Is Danish Dying by Eric Raymond - Essay Example

Raymond notes a couple of reasons in his article that make him think that the Danish language is soon to vanish into the English language. Among the reasons are the rapid mutation of Danish phonology over the last five decades, children’s ability to learn written English enhanced as a result of absorbing spoken Danish during childhood, the fact that the modern Danish language is more mumbled than spoken, and omnipresence of English language in Danish advertisements. Noticing all these signs led Raymond to the conclusion, “The overall picture I got of Danish was of a language in an extreme stage of phonological degeneration, extremely divergent from its written form, and functionally unnecessary to many of its younger speakers” (Raymond). Raymond then talks about how the Maltese language has evolved into Maltenglish over time, and how he suspects that the Danish language will soon become an ethno-tribal museum artifact.

            English is indeed a very popular language in Denmark. Popular opinion also holds that almost all Danes speak and understand English at least as well as they do Danish. The reasons Raymond has noted for his suspicion about the degeneration of the Danish language are indeed quite weighty. When a language rapidly evolves and changes in phonology in a matter of few decades, it is an alarming sign of its degeneration. One reason for the transition from Danish to English language is that both languages are similar in terms of alphabets, and grammar to an extent. An even more important reason for suspecting degeneration of the Danish language is that it is spoken, written, and understood by a very small population-based in Denmark whereas English is a much more popular and widely spoken, written, and understood language. The Danish language is also very complicated compared to English, not in the way that languages are traditionally complicated. Even more than grammar, it is the pronunciation of words in the Danish language that makes it so difficult to speak and understand. There is so much variety in the pronunciation of Danish words that second-language speakers find it very difficult to grab hold of the language compared to other languages. And the biggest sign of the degeneration of a language shows when the native speakers prefer talking to each other in foreign languages when it is not even necessary. Taking the points Raymond has raised in support of his argument, the answer to the question ‘Is Danish Dying?’ would be “yes