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The emergence of English
Brief notes on the origin of the English language
Brief notes on the origin of the English language
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Since the 16th century, the language of English, which in theory, stems from a small island between the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea has, to an extent, stretched across the world, with as many as 50 countries now using it has their official language (British Council, 2013) in some form or another. This spread was seemingly due to several influential factors; the expansion of the British Empire, Britains leadership in the industrial revolution, American's economic and political ascendancy from the late 19th century and the spread of English through technology like the internet (E. Schneider, 2007: 1). From American English to Australian English, each country has socio-linguistically developed its own variety of English, through undergoing different processes of development and integration. The linguist, Kachru (1922), put forth a model to categorize these varieties of English, although whether the model is deemed Eurocentric or not is debatable, yet it does appear to be one of the more popular models which separates the 'world Englishes' into three concentric circles namely the inner, the outer and the expanding circle. These 'world Englishes', a contentious term to catalogue the varieties of English present are, for some, used in diverse contexts, such as for trade, business and international communication and are often linked to countries in the expanding circle of Kachru's model, like as Russia, Brazil and China (K. Bolton, B. Kachru, 2006: 225). This essay aims to detail a selected variety of English, known as 'China English' (a term first adopted by G. Chuangui, (1980: 2)), (although some may classify the English Language variety developing in China as 'Chinglish' (J. Liu, H. Tao, 2012: 146)), which argumentativel... ... middle of paper ... ...Communication. Bookcraft Ltd. p. 95/ 108 Pride. J and Liu. R., (1988). Some aspects of the spread of English in China since 1949. International Journal of the Sociology of Language. p. 74, 41 Radtke. O., (2007). Chinglish: Found in Translation. Gibbs Smith, Publisher. p. 8 Runqing. D, Yajun. J., (2001). The Review on the Study of China English in Recent 20 Years. Foreign Languages’ Teaching and Research, Vol. 1. p. 40 Xiaohong. J., (2001). China English in Cross-cultural Communication. The Journal of Si Chuan. Foreign Languages’ Institution, Vol. 6. p. 12 Yajun. J., (1995 (a)). Chinglish and China English. English Today, Vol. 41. p. 51 Yamashita. S, Bosco. J, Eades. J., (2004). The Making of Anthropology in East and Southeast Asia. Berghahn Books p. 164 Zhang. F., (2009). China English: Adaptation of English to Chinese Culture. Ludong University Press. p. 93
By juxtaposing both the English and Mandarin language, Wong is effectively showcasing and questioning the institutional dominance the English language may possesses over both worldwide linguistics as well as individual’s freedom of expression; Stating we may need to break free from the constraining borders English may pose on an individual, and instead write or speak in any way we wish in hopes of effectively getting our point across. The narrator wants herself and others to break free from the strict dominant borders, empowering others to live a life filled with full freedom of expression regardless of one’s style of writing or minority
China has gone through many changes in its history. Changes include economic, political, and social. In the early 1500 and throughout history, mostly all social classes followed Confucianism. Confucianism is a type of religion based on an ideal society (Chang 2012, 22). China was molded though Confucianism but that slowly deteriorated as years went on. One main group that has been a main part in these changes is the Chinese literati. The Chinese literati include the higher-class people such as officials and scholars. The Chinese literati were the dominant social class during the 1500’s but their power slowly decreased throughout history. Throughout my paper, I will explain the Chinese literati involvement as centuries passed.
Lindo Jong provides the reader with a summary of her difficulty in passing along the Chinese culture to her daughter: “I wanted my children to have the best combination: American circumstances and Chinese character. How could I know these two things do not mix? I taught her how American circumstances work. If you are born poor here, it's no lasting shame . . . You do not have to sit like a Buddha under a tree letting pigeons drop their dirty business on your head . . . In America, nobody says you have to keep the circumstances somebody else gives you. . . . but I couldn't teach her about Chinese character . . . How to know your own worth and polish it, never flashing it around like a cheap ring. Why Chinese thinking is best”(Tan 289).
Stephen Wuem, “The Silk Road and hybridized languages in north-western China”, Diogenes 43, no. 171 (1995): 57.
The United States and China are two very large countries that have cultures that are well known throughout the world. There are many differences between the United States and China, but there are many contributing factors that shape the cultures of these two countries. Language is universal, but there are different meanings and sounds, which vary from one culture to another. In China, citizens speak many languages, but about 94% speak the Chinese language. The difference in dialects was overcome by the written word and eventually a version of Mandrin became the “official speech” (The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 1996, p.304).
7. Zhu Yongtao, 1991, Essentials of British and American Cultures. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
My parents had great influence on my learning of language. They were both born and grown up in Liaoning Province but not Tianjin (respectively in Dalian countryside and Yingkou countryside). After the graduation of local high schools they went to Harbin for college which also belongs to Northeast China. Throughout their first 22 years my parents spoke very rural “东北话” (Northeast dialect) according to my interviews. Until they were distributed to work in Tianjin, chances appeared to become government officers. D...
Heisey, D. Ray. "Chinese Perspectives in Rhetoric and Communication." Google Books. Web. 03 Feb. 2011. .
In conclusion, it was stated that due to the vital global challenges the country encounters, Chinese-English bilingual education represents a significant issue in Chinese education. Assuming all the arguments discussed in this essay it might be suggested that this form of BE appears to provide economic, occupational and cultural benefits for the Chinese society due to the increase of English language proficiency among the population. However, it was also noted that today Chinese-English BE faces three main challenges in its promotion, but all of them already have available solutions. Therefore, the broad implementation of bilingual education in China might cost time for the government but appears to have considerable advantages which could benefit the country in the foreseen future.
This growing community is also prone to many challenges. One of the biggest challenges they have is language barrier. As compared to other communities, Most of the Chinese people cannot speak Chinese. in order to know the reason I asked this question to many Chinese people. Chung, 28 years old, a grocery store worker said “In china we don’t have English language education except some big institutes. We prefer our own language in our country and people also don’t like to learn English. Because of this, when we come here, we face many problem regarding communication.”
[2] Y. Ran, “Dialects endangered by modernization,” 17 03 2011. [Online]. Available: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011-03/17/content_12183431.htm. [Accessed 08 11 2013].
The spread of English where it used as a foreign and/or a second language may be compromised if it is replaced by another language such as Chinese or Spanish. For example, if China continues to gradually dominate the world economically, politically and technologically, its language could replace English as the major foreign language taught and learnt in various countries’ education systems because they b...
113-117. 151-195. The. English: A Linguistic Tool Kit, (2012), (U214, Worlds of English, DVD ROM), Milton Keynes, The Open University. English in the World, (2012), (U214, Worlds of English, DVD ROM), Milton Keynes, The Open University.
Kachru, B. B. (1992). Teaching world Englishes. The other tongue: English across cultures, 2, 355-366.
In order to visualize the “global” as an adjective in the collocation “global language”, a study has shown the numbers of people speaking the language. According to them, there are about 6000 languages in the world and not surprisingly English is at the top of the list of most dominant. In the world there are 375 million first-language speakers, approximately the same number of second-language speakers and about 750 million foreign-language speakers (David Graddol, The Future of English? A Guide to Forecasting the Popularity of the English Language in the 21st Century. British Council, 1997). According to magazine Economist, more than one billion people speak some form of English. These numbers could make people think that English is really conquering the world which can be both positive and negative.