English, as any other language, is a living and dynamic system, and it transforms according to the way its speakers use it. For this reason, today’s English will be very different in about a century. Ben Bowlin, the author of the blog HowStuffWorks, consults this question in a very informative video.
Then, did you know that English native speakers are among the minority of the world’s population of English speakers? Perhaps even more astonishing is that today’s largest English speaking country is in fact China.
According to Bowlin, the course the English language will take is very dependent on people speaking it as a second language. To consider this, you might want to think about how English has evolved in different countries. The differences between American English and British English, and perhaps even Australian or Indian English, highlights how diverted both its dialects and words have gotten.
Indeed, as we are moving toward a trend of people using English as their second language, we will see that English language will continue to develop in a similar manner as before, but new dialects, slang, words and perhaps even linguistic variations will evolve.
How different do you think English will be in about 100 years? Watch the video below!
By Oscar Larsson
Student at Glasgow University, School of Social & Political Sciences
Communication Trainee at TermCoord