The Fate of the English Language
The English Language
English is a very popular language. As of now, it is the third most spoken language in the world with over 335,000,000 speakers on Earth. It is the official language of many countries including Canada, the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, India, and New Zealand. And guess what? Right now, I'm writing it, and you're reading it. For me, English is a huge part of my life. While I could probably get by in Mexico with my minimal Spanish, English is the only language I speak fluently. In the main scheme of things, English is very influential, too. In the Group of Eight, a group of the main economic and political powers in the world, English is the de facto language of three of the eight countries. Many people speak English, and it is known as one of the most powerful languages on Earth.
English Going Downhill
Today, many people believe that, especially in America, English is being slowly destroyed. Eventually, it will share the same fate as even the smallest, most remote Siberian language. Why is it being destroyed? Well, ask yourself. As social media becomes more and more popular in America, English is losing itself to incorrect grammar and abbreviations that mean nothing. Texting, too, is helping to rid English of its speakers. As people start saying and typing English wrong, real English starts to mean nothing. People in America are beginning to learn other languages, and English in other countries where it's not the main language is slowly being dropped for languages like Hindi, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.
What We Will Lose
English, like every endangered language, will bring about more than a loss of a dialect with its extinction. History and culture will be lost along with it. While English may not be anything special except for being so popular, our language does have a few quirks to it that no other language has. Take, for instance, the hamburger. The hamburger is a food unique to America and is only literally translated into other languages. It can be eaten many ways, and for each of these ways, there is a term. With the death of English we will lose all of these words used to describe hamburger that can't be translated correctly into any other language. Cheeseburger is one word. It is a hamburger but with cheese on top. Some more words are bacon burger, bacon cheeseburger, bleu cheese burger, quarter pounder, quarter pounder with cheese, swissburger, curry burger, tuna burger, turkey burger, chiliburger, soyburger, tofu burger, black bean burger, well-done burger, rare burger, and burger not quite cooked long enough to eliminate E. coli. All of these are unique to English, and if/when English goes extinct, all of these will be lost forever.
The Fate of English
As of now, the fate of English is indeterminable because the result is so far in the future. It really depends on what we do, and how we choose to proceed in response to these dying languages. In my own opinion, the world is going to change. As evolution commences, languages will have to die, and I think the end result of the evolution of languages is that there will only be a few left. I don't think English will be one of them. The only way to truly keep English alive would be to put strict laws in place that forbid anyone in America from speaking anything but English. This would never work. The government would be accused of turning into a dictatorship and limiting freedom of speech. English's fate will be determined eventually. For now, keep speaking what you want to speak. English's rein of power in the language world is far from over and won't be for perhaps hundreds or thousands of years. As an English speaker in 2014, let me say that, in our lifetimes, we will have nothing to worry about.
English is a very popular language. As of now, it is the third most spoken language in the world with over 335,000,000 speakers on Earth. It is the official language of many countries including Canada, the United States, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, India, and New Zealand. And guess what? Right now, I'm writing it, and you're reading it. For me, English is a huge part of my life. While I could probably get by in Mexico with my minimal Spanish, English is the only language I speak fluently. In the main scheme of things, English is very influential, too. In the Group of Eight, a group of the main economic and political powers in the world, English is the de facto language of three of the eight countries. Many people speak English, and it is known as one of the most powerful languages on Earth.
English Going Downhill
Today, many people believe that, especially in America, English is being slowly destroyed. Eventually, it will share the same fate as even the smallest, most remote Siberian language. Why is it being destroyed? Well, ask yourself. As social media becomes more and more popular in America, English is losing itself to incorrect grammar and abbreviations that mean nothing. Texting, too, is helping to rid English of its speakers. As people start saying and typing English wrong, real English starts to mean nothing. People in America are beginning to learn other languages, and English in other countries where it's not the main language is slowly being dropped for languages like Hindi, Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese.
What We Will Lose
English, like every endangered language, will bring about more than a loss of a dialect with its extinction. History and culture will be lost along with it. While English may not be anything special except for being so popular, our language does have a few quirks to it that no other language has. Take, for instance, the hamburger. The hamburger is a food unique to America and is only literally translated into other languages. It can be eaten many ways, and for each of these ways, there is a term. With the death of English we will lose all of these words used to describe hamburger that can't be translated correctly into any other language. Cheeseburger is one word. It is a hamburger but with cheese on top. Some more words are bacon burger, bacon cheeseburger, bleu cheese burger, quarter pounder, quarter pounder with cheese, swissburger, curry burger, tuna burger, turkey burger, chiliburger, soyburger, tofu burger, black bean burger, well-done burger, rare burger, and burger not quite cooked long enough to eliminate E. coli. All of these are unique to English, and if/when English goes extinct, all of these will be lost forever.
The Fate of English
As of now, the fate of English is indeterminable because the result is so far in the future. It really depends on what we do, and how we choose to proceed in response to these dying languages. In my own opinion, the world is going to change. As evolution commences, languages will have to die, and I think the end result of the evolution of languages is that there will only be a few left. I don't think English will be one of them. The only way to truly keep English alive would be to put strict laws in place that forbid anyone in America from speaking anything but English. This would never work. The government would be accused of turning into a dictatorship and limiting freedom of speech. English's fate will be determined eventually. For now, keep speaking what you want to speak. English's rein of power in the language world is far from over and won't be for perhaps hundreds or thousands of years. As an English speaker in 2014, let me say that, in our lifetimes, we will have nothing to worry about.