Languages: Lingua Franca

A language with rather humble roots, one that has been twisted and bent, one that has taken and borrowed from other languages, and one that has been the subject of much debate as to the correctness of certain usages, today English is the language that the world uses to communicate. The world uses English for a variety of reasons from commerce and trade, to political decisions, to technology and science, and beyond. The entire world uses English to get business done. Thus it truly has become the lingua franca for the world.
To understand how English became the lingua franca for the world one must begin by understanding the colonization influence of the British Empire, beginning with the Americas in the early 1600’s. Once the language itself had been somewhat established in Great Britain, although not necessarily agreed upon, the next obvious step was to take the language and the culture to new parts of the world and colonize. The British Empire set out to the Americas in two vastly different manners, yet both had major influences on the language of what soon would become America.
The British Empire was somewhat late to the game in the world of colonization. The Spanish had already colonized much of South America and the Caribbean and the Dutch were right on their heels. The English had done very well in the previous two centuries and were facing a time of economic stalemate. They had become an overcrowded population and soon, if they were not careful, there wouldn't be enough work and resources to go around for everyone. So, like any good empire does, they set out to find lands that could become colonies and allow their people a place to go, become productive for the crown, and spread the language and culture of Eng...

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...nology is moving ahead at the speed of light. With all this advancement comes the inevitable need for a language that unifies the world. The need for a common language to conduct our business and economic affairs, and our need to communicate internationally on political and world interventions has made English the leader in world languages. It is not the language spoken first by most, but it the language that the world uses when it comes together to communicate.

Works Cited

Bailey, R. (1991). Images of english: a cultural history of the language. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Crystal, D. (2012). English as a global language. (2nd ed.). New York: Cambridge University Press
Kirkpatrick, A. (2007). World englishes: implications for international communication and english language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press