You can see it as a parable for trying to construct something in place of God such as naturalism or something that you think will lead to heaven that isn't God such as a philosophical or political system. God will come down upon it and ultimately smash all your efforts rendering your work futile. Though I'm sure it may have been based on some kind of historical near eastern building that collapsed in Earthquake and this made its way into Jewish folklore. It's also an attempt to explain why people have languages and such and back then it would have made as much sense as anything else. If you go back far enough there may well have been a single language shared by the people of Eurasia and the near east you can trace back common roots.
Come all ye faithful joyful and triumphant.
