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The Effects Of Globalization On Multilingualism And I Propose Doing Multiple Case Studies

Decent Essays

Language is oftentimes perceived as intrinsic to human nature which while true to an extent, ignores the way human behaviour today has affected our communication with one another. Since the end of the twentieth century, globalization changed the way people in the globalized countries are understood through language in ways that have both strengths and weaknesses. Languages have switched from being simply indicators of cultural background to being a commodity in the economic sphere. This reworking of the purpose of language has affected the growth of English worldwide and given it new ways to develop. Unfortunately, Standard English has largely become the focus of the international world at a cost for many people not born in English-speaking countries. Despite its shortcomings, globalization has provided different languages, and minority dialects, meaningful spaces in which they can develop their own worth. There are still important studies to be done into the effect of globalization on multilingualism and I propose doing multiple case studies to compare the progression of language in countries around the world. To start, it is important to looked at how that progression changed to begin with. It was through grand scale economic change that the usefulness of language shifted. The beginnings of globalization can be tracked by Manfred Steger to the abandonment of the Bretton Woods system by Nixon in the 1970s, the subsequent adoption of neoliberal economic policies, the

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