Not Actually Lost in Translation

While the growth of the Internet has been hailed as a technological revolution with countless benefits, there have been some cries that have criticized it for its negative repercussions. One of the threats that I found to be most interesting is the supposed loss of language and communication.

            I found this to be ironic since one of the greatest attributes of the Internet and its accompanying forms is its ability to communicate quickly over great distances. In today’s Internet and online culture, there are numerous languages, some of which even I’m not too familiar with. These include your typical Internet slang in which you can shorten typically long words into shortened versions (Probably = Prolly), phrase slang which shortens entire phrases into a few letters (Shaking my head = smh), and even website specific slang which certain phrases and words are common to that website only (On the website tumblr.com, the common slang language includes using the phrase "my feels" which jokingly indicates that the user is emotionally affected by something).

            Even as a digital native, I can understand these concerns. What may be a harmless and joking butchering of the English language could have long-term repercussions for young children who are accessing computers and the Internet. While older users will understand the grammatical errors behind them (hopefully), younger users may actually take these silly abbreviations and errors as proper language.

            Aside from that concern, I don’t see much of a threat to the English language, or any language for that matter since almost every language has its own Internet version. While changes in language may seem harmful to everyday speech, rather than viewing these new Internet languages as limiting, I’d like to view them as changing and broadening our ways of thinking. Learning new languages has been proven to by mentally stimulating with many cognitive advantages, allowing our minds to interpret, understand, and create new ideas and concepts. Learning “Internet speak” shouldn’t be any different.

            I like viewing Internet languages as puzzles themselves, taking some unnecessarily long words and creating simpler forms for easy access and use. Something as long as the phrase “I see what you did there”, is now commonly shortened to “ICWUDT”. Written language is all about putting intangible concepts into the visible and understandable. Internet languages do just that, possibly to an even greater degree than “official” languages.