What's happening to English?

What's happening to English?

I'm not well-read, so there are words I come across occasionally that have me stumped.  I simply look them up and learn something new.

But, there are other times when I encounter words that are clearly not proper English, yet appear to be in common use.

The one I hear most often is conversate, used as a verb when someone has a conversation with another.  Unless it's been recently added to the English language, it is not a proper word.

Today, I came across another "invented" word:  authentification.

Try googling that word, and see just how often it comes up.  It appears to be the mongrel spawn of "authenticate" and "verification".  Yet, according to every dictionary I accessed (and of course, my common sense), it is nowhere to be found.

It's bad enough that the current generation is being short-changed when it comes to learning cursive writing.  Soon, no-one will be able to sign their own name, let alone create a document long-hand.  And don't even get me started on spelling.  The introduction of texting has completely destroyed any possibility that future generations will know how to spell any word having more than one or two syllables.

I only hope that someone in the education system realizes what is happening before it is too late to stop the decay of the beautiful English language.