used three icons to convey eating (fork and knife), dog, and lick/spit (little drops). No language even required. Brilliant.

In response, her fans (or the dogs fans) comment back using icons too. Whether they speak Italian, Japanese, or English is completely irrelevant. A smiley-face with bulging hearts as eyes is universal.