A while back I lamented the fact that secular studies are so poorly thought of in the Charedi world, especially in Israel. Even more so is the English language. Charedim do not consider it to have any value at all for their male Talmidim. It is not taught at any level in any school for any age. I thought it might be worthwhile to present my own views of why the English language is so important.
It is my contention that the English language will one day become the universal language of the earth. At first glance, this may seem a little outrageous and self centered but please consider the following:
At the present time English is the most spoken language on earth. It is the first language of the most powerful and influential country in the world, the United States. It is also the first language of England, Canada, Australia, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, and a bunch of other countries that I can't think of at the moment. It is the second language of every other major country in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. It is the language of computers. It is the language of flight: all air controllers and all pilots must communicate in English. India has made English its official language not long ago. It is the language of international commerce. Japan in fact requires all international businessmen go through extensive training in the English language.
I believe there are several reasons for this. First of all the English language has evolved into what I believe to be one of the most expressive languages on the face of the earth. Just think of how many different words there are to describe the same basic thing, yet there are subtle nuances of difference between each word which, when used, will color a statement accordingly. As far as I know no other language has as many words to describe the same thing. (Admittedly my own knowledge of all other languages is very poor, but this is what I have been told by those who are knowledgeable on the subject)
The English language has evolved from a common ancestral language with German. The British Empire went on to absorb other languages as they conquered other countries. Most notably, when the French speaking Normans conquered the English speaking Saxons, the English language incorporated an enormous additional vocabulary from the Normans and if you research the etymology of many of the words of the English language you will find roots in the French.
English has always been very liberal in adopting foreign words as it still is today. Just look at how many Yiddish words have been incorporated. (e.g. bagel, chutzpa, nosh )
The British Empire then continued to spread the English language every time they conquered anything. India is a good case in point. India was not an English speaking country. After England occupied India and introduced English to the culture it took hold to such an extent that, even after England left, English stayed and became the official language. The Philippines (U.S. influenced) is another example of this type of phenomenon.
Another reason the English language is so widespread is the entertainment industry. American culture is, by far, the most emulated and desired of all foreign cultures. This is because our culture is promoted and distributed worldwide, in movies, television and other forms of entertainment. They are produced in English and even if they have subtitles or are dubbed into foreign languages, all who see this entertainment, know that it is English that was originally spoken and in the case of subtitles, they actually hear the English spoken. English is a part of the American culture and the world wants to emulate everything that is culturally American, whether they admit it or not. Even with the advent of Islamism in recent years and the hatred of everything American, you will often see an American company logo on a tee-shirt or sweatshirt worn by an Islamist militant in a television news report. Any attempts by foreigners to put down American culture are belied by such facts. It’s just... there. American culture is pervasive in the world and its language is English
Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch thought that German was going to be the universal language. But he was wrong! No matter how many countries were speaking German in his day, it was nowhere near to the numbers we have today with English. In Rav Hirsch's day there were no mass telecommunications. Not until the mid 1950's did we begin down that path and today there is instant telecommunications which facilitate the rapid spread of the English language today.
The feeble attempt by countries (most notably France and Quebec) to preserve and promote their language is doomed to ultimately fail. They cannot stem the massive tide of acceptance of the English language. Can you imagine a country legislating laws barring the use of English words to describe universally accepted words to describe things like a telephone? Yet, that is exactly what France has done they didn’t like having to use an English word so they made one up. I wonder how successful that has been. It shows you how desperate they are to keep the French language pure. Of course they can't succeed. In all languages English words are becoming more and more popular and accepted into the language, thus diluting their own language while bolstering English. You will never see the U. S. doing anything like that because, on the contrary, we love to adopt
new words and do it all the time.
English will most certainly replace Yiddish as the universal language of Jews, if it hasn't already. The language of learning torah for the majority Yeshivaleit is English. (Actually it is a corruption of English some have called “Yeshivish”, but that’s a subject of another discussion.) The vestiges Yiddish are slowly disappearing as the great European Gedolim, Rabbanim, and educators pass. It's true that there is a noble attempt by Chasidim, and to a lesser extent the right wing yeshivas, to maintain the Yiddish language (although I'm not sure why), but I don’t think they will succeed. Yiddish will go the way of Ladino I believe. Learning Torah in Hebrew is the only rival to learning in English and I think English is winning
