Streamlining Into One Language

Language plays an important role in every culture and in every life. According to www.yourdictionary.com there are 6800 language spoken in 200 countries. Everyday these many languages are threatened by the advancement of English. “One world language is lost every two weeks when the last speaking member of that particular linguistic group dies. At this rate, 2500 native tongues will disappear in the next 100 years” (Burton 127). As the world continues to grow and these languages are lost, does this pose a threat to the homogenize cultural expression around the globe or does it create a more efficient global communication system?

When looking into this question I feel that there are pros and cons. When looking at what makes person/culture unique, I feel that it is the way they act, dress, look, and speak. When these cultures loose their language they are then going to loose everything about them that makes them unique. For example, when immigrants immigrate to America, they still have their language, customs, and beliefs. As they continue to live here, they become so call “Americanized,” they start to loose what makes them unique and diversity is lost. I feel that many different languages are necessary to create a world that is different and full of different views. I feel the same go for interracial breeding. Many years down the road, if every different race starts to intermix, we are all eventually going to look the same. There will be no unique distinction of what nationality or ancestry one is from. With the dominance of the English language, cultural expression will disappear.

In looking at the plus of the disappearance of languages and having English being the “lingua franca,” the first thing I think of is simplicity. If there were only one language, even two- three languages, the communication barrier would be reduced dramatically. Thing would get done faster and would be less confusing. In currently being enrolled at Chico State University and majoring in business administration, I have taken many classes that stressed the importance of knowing somebody’s else’s culture if your going to business with them. Things that are appropriate say in the US may not be the same in Japan, Americans shake hands and Japanese bow. To contrast my point above about immigrant becoming “Americanized,” I feel that they do need to learn our language and some of our ways if they are going to be here, but while still holding on to theirs.

When revisiting the question of if the English language becomes the language, will it threaten cultural expression or streamline more efficient global communication? One language may make for more efficient global communication but we all will lose out in the long run. Our language and culture is what makes us unique and who we are. Without that, we will all become streamlined, look the same, act the same, and speak the same.