One of the great things about the English language is that is is in a perpetual state of evolution. New words are constantly being added to accommodate new technology - and old words sent to the dust bin.
Many deplore spelling changes, but that is part of the modernising process. We now find manufacturers of car tyres referring to their product as " tires " in advertisements. The dropping of the " y " in favour of " i " makes more sense to those learning the language and seems part of the move towards a form of phonetics.
It is clear that English is fast becoming the universal language. At the conclusion of major sporting events it is now rare to find the winner unable to make an acceptance speech in that language - and South Korea has proposed banning women golfers from international competition if they do not have at least a basic English language skill.
A century ago there was fierce competition between English and French as to which would become the " world language ". The French lost - mainly because they refused to modernise and accept new words, resulting in French being cumbersome and unworkable when tackling new industrial concepts.
There was also the huge advantage to English of the British Empire encompassing such a major portion of the globe. As a result, it got a head start as colonial administrations used English as the official language of government.
English is now the " second language " taught in most of the world countries. In another decade or so we can expect a large proportion of this world to be multi-lingual.
That raises the question of what happens to the residents of those countries who now have English as their primary language ?
Knowledge of a second language is an important tool in social and business advancement, but what language does an English speaker choose ?
In today's climate the obvious answer is - Chinese !
After all, there are more of them than any other race !
What about learning Esperanto? It has certainly been useful to me.
ReplyDeleteTake a look at www.esperanto.net