Japanese... A dying langauge?

[MMM]

Learning Japanese for business was very trendy in the 80s, but that ship has sailed.

[danslak]

Dead? Latin is dead. Japanese not so. Just because they use a lot of English? They incorporate that into THEIR culture. It doesn't mean they are adopting OUR culture. In fact, it's because they are constantly using English, Japanese slang, etc., proves that the language is growing, not shrinking!

[ToshiXeero]

Originally Posted by spawn142001

soon countries will become easternized instead of westernized and this process should in theory continue for many milliniums to come.

Don't believe that.

Maybe 'westernized' is a misleading expression. When Europeans started sailing around the world they got in contact with other nations and European culture started to change, becoming more emphasized on science and reasoning because they couldn't rely on a cultural picture of the world anymore. This process started delayed in far-east, too, and is still going on. In todays China they don't rely on classical books any more to make political decisions, but on social science.

Maybe 'globalization' would be a better term for what is going on right now.

[kunitokotachi]

Originally Posted by Pheonix1337

Good point, guess Im just bitter from dealing with people who talk "gangsta" 10 hours each day. I just feel that with a language being a living thing, words like "bling" are like a virus to it. and my last sentence may have been the wrong way to word it, however, with the number of hispanic, and somolian immigrants who seemingly refuse to learn english it feels as though english is dying in america. Again, could just be bitterness lol.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with standard English or school taught English. As someone has already mentioned English is an international language derived from various roots such as latin, greek, etc.

I completely agree with you in regards to terminology such as "bling," "breezy,"and "strap," etc. There is really no reason to create these foolish words. In the past I was one of those ignorant individuals who constantly spoke in this manner. However, there really isn't any point. It is highly unlikely that these terms can be used in the job setting, classroom, or any professional setting. Energy spent on committing these types of terms to memory is a complete waste of time. Focusing on learning college level words would be much more useful; especially if one was planning on taking exams such as the GRE, GMAT, etc.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Tenchu

Not all people aim for a comfortable life. Some wake up every morning and pray to be killed that day. Some consider themself as a dead body already as so they may disconnect with the pain they inflict upon themselves during their training. What you are talking about does not include tradition or culture. And it does not even include all of the bodies feelings. Some people may desire comfort, but a trade for something they desire more will still be made. You are just talking about the most of people who are too weak to make this trade because their cultures and traditions are pathetic.

No offense to whatever culture you feel you belong to, but I don`t think the majority of the world goes through training that makes them wish they would die.

Therefore, it has nothing to do with the *natural* progression of language, nor does it have much of anything to do with the plight of the normal human being. That is what this is about - *most* people. Of course there are extreme exceptions - but that`s all they are, exceptions. If you consider most people weak, and their cultures pathetic... Umm, okay, good for you. But your opinion isn`t actually going to change the fact that most people in the world push toward having a "comfortable" life.

[samokan]

Originally Posted by IhrTodeswunsch

Hmm.. that does make a lot of sense. Like, for instance.. Programming. It's all in English, and I thought "You had to be fluent in English to Program" but Now with stating that... I just realized that you just have to know bits and phrases of things in order to program. And their only phrases. That's pretty interesting.

you have not bumped into assembly have you? those are not even words or phrases ..

and japanese is far from dying. all people in the island of Japan speaks the language and only a handful speaks English ( relative to the native speakers )

im not sure where you got your data, but most product in Japan are all in Japanese , Kanji to be exact.. some are even written in old version of the Kanji.. true there are products which are written in Katakana but that's because they are not of japanese origin or they just want it in katakana

i don't think the language would be dying anytime soon...

[kireikoori]

Hmm...Japanese isn't as spoken as say...English or Chinese or Spanish, but I don't think it's that endangered. The Celtic languages are far more endangered.

But still, Japanese is a language I would like to see preserved, it's very beautiful, to me at least.

Anyway, a few foreign words do get incorporated into Japanese, it's something that's happened with language since the beginning of time. So long as the original Japanese remains intact and still used, I'm happy.

[Shanis]

It´s a problem of all languages.... english is taking over all languages in every country in the world (guck einfach ma bei McDoof oder sonst wo überall ist es auf eng oO) but on the country side it´s often still in japanese and many japanese can´t talk english very well cause they only learn english by reading novals and not learn how to talk idiomatic and it´s polite to talk to the japanese people in japanese and not in english^^ keep learing it like i do it

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Shanis

but on the country side it´s often still in japanese and many japanese can´t talk english very well cause they only learn english by reading novals and not learn how to talk idiomatic and it´s polite to talk to the japanese people in japanese and not in english^^ keep learing it like i do it

It`s still Japanese EVERYWHERE. Not just in the countryside. Not just "often".
I really find it a mystery where the misinformation that people in Japan speak English regularly in the cities (Well, anywhere in Japan for that matter) comes from. It`s absolutely untrue.
Even in Tokyo, 98% of people cannot speak enough English to manage a simple conversation. Yes, there are English classes in school... But that doesn`t mean that anyone actually masters the language. If that were true, everyone who has ever taken a foreign language class in school (All of the US?) should be bilingual. I know that I took French for 6 years, and can`t speak a word of it now. (No wait, I can ask where the toilet is, and which way to the hotel?)

Sure, if you`re speaking to everyone in English while in Japan, 2 out of 100 people are going to respond. Just like if you are studying Japanese and hear someone asking something in Japanese that you understand, you`re going to gravitate toward them and try to help. Same in Japan. But it doesn`t represent the majority population. I don`t know a single Japanese person that can speak English decently.

[DragonShade]

Sorry , but I have to disagree with you, dont think Japanese is dying.And most of Japanese game , novels , animes, music are in Japanese. In fact , Japan is doing a very good job combining western culture with its own culture which attracts more people to learn the language. The creativity of Japanese people is just awesome~ Japanese will rise!!