Language is a growing and living phenomenon and is always evolving by borrowing different words from different languages and absorbing them. Globalization is one of the reason languages evolve by being influenced by other languages due to high exposure of foreign countries. The American English is more open and flexible while British English is stricter with its rules, however, it has also evolved during the years and many words from other languages have been seen added to the English dictionaries(Pandey).
A lot of the fairy tales in English have always started off with ‘once upon a time’ which is German for ‘es war einmal’ and it has become a typical yet unique line associated with a lot of stories. English language has a lot of words that that sound similar but has a different meaning. This confuses a lot of children who are just starting to learn the English vocabulary. Spanish and English have a lot of similar sounds which can confuse the speaker and the listener so these types of words are spoken with more emphasis(Garg). Slangs have also mixed a lot of words of English and other languages, but they can also give a serious meaning when joined with some pronouns. For example, the letter ‘o’ when used in Nigerian English means respect, but when it is used with a name like ‘Mike O,’ it also means that the person is being roughly honored or respected(Boon).
Latin is one of the languages that have gifted a lot of words to the English language as is Spanish and French. Three different sources have contributed a lot in this part; the era of Mexican cowboys working in the southeast America mixed a lot of words of English and Spanish. The second source was the Caribbeans, who entered America through trade that allowed English to borrow a lot of words. The third source is the food’s names that are not in English, but are used and included in the dictionaries as the mingling of different cultures has expanded the use of foods and their names in the English vocabulary.
A lot of languages have borrowed words from other languages due to different reason, but English has been generously borrowing loans from languages around the world but along wit that it has also become a donor to other languages. Many books, for example, in Urdu include words of English that are written in the Urdu language, but one can clearly see that it is being used exactly the way it is. Bilingualism is common nowadays, and the other language is always English that also shows how much easier it is than other languages and helps create words into sentences and then the full story.
English has surely become a lot richer after borrowing the words from different languages of different countries and is still getting richer by mixing words that enter the English dictionary every day by linguistic experts.
Works Cited
Boon, James A. Other Tribes, Other Scribes: Symbolic Anthropology in the Comparative Study of Cultures, Histories, Religions and Texts. EU: CUP Archive, 1982.
Garg, Anu. Another Word A Day: An All-New Romp through Some of the Most Unusual and Intriguing Words in English. NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
Pandey, Anita. Language Building Blocks: Essential Linguistics for Early Childhood Educators. India: Teachers College Press, 2012.
