Essay On The English Language As A Landmine

The development of the English language from its earlier West Germanic decent can only be described as meteoric. English is now among the world’s most commonly used languages, spoken as a first language in many countries. It is also the most widely learned second language amongst many of the world’s population. Some of the core international organizations like the United Nations, European Union and the Commonwealth, use English as the official language. What could have led to such a prominence? I believe the flexibility of the language that has allowed it to adapt to and adopt foreign words influences such eminence. But whilst English is widely popular, it is a language that may easily confuse; where a struggling user may seem derogatory without meaning to. Proper usage of English only comes with mastery of the different meaning of words, pronunciations, understanding of phrasal verbs and spellings.
In the English language, pronunciations seem to change more than the spelling and the usage of re-appropriated words is common-place. Take for instance this notice seen in a Japanese hotel, ‘guests are advised to take advantage of the Chambermaids.’ Obviously the meaning of this statement as construed by the maker is that the guests should utilize the services of the chambermaids, but the more apparent meaning of the statement would be derogatory to a good speaker of the language. There are words whose meaning would be different in the context of the entire sentence for example intimate, invalid, object, gay, china amongst others. There are also names that would mislead as to the origin of the subject such as sea horse, pineapple, eggplant. The landmines in English are so many and it, therefore, calls for any user to exercise caution.