English is dying

Sprinserisolinaminousiler   Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:40 am GMT
Do you believe as I do that the over use of the English language around the world is leading to a decline in it's quality and identity? Since English is spoken essentially everywhere no place is strongly identifiable with it and thus it has no culture of its own. When you think of English, the only thing that springs to mind is globalisation and a whole lot of other negative images. The English culture is what should spring to mind, but when there are more non-native speakers of English around the world (probably even just in Europe) than in England itself something is seriously wrong. The quality of English is also declining with all these foreigners who can't speak it properly leading English to become distorted and awkward, as it is seen only as a tool for communication between peoples. So, do you believe English is becoming oversaturated in today's world? For those people to whom English is their native language it must be sad not to have one's own special language to associate with one's homeland.
Guest   Sat Aug 12, 2006 8:58 am GMT
>>For those people to whom English is their native language it must be sad not to have one's own special language to associate with one's homeland.<<

No, because we have our distinctive accent, slang, idioms, expressions, etc making our own brand of English special.
Damian in London N2   Sat Aug 12, 2006 9:55 am GMT
On the contrary....English is not at death's door......no obituary notice is imminent.

The Language has thrived in all it's different forms of idiom, slang, accent, dialect...international, national and regional. Some forms of English have almost (but not quite) evolved into separate languages.

All these differences contribute to a single Language which will continue to live on in all those parts of the world where it is the main means of communication but with all the local characteristics which add their own special flavour to it in those countries.

No native English speakers, wherever they are in the world, feel "sad not to have their own special language to associate with their homeland". English is their special language and they do associate it with their homeland. Breaking things down even more, the language varies from region to region even within individual countries....into dialects, and they can also be regarded as "their special language".

The UK is, of course, a good example of this, and where there are areas where "special languages" are actually not English at all.


***The quality of English is also declining with all these foreigners who can't speak it properly leading English to become distorted and awkward, as it is seen only as a tool for communication between peoples***

I assume you're referring to the huge influx of immigrants to the UK (now in the process of being very severely controlled on the grounds of necessity). It's true that many have very little knowledge of English, but if they are to remain here they will have to learn the language pretty quickly. That will come naturally I reckon.

Anyway, I think it's fair to say that a fair number of these foreigners, as you referred to them, actually speak a better standard of English than many of the native borns here, and that's for sure. It really depends what you mean by "quality of English". Many foreigners come here speaking "correct" English without all the local colloquialisms and idiomatic terms which we "native borns" use. Given time, they will be speaking English exactly the same way as the rest of us...with the appropriate local accents. It's really cool to see people of Chinese, Pakistani, Eastern European, African origin, etc, all speaking English with Scottish accents....or even in the broadest of Scots itself.

As I've mentioned before in this Forum, we now have Polish people teaching English to English kids in junior schools.

Och no.....no way is English in its death throes. It'll just go on changing and evolving yet basically remain the same language it's always been.
fab   Sat Aug 12, 2006 10:39 am GMT
I think there is a difference that is slowly being creating beetween "English" and "Globish". The distorted, simplified English is Globish, while natives English speakers continue to speak thir British English, American English or Australian English, etc.
Uriel   Sat Aug 12, 2006 11:25 am GMT
<<Do you believe as I do that the over use of the English language around the world is leading to a decline in it's quality and identity?>>

No.

And it's "overuse" and "its" -- while we're on the subject of English "quality".
Michael   Sat Aug 12, 2006 12:32 pm GMT
I was continually told to learn Chinese while at university because that will be the largest economy in the world in the next two decades. So it would be likely that Chinese will bloom around the world to the detriment of English. That’s life! Saying that, I think it is over the top to suggest that English will die.
zxczxc   Sat Aug 12, 2006 3:09 pm GMT
If English were to die it would only be as a world language. It could never die in America, Australia, etc., and least of all Britain. Then it certainly would "reacquire" a culture, although I wouldn't really say it lacks one at the moment: to me, although an Englishman, I think of English being spoken in only the countries where the population is predominantly British/European, i.e. here, America and Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Consequently, to me at least, it has the cultural connotations of those countries, which are pretty similar, albeit within rather wide parameters. Singaporean English and Nigerian English or whatever never really comes into my mind.
Joey   Sat Aug 12, 2006 3:39 pm GMT
I think the English spoken in English speaking countries will remain the same only with slight changes (we don't speak the same way we spoke in the 40's) but a international English could come about.
Ever had the experience of being stuck between two people from non-English speaking countries and they can understand each other but you can't understand either of them?
English has many rules which are simply ignored and words are pronounced in such a way that they mean something else to what they are trying to say.
Since you respect these rules you are sometimes at a loss.
Lolly [tm]   Sat Aug 12, 2006 4:22 pm GMT
''Ever had the experience of being stuck between two people from non-English speaking countries and they can understand each other but you can't understand either of them? ''

Yes, a foreigner says [ais], another foreigner understands it as EYES.
A foreigner says [ais], a native speakers understands it as ICE

EYES [aiz]
ICE [ais]
Uriel   Mon Aug 14, 2006 12:59 pm GMT
A hundred million, or a hundred thousand? I would think a language with 99 million speakers was doing pretty well!
eito(jpn)trole   Mon Aug 14, 2006 8:07 pm GMT
English has to be reborn with simplifyed spelling.
zxczxc   Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:39 pm GMT
English spelling is beautiful. Any attempts to change it would be akin to bastardising the language.
Travis   Tue Aug 15, 2006 10:56 pm GMT
>>English spelling is beautiful. Any attempts to change it would be akin to bastardising the language.<<

Djust hwai wûd tjeendjing ingglisj spelling by iféktivli "basterdaizing" dhe ingglisj langgwidj? And ju must remémber dhat langgwidj and oarthógraffi aar tu different matterz tu bygín with.
Benjamin   Wed Aug 16, 2006 2:26 am GMT
« Ever had the experience of being stuck between two people from non-English speaking countries and they can understand each other but you can't understand either of them? »

Lol, that reminds me... I spent a two weeks speaking German to other non-native German speakers on a regular basis last month. We could understand each-other perfectly, but the actual German people often couldn't. I even had one man who happened to be sitting near to us ask me which obscure German dialect I was speaking!
Tiffany   Wed Aug 16, 2006 6:27 am GMT
<<Djust hwai wûd tjeendjing ingglisj spelling by iféktivli "basterdaizing" dhe ingglisj langgwidj? And ju must remémber dhat langgwidj and oarthógraffi aar tu different matterz tu bygín with.>>

I don't know about beauty, but it took me almost a minute to read this, when it should have taken a few seconds. "tjeendjing" took me for what seemed like forever.