English is a vacuum cleaner language; it is able and willing to adopt any words it finds useful.
Places, peoples, tongues from around the world all have become part of the English vocabulary. They give it flexibility and provide a certain sense of familiarity for people who speak it as a second or foreign language.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, English contains words from more than 350 living languages.
"English is a free market," says Allan Metacalf, author of The World in So Many Words. "Guardians of other languages tend to become alarmed when they notice foreign words creeping in. They say, ’That’s a terrible thing; keep them out.’ But English is multicultural."
Linguistic historians believe that English began to absorb other languages on a large scale in 1066. That was the year when King William, a Norman from what is now France, conquered England. That meant English speakers were ruled by French speakers. The English language had to make some changes.
During the Renaissance, words flowed into English from Latin and Greek. The Age of Exploration introduced new terms from all corners of the world.
And America changed everything. America began as an English-speaking land but its language has been and is still shaped by generations of immigrants. Each new group brings new ideas and new expressions. Irish, Italians, Germans, Eastern Europeans, Latinos, Africans, Asians-all change English in some degree.
Mass culture makes adoptions easier. Today, words like kung fu and chow are no longer odd Chinese words; they have gone mainstream.
Then there are words invented or given new meanings when English needs them. Some words like e-mail, blurb and fax enter the mainstream. Others like laser begin life as acronyms (首字母缩略) for things that otherwise would be too difficult to say in everyday conversation.
Of course, language cannot be separated from culture, and importation depends on the situation. It also depends on whether the word remains useful.
Linguists predict that foreign words will flow into English even faster as more nonnative speakers reach global leadership positions. The pace will increase, but it still will be English, which always is ready to accept new words. This is because English is a practical language with a long tradition of borrowing. According to linguists, the borrowing of foreign words will ______.