Why English Should be the Universal Language

Why English Should be the Universal Language

Introduction

English is the global language of business today. Many multinational companies are assigning English as the common corporate language, such as Fast Retailing, Nokia, Samsung, Technicolor, and Microsoft in Beijing. Companies do this in order to enable communication between international business meetings and endeavors. English is spreading on a global scale on a high rate; it is spoken by 1.75 billion people worldwide, which means that one in four people. These concerns led Hiroshi Mikitani, CEO of Rakuten, one of Japan’s largest online market place, to adopt English as the common mode of speech in 2010. This policy led Mikitani to establish a diverse and influential organization, and look for talented people from all over the world. Although having a common mode of speech is necessary for all companies, adopting English as the common language can be difficult. It may cause many employees to oppose with a global language policy, especially if a company targets domestic customers. They may be worried about the unequal treatment they may receive if their English is not as fluent as others, or their national pride might prevent them from accepting English as the global language.

English is essential for companies to survive and prosper in the globalizing economy, by being able to easily communicate around the globe (Harvard Business Review, 2012). Conversely, there is opposition to this idea that English can be equally diffused for all people to speak and use it in business. The reason is because English as the lingua franca can lead to inequality among countries of native English speakers and non-native English speakers of English. One major reason is that the...

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...he number of English speakers greatly differs with the financial power to invest in English education programs. Equality cannot be achieved in the global society, because some countries will not be able to compete on the same level as English speaking countries is terms of English competency. However, the article by The Economist states that the English language is a vital skill to operate on the world stage, because many of the fruitful sources needed for education are published in the global language of English, and people can understand the economics and politics of the world. The ability to understand and communicate in English is mandatory in various fields and professions, and English competency widens the opportunities for countries to economically develop with the greater knowledge that can be attained through the unity of sources into one language: English.