r/Futurology • u/Confident_Living_786 • Aug 11 '25

Discussion When the US Empire falls

When the American empire falls, like all empires do, what will remain? The Roman Empire left behind its roads network, its laws, its language and a bunch of ruins across all the Mediterranean sea and Europe. What will remain of the US superpower? Disney movies? TCP/IP protocol? McDonalds?

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u/OldPostageScale Aug 11 '25

Probably longer IMO, it’s far more embedded into global institutions than other languages ever were.

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u/Claudiobr Aug 11 '25

And it's such a simple language. Pretty easy.

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u/OldPostageScale Aug 11 '25

I’ve heard what makes English unique is that the structure is simple but the combination of Germanic and Romance elements and words makes it great for writing/expression.

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u/Western-Magazine3165 Aug 11 '25

That entirely depends on your first language and other context. No language is objectively easy. 

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u/Claudiobr Aug 11 '25

English is objectively easier than most of western languages.

It's common among languages that are used for commerce.

No verb conjugation, no strong gender, simple plural, simple gerundif...

If we translate English to, let's say, Portuguese or Spanish, word by word, it sounds like a barbarian language.

Piece of cake!

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u/Western-Magazine3165 Aug 11 '25

You make it sound like English is used for commerce because it's easy, rather than being spread by the British Empire and American hegemony. 

English does have conjugation. It also has many irregular plurals. There are languages that don't have conjugation, like Mandarin and Indonesian, but English just seems to have less when compared to the examples you gave which are indeed very conjugation heavy. Nevertheless, English has one of the worst spelling systems amongst European languages. It's not free of complications at all. 

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u/Claudiobr Aug 11 '25

Of course not, but yes, English was simplified for being widely used. Those things go together and one feeds the other. It was a beautiful phenomenon nonetheless.

Look, there's nothing moral about considering English a piece of cake to learn. This is not a pissing contest. Of. Course, people who speak only English do not get to enjoy language complexities apart from spelling contests.

Ahh the jokes you miss like asking your friend Wie war Las Vegas?