The Fall of Language in the Age of English

The Fall of Language in the Age of English

Cover of Japanese edition
Author	Minae Mizumura
Original title	日本語が亡びるとき (When the Japanese Language Falls)
Translator	Mari Yoshihara Juliet Winters Carpenter
Language	Japanese
Genre	Essay
Publisher	Chikuma Shobō (Japan), Columbia University Press (US)
Publication date	2008
Publication place	Japan
Published in English	2015
Media type	Print
Pages	336
Awards	Hideo Kobayashi Prize
ISBN	9784480814968

The Fall of Language in the Age of English (日本語が亡びるとき 英語の世紀の中で, Nihongo ga Horobiru Toki: Eigo no Seiki no Naka de) is a Japanese non-fiction book by novelist Minae Mizumura. First published in 2008, the book argues that the Japanese language and Japanese literature are in decline, in part due to the influence of English as a global language, and in part due to failures in Japanese education. Mizumura's criticisms of contemporary Japanese literature and recommendation to eliminate compulsory English language education generated significant public controversy in Japan.

The Fall of Language in the Age of English became a bestseller in Japan and received the Hideo Kobayashi Prize [ja]. An expanded English version, translated and revised by Mari Yoshihara and Juliet Winters Carpenter, was published in 2015, and extended parts of the original work's argument to make the work more relevant to readers outside Japan. The English version received mixed reviews in the English-language press, with several reviewers criticizing its assumptions about Japanese uniqueness.