English Is a Threat to Norwegian Language

Norwegian - a threatened language

The number of people speaking Norwegian in the world is microscopic. In fact, Norwegian citizens keep hold of the English language as a device to communicate with the rest of the world. Numerous plants and animals are threatened and in danger of becoming extinct, and as a consequence of globalization, so are many languages. Many people consider Norwegian a threatened language, and the language considered to be threatening is English. Several words and phrases considered "Norwegian" are originally from the UK and other English speaking countries like the US. Words like chips, coaching, snowboard and dating are daily used in Norwegian language, and if the amount of English we use daily keep increasing, the Norwegian language will shortly be hanging by a thread.

On the contrary, many people claim that Norwegian is not a threatened language. However, if we look at society nowadays, it is pretty obvious why many people consider Norwegian as such an endangered and vulnerable language. If you turn on Norwegian television, there is a great chance that the language you will hear spoken is English; this fact even concerns the Norwegian TV channels. Even if you walk into a bookstore, you will find a wide range of books and magazines written in English. To top this off, hundreds of people go to the pictures every day to watch un-dubbed, subtitled, English films.

Globalization has made the world a smaller place. Norwegian terminology is minor and will cut short in many different areas. Every day, several Norwegian companies establish themselves in distant countries. There are also a number of foreign companies established in Norway. In a business or a shop, it is essential that the employees work together as a team. In view of that, English - as the world language - will be the most natural language to use.

Almost every adult in Norway speaks English at a decent level. English is taught at school and is required within many fields. However, if the language within academia and business in Norway becomes English, it will lead to drastic consequences. The textbooks within the subject will be written in English, something that will consequence in English tuition at Norwegian universities. If this happens, and the ongoing tendencies considered Norwegian language continue - according to the minister of culture Trond Giske - the Norwegian vocabulary will fade.

Most languages gradually fall apart when people stop using them, and start using different languages instead. Researchers at a famous Norwegian university can confirm this, and they believe that more than 50% of all the languages spoken today will fade away before the beginning of 2100. If this turns out to be the situation, the number of languages left in the world will go from roughly 6800 to approximately 3000.

English has slowly crept into