The Future of the English Language

I wrote this essay for a Language and Communications class I took.

In our modern societies, people around the world find themselves learning second and even third languages at some point in their lives in order to get ahead. Many Americans find it beneficial to learn Spanish, while the up-and-coming business executives learn Mandarin in order to communicate with Chinese manufacturers. Similarly, citizens of other countries are rapidly becoming fluent in English in order to communicate with the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and of course, the United States. If ever the nations of our world are to truly be united and act together in the interests of the whole world rather than themselves, one language must eventually prove itself superior to the rest by being used so widely it becomes the global language.
The United Nations realized long ago that language is no small barrier to overcome, and in 1954 became affiliated with the World Esperanto Association or UEA, which promotes the use of Esperanto as a neutral auxiliary language (Rosenburg). Esperanto, however, never quite caught on. The reason for this is that the language was created with a specific purpose and therefore had no native speakers. Almost every other language we have today is the result of thousands of years of languages combining and sharing words in order to communicate more effectively. This past century has seen the greatest rise in transportation and communication technologies in all of human history, and as a result the citizens of our world find themselves in a sudden need to communicate with each other. “There has never been a time when so many nations need to talk to each other so much. There has never been a time when so many people wished to travel to so many places” (Crystal 186). It is for these reasons and the nature of mankind that a language will ultimately develop until it is spoken world-wide.
Even on a less than global scale language barriers create tension and social dysfunction. Many immigrants to the United States (mostly from Spanish-speaking countries) have protested the fact that the country has only English as its official language. These immigrants refuse to learn English because they see this as a sacrifice of their cultural values. The disunity caused by such a small percentage of American citizens (“8 percent of the population [is] classified as 'limited English proficient,'” according to the 2000 Census [Mujica 169]) is overwhelming and has lead to such incidents as the executive director of the League of United Latin American Citizens, (LULAC) Arnoldo Torres announcing, “'We cannot assimilate and we won't!'” (Mujica 169) In Canada the tension caused by multiple languages is worse, and even prompted Quebec's attempted succession from Canada in 1995 (Mujica 171). If nations can not even remain unified when faced with the challenge of multiple languages within their borders, then they could never hope to be truly unified with nations which speak foreign languages.
The global language that would be used by governments and for international communication purposes would have to be standardized and relatively slow changing so that it could be widely taught. English is becoming popular as the language of international business partly because it is already so widely taught. Many political figures from non-English speaking countries also use English for communicating with foreign diplomats as it is one of the five official languages of the United Nations (Crystal 185). Despite the rapidly emerging dialects of English all over the world, or perhaps because of them, some standardized form of English may become the global language. Crystal claims that languages become global in part because of the power held by those who speak it. In this case, English is quickly becoming the language of governments because of the enormous power of English-speaking nations such as the United States and the United Kingdom. In our age of information, power has less to do with military might and more to do with economics and the production of new technologies. In this light, English is certainly in a good position to either become or heavily influence the language that will eventually become the global language.
While English has been on the rise around the world, “Non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers 3 to 1” (Power 199), it is unlikely that any form of English known today will become a global language. English's popularity in its non-native countries has led to the birth of many variations of the language itself. Languages such as “'Hinglish,' the mix of Hindi and English,” and “'Englog,' the Tagalog-infused English” (199) are becoming popular in the countries in which they develop because they feel more natural due to the contribution from the native language. People who know only these “mutt” languages and not standard English could have limited communication with those who know a different mix of English, further blending the language. (English has evolved to be the vividly descriptive language that it is today through blending with other languages, and would certainly benefit from mixing with other languages to increase its vocabulary.) These languages would not be used for clear communication globally, but would merely be regional dialects of a global English, if the language were to continue to rise in popularity.
The English language is rapidly undergoing changes not only overseas but also in its own native-speaking nations. These changes have lead to the argument over whether or not these changes defile the English language or add to it. Presciptivists are of the opinion that the English language should be regulated and kept from changing because new variations in the use of the language are nontraditional and tainting the language itself. Descriptivists believe the opposite: that each change the language goes though increases its descriptiveness, allowing that language to “evolve” and become something better than it was. Whether good or bad, the English language is certainly changing, and there is no way of stopping it. Some dialects of English, such as Ebonics, differ so much from the standard that they are thought of as an entirely different language by some (MacNeil 147). It is through examples of drastic language change such as this that linguists can follow the evolution of a language based on a need for communication, and thus can form theories of how languages may further change with time. This is, of course, the natural progression of all languages as they endlessly evolve in an attempt to more accurately reflect the ideas of their speakers.
The emergence of a global language would not mean all other languages would be forgotten or go unused. For instance, Biblical or Classical Hebrew is one of the oldest languages known that is still in use today and has many descendant languages including the modern Hebrew that is used in Israel (AllExperts.com). Classical Hebrew remains unchanged since the writing of the Hebrew Bible and is taught by all public schools in Israel for studying the Torah (AllExperts.com). In the same sense, Latin, a language with no native speakers, is the official language of the Roman Catholic Church and used for some sermons. These are both examples of how religion can keep a language alive, but if a global religion exists in the future, other languages may still be used because they hold specific cultural values which their speakers wish to preserve. If a language is preserved for such reasons it would be used within specific communities, furthering a sense of unity between the members of those communities. The global language would be used for communicating with everyone outside of these communities.
A global language will eventually emerge from our need of communicating with each other and sadly, our persecution of those we are unable to communicate with. “As one 12-year-old self-taught English-speaker from China's southwestern Sichuan province says, 'If you can't speak English, it's like you're deaf and dumb.'” (Powers 199) Having multiple languages is a barrier which restricts communication. Without this barrier, nothing would prevent all the world from sharing ideas with one another, and none of these ideas would be lost in translation or wrongly interpreted. Our societies can not truly act in each others' best interests if we can not understand each other, and clear communication is integral to understanding. For the moment we live as if in the Tower of Babel, creating endless confusion and frustration from just trying to relate to each other. With a global language, citizens of every nation in the world would finally be able to agree on at least one thing.


Works Cited

AllExperts.com. “Biblical Hebrew Language at AllExperts.” Found at: http://en.allexperts.com/e/b/bi/biblical_hebrew_language.htm
Crystal, David. “Why a Global Language?” Exploring Language 12th Edition. Ed. Gary Goshgarion, Longman Press 2010. 178-186. Print.
MacNeil, Robert. “Do you speak American?” Exploring Language 12th Edition. Ed. Gary Goshgarion, Longman Press 2010. 143-152. Print.
Mujica, Mauro E. “Why the U.S. Needs an Official Language.” Exploring Language 12th Edition. Ed. Gary Goshgarion Longman Press 2010. 168-172. Print
Power, Carla. “Not the Queen's English.” Exploring Language 12th Edition. Ed. Gary Goshgarion,Longman Press, 2010. 198- 202. Print.
Rosenburg, Matt. “Esperanto.” About.com. Found at: http://geography.about.com/od/culturalgeography/a/esperanto.htm