"Virtual language" is something that has a lot that can be referred to. Its concept is getting more recognition with time and people are giving it special attention because of its importance. But what is “virtual language” about? 

 

   We know for a fact that “virtual” means something that has the internet or simply technology as a background. All the things we may do with a computer or our smartphones is automatically a virtual thing. For example, when we text someone or when we go through our social media profiles, that’s virtual things that we all do at some point on our daily lives.  

 

   When combining the concepts of “virtual” and “language” we get the definition of the nowadays generations’ communication. Obviously, everyone knows their mother language and everyone uses it to communicate on a daily basis, but if we go online and we scroll down on our home pages, most of the things that we will see are written with very little precision and/or using abbreviations. Sometimes, the only thing that people actually post online is an image or simply an emoji, and the truth is that, in those cases, no words are needed to understand what it means. 

   

   The use of emojis is probably the easiest and most used way of communicating virtually. People are discovering emojis and, once they figure it out, they will use an emoji for everything. If we are having a chat online or we are just texting with someone and they send us an emoji with a sad face, we will assume they are sad and we will ask about it. The same goes to the pictures they may send or post, if we know the person behind the post or message, we will understand it with relative ease. 

 

   The thing is, virtual language may not be “replacing” the normal language entirely (and let us all hope that it continues that way), but it is definitely growing on people and everyone is getting more curious, wanting to try it out. The youngest generations are almost completely “drowned” in this virtual world and, for that matter, the real world, as we know it now, will probably end up changing a lot when those young minds start to grow and their ideas about this virtual reality begin to come out as plans.

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By: Andreia Silva