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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
One of the many permutations that language has made is into what is collectively known as English. This particular tongue was brought to the British Isles in the Sixth Century CE by Northern Europeans or “Germanic” people. (Kemmer) It followed English colonists around the world, including areas in North America, which will be the subject of this essay.
English is with no doubt, the world’s language. It is considered being the most second language to be learned after the native language of a spoken person. English is considered being the most spoken language in countries such as Australia, Canada and United States of America. So many countries now are adapting the English language and most of the international schools around the world. In “Who owns global English?” by Dennis Baron, the essay talks about who actually owns the global English in the world. The most accurate response to this question, according to the article, is that the English language no longer belongs to a certain country or specific nation, the English language belongs to who speaks English anywhere.
Language is one of the most basic values of a society that differentiates one society from other one. Each country desires to be superior over other countries and spread of its language and their culture to win in a way over other countries language. The growing utilization of English to communicate internationally has been continuing in several decades which makes English as one of the growing language between the countries; as Robson reported that “English is spoken at a useful level by some 1.75 billion people worldwide
New locations, mingling with different cultures and being away from the changes that were also happening in England, played a major part in the forming of a new variety which we have come to know as American English.
Today, English is used by millions of peopleforseveral communicative functions across the countries. English seems to
McCrum, Robert, et al. The Story of English: Third Revised Edition. Penguin Books, 2002. Print
Over the years English has brought together different nations of the world enabling better coordination in fields like research, defense, trade, drugs, software, etc. New advancements have taken place not only in one nation but the entire planet as a whole. The world has become a global village. So the benefits of discoveries, breakthroughs in one part of the planet flows onto the other parts as well. This has made the world progress towards a happier and more peaceful future.
In parallel with the spread of globalization, English has undoubtedly become an international means of communication. Being a lingua franca, that is any of various languages used as common or commercial tongues among peoples of diverse speech (the Merriam-Webster dictionary), English has effectively exerted its power as the primary language in many spheres of activity, such as culture, economy or diplomacy.
First of all, English is becoming an international language nowadays, and it is shared by people all over the world instead of only belonging to those who are native speakers of English. Swann (2001) classifies languages into four groups, which are called local languages or peripheral languages, central languages, super-central languages, and hyper-central languages respectively. English, in fact, is the only hyper-central language among all kinds of languages as it is spoken in almost any country for various purposes and it is taught in most countries all over the world. As a result, English has become a global lingual franca, not only used
McCormick, K. (2012), 'English and Other Languages' in Seargeant, P. and Swann, J. (ed.) History, Diversity, Change (U214, English in the World), Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 245-290.
Based on the number of people who use it as a language and its easy nature to learn, English is the best candidate as the global language, which should facilitate communication in the changing environment. This draws the line between English and other languages whose usage is predominant across Europe and parts of Asia. In terms of numbers and effectiveness in learning, English is more superior to other languages.
It has led to the development of new dialects and modification of existing ones. The British Empire has been able to spread the language across the globe and to date it is the most widespread language and most used in foreign transactions. Currently, the population of non- native English speakers is higher than native English speakers. This is a clear indication that English has become an international language.
The development of the English language was a combination of cultural, political, social and religious events that each playing their own part shaping the modern English language spoken today as a first language by 400 million people . As Baugh and Cable convey to us in A History of the English Language; ‘It understates matters to say that political, economic, and social forces influence a language’. Although it cannot be identified exactly when the inhabitants of Britain began to speak English, there are some sources that give an insight into the nature of the forces that played a role in its foundation such as: the four medieval manuscripts;
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.
English is an international language of communication (Nunan, 2003). So that English is a necessary basic skill for human. For instance, we meet lots of people who came from different countries in our daily life. Since our mother language is different, we can use English to be a lingua franca to communicate with them and try to understand their culture easily.