Pros And Cons Of English As A Global Language

Language is a beautiful tool that can be used to unify or divide. Language brings people together but it can also tear them apart. In “Mute in an English Only World”, Chang-Rae Lee writes about how his mother was impaired from doing simple tasks such as going to the store alone because she could not speak English. Second, in “Lingua Franchise”, by Charles Foran, he shows how English is unifying people across the globe.

Robert MacNeil, a writer of many great historical articles, was once, a journalist and news anchor. In his article, “English Belongs to Everybody”, MacNeil responds to the fear of many Americans who believe that Spanish will soon sweep over English. He argues that English can not be diluted by any other language as “it has prospered and grown because it was able to accept and absorb changes,”

This leads to the idea of the disastrous impacts of “killing” your language. The author discusses this principle as being denied the right to speak within in your country. However, I would like to take this principle one-step farther. Research shows that mastery of other languages demands mastery of the regional language. We see this is apparent in our own Public School system, with English speakers teaching students foreign languages and dialects in the regional language. Thus, in order to shift to a more modernized, globalized world we must start within our own regional culture. Society must understand that mastery of the mother tongue is a prerequisite for creative expression in other languages. (Adichie)

The English language began its climb to world dominance with the rise of the British Empire in the 16th century. During this time English began to spread as the worlds lingua franca for business and trade. With the support of the United States, which at the time was one of the most successful nations in history, english was able to overthrow all previous lingua francas. However, english should not be considered as the “gateway to the world”. Although the english language is widely- spoken around the world, making english language the official language of the world will lead to diminishing cultural diversity.

Ken Wiwa presents several ideas pertaining to language and culture within his essay, Get Beyond Babel. Wiwa explains that every language has a chance of dying out over time. For any language to survive through years of societal changes, it must be adapted so it can be used to embrace other cultures, new technology and new perspectives. Wiwa presents the concept that language is the same as culture. I do not agree with this concept because I believe that culture is carried by the people, not by the language.

Wallraff is concerned about the future of the English language and has started assuming what would happen if English became the global language. She further forecasted the situations that may occur if everyone started speaking English. The work, research and time Ms. Wallraff has devoted to the article demonstrate her attitude and concern about the English language and its future. The article that she has written basically targets people of new generation X who are firm believer of English being a Global language ignoring the fact that other languages are outnumbering English. Besides targeting the younger generation, the article is also targeting those for whom English is not primary

In the essay “Last Words,” published on the first of October in 2006, the author Walter Michaels instills an idea of what to do when a language is loss. Throughout the essay, he gives examples of how languages are (and how they could be) lost. He also points out, that even though many of those reasons have been eliminated, that languages continue to go extinct. Thus, the author brings up the point, “Why would it be a tragedy if English disappeared?” Although people mourn the loss of a language, Michaels argues that speakers of the dying language should exert effort to learn the dominate one.

In Vanishing Voices by Russ Rymer, the author gives readers an in depth overview of the significant loss in the number of languages over the years. “One language dies every 14 days. By the next century nearly half of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken on Earth will likely disappear, as communities abandon native tongues in favor of English, Mandarin, or Spanish. What is lost when a language goes silent?” he asks. A major argument Rymer includes in his essay is that languages are seeming to “compete” with one another. Parents children who speak tribal languages encourage their children to break away and learn to speak major languages such as English, Spanish, or

English colonization of Australia started with the entry of the First Fleet in Botany Bay in 1788. One prompt outcome of British settlement was a progression of European pandemic

According to Paterson and Rentein ancient languages to mankind as it is the way history is trying to communicate with the future; also it grants us with the source of the origins from where languages embark on. There are various research carried out every year for the extinction of different languages from different part of the world which usually giving us a big number of extinct languages. The effect of this can be clearly seen on the academic clique which is a major topic of argument these days, but on the other hand some argues that it’s a natural thing is happening as we move forward in life. All individual are known for the language he or she speaks that represents individual from which region, which state or which country he belongs to therefore loss of a language will lead to identity crisis of the speaker. With the loss of academic knowledge there is also a loss of culture; different communities have different culture which is passed to the next generation majorly through their native languages so with the loss of languages there is loss of history, traditional songs and poetry. All kind of forms which are reliant on the language

First, universal language is just a very simple, basic means of communication. When the boy is helping the merchant assemble his stall, “…one of them spoken Arabic and the other Spanish. And they had understood each other perfectly well” (Coelho 68). This just goes to show how little the boy thinks of universal language. It has been taken for granted by everyone. Universal language

English has undergone some changes in relation to its status in the world. Some years ago, it only became the first or second language for several countries. Nowadays, alongside with the development of information, communication, and technology the status of English becomes a lingua franca in the world. That is, a language that is used as a means of communication between people with different language. This change, of course, brings some impacts in the roles of English as a language. English is not seen as a language for identity anymore. Yet, it functions mainly as a means of communication. Added to this, the change of the English status as a lingua franca will also impact to the educational sector especially in English Language Teaching (ELT). With regard to this issue, this paper tries to present the notion of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and its implication to the teaching learning process especially in Indonesian context.

The English Language has been in existence for many years. This is thanks to many early conquers who spoke the language. As a result, today English is used by “at least one out of every seven human beings around on the globe” (Lederer 216). With that many speakers, the reality in Lederer’s words that “half of the world’s

With the development of living standard in society, studying aboard has become more and more popular. Not only because of English as the world language is an agent to connect countries, but also speaking English fluently will be beneficial for the future personal development. In order to study oversea smoothly, the first step is to go through the language--English. Generally speaking, English has been divided into two different types according to the purposes which are English for Academic Purpose (EAP) and General English (GE). It is obvious that EAP teaches the knowledge which will be suitable for a higher education whereas GE is mainly focus on daily communications. Therefore, the teaching style or perhaps teacher’s role in the class is also different. In this essay, the writer will illustrate two different classifications by Harmer and Scrivener, after compare and contrast the two the teacher’s role, the writer will select one of the classification and justify it. Finally, the chosen classification will be put into practice ( justifying with the radios provided).

     “In the world were over seven thousand languages have exisisted, one language had become dominate. This dominant language is English.” “In the majority of countries throughout the world speak English as their second or first language, no longer just America or England.” English has taken many forms, American English, the Queen’s English, Australian, Canadian English, and several others. Even American English has taken several types of English, Jersey English, East Coast English, West Coast English, Southern English, slang English, and Ebonics. All of these languages have major variants between them, but are all of them are still understood aboard. Without English the world couldn’t operate,