Ever wondered how globalisation affects languages?

We understand globalisation to be a historical process of worldwide integration across different fields (economical, cultural, social, political, and technological), which, over the years, has created a more interconnected world.

Languages are a fundamental part of a country’s culture. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word “language” as the system of communication in speech and writing that is used by people of a particular country or area. However, it is so much more than this. Language is used at the heart of human communities for educational purposes and to represent reality. Culture, on the other hand, is a set of learned patterns of behaviour characteristic of a specific society. That is why to learn a language, simply knowing its grammar or vocabulary is not enough; you also need to know the cultural context in which it has developed. For example, in the United Kingdom, it is normal for hotels to inform that “children are welcome”, meanwhile in other countries like Italy, the idea that children wouldn’t be accepted in hotels would be strange

But how can globalization affect a language?

In theory, globalisation should open the way to learning and spreading languages, however, these days we see that it is actually doing more harm than good for some languages. A clear example is Icelandic, the official language of Iceland. This country is situated in the north of Europe with a population of more than 350,000 people. Nowadays, the population prioritises the use of English, given that it is more widely spread and apparently more useful. This means that if the use of Icelandic continues to decline amongst native speakers, it will eventually disappear, as has occurred with other languages.

Just like Icelandic, there are many other examples, such as the different indigenous languages of Latin America (Quechua, Guaraní, Aymara, etc.). Although these languages are spoken by millions of people, little by little, they have been replaced by Spanish which is vastly more widespread. Less and less native speakers of these languages remain, and there will come a day when, if we do not preserve or promote the learning and use of these languages, they will disappear and with them, all of the culture and history that they have behind them.

Umberto Eco stated that “the great danger of globalization is that it is pushing us towards a common mega-language.” And we are beginning to realise that he was right. The speakers of minority languages are setting them aside to focus on more commonly used languages such as English, Chinese or Spanish.

The loss of a language results in the loss of part of the culture, therefore it is essential that we prevent this from happening. Globalisation must be a reason to spread and teach languages and not the cause of their disappearance.

Header image: Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash