What will happen to the English language in the future ?

[Mikey]

Back when I was in grade school (in the 70's) the teacher used to say how the English language is splitting into different regions of the world and changing in each region over the years ......

English accent
American/Canadian accent
Australian accent
etc.

They predicted within 100 years an American will be able to converse with a Brit ... but an American will not be able to understand an Australian and vise versa.

They also said a Brit will be able to understand both American and Australian because Britian is the homebase of the English language.

This was all predicted pre internet.

Do you think nowadays with the internet that whole theory is shot to pieces ?

Discuss

[cjefferys]

I'm sorry, I don't really understand your post. Speak Canadian dammit!

[Mikey]

I'm sorry, I don't really understand your post. Speak Canadian dammit!

Do you think nowadays with the internet that whole theory is shot to pieces, eh ?

better

[jasonmego1277]

I'm going to say that is really an interesting question. Considering that languages do evolve, not to mention now there is more and more slang that are becoming acceptable with communication today. The more you look around you are seeing signs that are posted in multiple languages I have to believe that it is possible all languages could mesh into a universal language using key elements of all. Then again honestly who knows. I would love to have a time machine to go get a glimpse of the what the future holds.

[Gorn Captain]

To me, a "foreigner", it always seemed strange that these "divisions" (American , British, Australian,..) ever happened.
I've seen instances where Americans said that they don't understand British English.

Now it's true, in Dutch/Flemish there are many very different accents, sometimes making it hard to understand each other. Like "regular" English and Scottish English.

And young people tend to abuse language even more. Texting isn't helping.
Over here, people bash all kinds of phrases together, making my hair stand on end.

We have two main expressions to convey "afraid".
They now mix both together.
Let's translate them as:
"I'm afraid."
"I have fear."

Now they mix them and say "I have afraid."
Jeez!
We're evolving into a world with all languages and none at all.

[Mikey]

I've seen instances where Americans said that they don't understand British English.

I can understand about 99.9% of a LONDON accent ... but other regional English accents are a bit tougher for me... I know i'm not alone because BBC America broadcasts Life on Mars with subtitles... Whatever regional accent they're speaking it is quite hard to understand for Americans (the subtitles prove that)

On the other hand, I have no trouble understanding Dr Who or Monty Python etc

[cjefferys]

Do you think nowadays with the internet that whole theory is shot to pieces, eh ?

better

Oh beauty, eh, now I understand.

But seriously, I think it would take much more than a hundred years for something like this to happen. I do think that the internet is helping bring the world together a bit, language wise, but there will always be different slang expressions, plus regional accents, which you can't really "see" on the internet.
And as mentioned, the texting slang and short form commonly used these days throws another interesting twist into the whole thing. Of course, that's almost exclusively a written form, not spoken...unless you have idiots walking around actually spelling out LOL and OMG in their everyday speaking.
To be honest, I really don't know what will happen. I wish I was still around in a few hundred years to see.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

You're always gonna have regional dialects, different languages altogether, different slang.... but with exposure you get a kind of hybridized mix. So it's entirely possible that one day everyone on Earth will speak the same language, more or less.... especially considering how much interaction there is nowadays. (And assuming that trend continues.)

You can see how it works here in Canada with the French. Quebec French is different from Parisienne French. Not RADICLY different, but Quebec French is very Anglicized. (We were taught Parisienne Feench in school, so I have some troubles understanding people on base.) In New Brunswick (as I just found out) they speak their own weird dialect of French, which is occasionally incomprehensible by way of the other two, given it's differeing colloquoialisms. (It's kind of how American and Canadian English are just a bit different from each other, Brittish English is even more so, and depending on the region Australian English can be almost indecipherable.)

>I don't really understand your post. Speak Canadian dammit!

I get that at work a lot:

-Customer: "Excuse me.... but this machine has 'French' and 'English'.... do you have one in 'American?'"

Don C.

[toys2cool]

That won't happen,

Plus Mike,the reason why you understand 99.9% of Brits is because you watch Dr.Who so much

[JPkempo]

I watch BBC America and some of the shows I do miss things they say. The show” The F word" I really notice it.
Blitzing = chopping in a food processor
Icing sugar = powder sugar
Crème fresh = sour cream
Bangers = sausage
Chips = French fries
Tin of biscuits = a cookie tin

There are many more, this is just of the top of my head.

I love it when a so-called American on BBC calls a flashlight a torch.
Hoovering the rug = Vacuuming the rug

[Riffster]

with words like Doh! being added to the dictionary the english language is being dumbed down.
and with text speak that's even killing it worse.

[Mikey]

Actually I haven't heard the word Doh! used for a few years now.

I think most TV show reference expressions die down after a while.

Nobody says yada-yada-yada anymore either.

It's just fad

[Captain]

I would think with the proliferation of American television programs around the world, that the English language would sway more towards the US's usage. We see that today, even in Canada, with words like Couch and sofa replacing chesterfield, and notice how most kids pronounce the letter z these days.

Another thing thats really affecting language is the texting phenomena. I have noticed when I read stuff from my younger cousins, they use texting shortcut spellings in their everyday letters and such. This is the big thing thats ruining the evolution of language in my book.

As for the regional aspect, as mentioned above, I think with tv, and the internet, we will all slowwly evolve into using a more common language. Which is a good thing.When I was in the UK and Ireland a couple years ago, I found exactly what Mike is talking about. For example, when I was in Wales, Belfast Ireland, and Northern Scotland I couldnt understand a bloody word anybody was speaking...even though I knew they were speaking English! Yet, for example in Ireland, in Antrim...a short distance from Belfast, I could clearly understand everybody. Go further South to the County of Cork...back to gibberish.

[Gorn Captain]

Has anyone in the US ever seen movies like Dog Soldiers and The Descent (from Neil Marshall)?
I'm dying to know what you thought (and understood) of the accents?

They're two of my favo(u)rite films (), but the language is so...rich in accents...

[Mikey]

I never seen either, but I did just briefly view Dog Soldiers on youtube.
I could understand about 93% of what they're saying.
The words I can't get are usually mumbled and said too fast.