English as a Global Language

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Over the years English inarguably has reached a status of a global language and commonly is characterized as a lingua franca. It has become the language that is spoken by millions of people all over the world; as the mother tongue, as the language used for international communication and as the language learned in the millions of schools. Why has particularly English as a language become a global language? Researching this topic, answers to this question can be found in a global power the British Empire and the USA had during the history, especially since World War II (David Crystal, English as a Global Language, 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press, 2003). Most of the improvements which are essential for the mankind have their roots in English speaking areas and that is why English is dominating the globe in medical research, technological innovation and rock ‘n’ roll. 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. On the one hand, one of the negative effects that I fin... ... middle of paper ... ...foreign language. Nowadays, young people find career opportunities abroad with the huge help of English which allows people to expand their wishes and dreams, to think outside the box and go for something different somewhere else, somewhere far away if you want to. Even though there are advantages as well as disadvantages, the need for international language for communication, politics, economics and security is necessary and English is the best “language candidate” for that function. English is a language spread all over the world and it is used by millions and millions of speakers. According to my opinion, people should use English as a tool to communicate with all cultures but every country must keep their culture and language is a great part of it. In conclusion, language defines identity of a country and everyone should keep their language and explore others.

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