Currently I'm sitting in my hotel room, watching a television discussion (in Nepali) as I wait for the next World Cup game to come on (go USA!). I swear, that statement has a purpose and isn't just a disgusting amount of over-sharing in my life. As the show was on and also discussing politics, I've been giving some of my attention to the television to both test my Nepali and also follow the discussion. In the course of the show, a lot of English words were used, which led me to think about the globalization of language.
Around 100 years ago, it was French, not English, that was the language of diplomacy, the one that everyone knew. Now, English has become so widespread that when new concepts pop up, languages begin to adopt the English terms for them rather than come up with words in their own language. I've noticed it before during my studies in Spanish and Arabic, but I have noticed it to a disturbingly large extent in Nepali.
Worldwide, there is an exorbitant increase in the number of languages that are at risk of dying out (some at greater extents than others). When keeping in mind the widespread use of one language in other languages, it amplifies the risk that so many languages are at. Although aficionados of Esperanto would probably welcome the homogenization of language, it isn't necessarily a good thing. Language is central to the lives of people. It is tied to culture, ethnicity, society, etc. To take language away is to take away a part of the lives of the people who speak it.
I will say, the globalization of the English language is great for a native English speaker like myself. I rarely have to worry about communication with people in public, as English has spread to nearly all corners of the earth. If I was a truly lazy and inconsiderate person (I try not to be), I would never bother learning other languages as most tourist locations around the world have English-speaking people. It's a terrible thing, but sadly so many people actually follow that belief. Why learn something when you don't need to?
Reaction from Nepalis has been generally positive when they learn that we are learning Nepali and attempt to speak it. I have a feeling that this is a sign (and not a good one) that most white people they encounter don't know the language or try to learn it. I remember witnessing an American woman at a temple in Tibet trying to communicate with a monk operating one of the souvenir stands. She was trying to negotiate a deal, which unfortunately consisted of her raising her voice every time the monk didn't understand her, and speaking very slowly as if she thought he was dumb for not understanding her. I probably don't have much room to talk as I don't speak Tibetan, but I tried very hard to understand what they were saying and also worked to develop a system of communication that was mutually comprehensible with each person I interacted with. Generally it consisted of a lot of hand signs and punching numbers in on a calculator, but I learned from each interaction I had how to communicate better. Unfortunately, the woman at the monastery displayed what I call 'typical American tourist behavior' by treating the native person in a dismissive manner, as though they were a lower sort of being than she was. So many people expect to hear English in foreign places; I don't think they know what to do when they can't find it.
Language has always been to me a very interesting way to look at the world. It can tell how people that use that language relate to each other and the world as a whole. It reveals preferences within that group of speakers and states the relative importance of one thing to another. People always laugh at 'Chinglish', Chinese translated into English. While much of it is just bad translation errors, some of the ones seen as amusing are due to the different ways Chinese and English describe the same thing. Homogenizing languages won't just take away from the humor people find in translations, but it will take away the unique ways different groups of people have of communicating. The fact that languages across the globe are co-opting English should not be a sign of joy for ease of communications, it should be seen as a sign of sorrow for the end of individuality, uniqueness, and the loss of cultures globally.
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