English

I read a fascinating article on BBC yesterday, and because it a topic that I think about a lot, I decided to write on it. Since moving to New Zealand, one of the things I have thought about is why is it so easy for so many people to understand American slang and lingo, but it seems to take practice for Americans to understand foreign English slang and lingo(be it Australian, Kiwi, British, etc)? The obvious answer is probably because of the television culture, but is this a flaw in the American culture that we are so sheltered from this part of our culture? Because it is certainly part of our culture--even though we broke away from British rule, the ancestry of our culture is in the UK and Europe.

I've been thinking about this for some time, and then I found this interesting article. It seems as though we have had more influence on the English culture than many would like to admit. Did you know the words lengthy, reliable, talented, influential, and tremendous were not English words until after the United States was established? Yes, some silly Americans invented those words! Crazy!

Another interesting fact I found in this article was that the English language is one of the few languages that is open to change and development. Many other languages do not accept new words into their vocabulary except through a thorough evaluation process done by some smart language people at institutes in various places. I remember this about Spanish when I studied in Spain. Not much has changed in hundreds of years simply because they won't allow it to change. There may be some slang words that develop along the way, but they would most likely not make it into a dictionary or a classroom.

Anyway, in my personal observation, Kiwi(and this is possible linked therefore to British) culture, takes very slowly to change in general. This can be a good thing, because things that have always worked stay working, and tradition doesn't change much. It can also potentially be a negative thing because things that should be modernized are done so very slowly. US culture has historically been very open to change(maybe more so California?), and thus is more open to new changes in language. People all over the world have to accept this change because it may be necessary to keep up with the modern world and because they might be good changes.

I love culture and while I love my American English, I do appreciate and enjoy learning new Kiwi-isms. Sweet-as, aye, and g'day are welcome into my vocabulary and I hope that they will brush off onto other Americans I know too! Hopefully we can all become more globally-aware English speakers as our world becomes more connected.