BY HARRY MANGULENJE, African news website reporter Blantyre malawi

Recently two popular television channels The BBC and SABC one, aired at least three highly fascinating documentaries based on English language exploring its future.

Though different the programmes charged one idea, English is expanding, changing and fast facing strange future as well as new threats.

The overflowing new technology terms coupled with the fact that the world’s local languages are fast being englicized, the originality of the Queen’s language is continuously looking hazy.

Our relative who is studying in the Unites States of America said in New York you never have to say ‘I am coming soon’ to classmates you will be misunderstood.
The word ‘come’ no longer means come.

During the BBC documentary they carried street interviews with both elderly and youthful British citizens admitting that the current dictionary is defeated.

Apparently there is consultation in the Queen’s land to expand the vocabulary and include new terms recently discovered in various fields.

One of the hundreds of thousands of fascinating words widely suggested by the interviewees, the BBC said is ‘Jagnord’ which means a dangerous betrayer, suicide bomber or a crazy assassin. It appears it is a product of world terrorism trends.

On the other hand Sabc television aired two related documentaries. In the first one they discussed how most South Africans usually goof on speaking bad grammar but get away with it because they mix with local languages.

They carried views from youths (school or college students) as well as elderly people on how difficult it is to speak English. Many of them said the challenge is that English is changing.

In another programme they featured one society dominated by Rastafarians which grilled inefficiencies of English language suggesting many changes in the words.

For instance they questioned the grammarians for inventing the word ‘understand’ and not ‘over-stand’. They suggested the word oppression should be replaced with down-pression, dedication should now be livication. They argued that pre-fix ‘ded’ is synonymous with death.

West Africans have their share of destroying Queen’s Language. Understandably it is because they prefer raw direct translation which has proven to be destructive in literal terms.

Take for instance ‘I go marry you’ sounds broken grammar but nay it is correct local Nigerian expression. May be they are simply being honest with their intonation.

Most indigenous languages in West Africa read in reverse during English translation.
For instance the popular Chineeke exclamation (My God) is funny on literal translation.
Chinye means God. And ke is Me/My. So in literal translation it means ‘God My’ Instead of ‘My God’.
No wonder they can go as far as ‘Me is go marry you, na walk na house.

But besides the heavy damage West Africans deliberately inflict on the international languages, their positive contributions are enormous not only in English but even in the advancement of French and Portuguese.

Currently University linguistic students in France study books authored by West Africans such as Senghor Leopold.

Similarly in English people like Nigerian Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe have gone into world linguistic annals after receiving Nobel Pulitzer prizes for their great exciting contributions in the Queen’s language.

Having been disintegrated into regions of the world, English, in few centuries to come will be a cause for interruptions.
Currently there are serious entrenched variations in words, spellings, intonations and their meanings.

For example an expression ‘I don’t trouble nobody’ does not mean the same in the US and UK or other regions of the world.
Some would argue it is bad grammar, others will say it is correct. But the fact is that it is widely being used.

A word like ‘Determine’ is another source of scuffle as it is pronounced differently, some say detey(mean) yet others say deter(mine).

The other danger with English is that, most international languages like Portuguese, French, Japanese and German are also eating into it.

For example an expression ‘vis a vis’ was derived from Portuguese vez a vez which however means from ‘time to time’. Mortuary came from French verb mort which means death. There are other words like tete a tete, coup d’etat, rendez-vous, boulevard etc.


But the question is what is the situation in other international languages are they going through a similar patch? The answer is absolutely yes.

The problem is that it seems during translation people try to own and unify the languages.

Take Portuguese for example. Unlike English, before you use Portuguese dictionary or thesaurus, you ought to obey the specifications which indicate expressions and countries applicable.

Some times an Argentine can struggle to fully comprehend a man from Lisbon yet both are speaking Portuguese.

There are simple expressions like ‘I love you’. In Mozambique, Angola, Brazil, you will say Eu t’amo. But in Portugal that is bad grammar. There you will say ‘Eu gosto de ti’ which literally means ‘I have love for you’ but stands for I love you.

In French there are also many variations. For instance French dictionary does not have a word called ‘vraisembablement’ but it is widely in fashion now. It means ‘most probably’.

And some have argued that in French there is no direct equivalent of an English introduction expression ‘What is your name’.
Because, the ‘Comment tu t’appelle’ they use in English means ‘how are you called’ standing for ‘what is your name’.

That is why it is not surprising that Nigerians take no bones at saying ‘I go marry you’?

Germany is another language facing death with the changing times. The major problem there is that a simple English expression can take up a long sentence to translate.
For instance I love you will be ‘ Ich habe Dich gern’, almost a full paragraph. ‘I am fine’ goes like Mir gehetz es gut.
Rome wasn’t built in a day will be Rome ist nicht an eimen tag erbant worden. Too voluminous.

So as the world meets new dangers like economic meltdown, it should also brace for linguistic confusion because English is slowly being eaten up.