ENGLISH as a global language

In this essay I am going to support the argument that English serves as a

global/ international language. I am going to look into the status of English in
the world today, who speaks English, where and in what capacity, illustrating
this argument with what counts as English and what does not. Finally, I am
going to consider whether other major languages in the world may achieve
similar status.

The main question lays to whether humankind needs a single universal

language and why this language should be English. Looking into the matter
historically, we understand that the spread of English started long ago, with
the first dispersal, involving the migration of 25,000 people from the south and
east of England to America and Australia, as well as the second dispersal,
involving the colonization of Asia and Africa. New mother-tongue varieties of
English, as well as a number of second language varieties, often referred to
as ‘New Englishes’, were developed respectively (Jenkins, J. 2009,p. 2-9).The
figures themselves reveal the unquestionable fact that the number of English
speakers has risen from the reign of Queen Elizabeth I to Queen Elizabeth II,
in 1952, from 5-7 million to 250 million. Another 100 million is added to this
number of speakers of English as a foreign language and the number
increases rapidly (Graddol, D. 2007,p. 29). In short, the English language has
managed a great achievement throughout history, of a language spoken
within an Inner Circle to an Outer circle and later on to an expanding circle, as
described by Kachru (Jenkins, J. 2009,p. 17-19). The status of English today,
therefore, stands as a native language (ENL), a second language (ESL) and a
foreign language (EFL). However, considering that pidgins and creoles must
be included in these circles, we realize that they do not fit neatly to any of
these categories, creating different languages altogether (Jenkins, J.
2009,p.16). At the same time they attract negative attitudes from the speakers
being described as ‘bad English’. Nowadays, this is considered a racist
attitude which holds its origins in colonial times, and pidgins and creoles can
be highly valued in certain societies (Culpepper, J. p. 339). Concluding the
argumentation about the status of English today, we understand that history
shows that English was the language of power, which explains why Pidgin
English could not be adopted as the language of governance after
independence. ‘The value of English, being a protected language, depends on
its being closed’, quoted in our coursebook (Jenkins, J. 2009,p. 176-180).

The latter argument about English being a protected language requires further
exploration and leads to another argument about the current ownership of
English, as well as standardization of English. In Jenkins, World Englishes,
Henry G. Widdowson claims that native speakers no longer ‘own’ English or
have the right to determine how it is, or should be spoken around the world,
as, apparently, the majority of people who learn and use English today are not
native speakers and do not even use it to communicate with them (Jenkins, J.
2009,p. 184-189) (Davidson,K. 2007). He continues arguing that when
teaching English, the aim is to develop proficiency as close as possible to that
of native speakers. Only Standard English (SE), therefore, guarantees a clear
communication and standards of intelligibility, leading to the sensible
argument that English serves the communicative needs of different
communities. For that reason, English is an international language which must
be diverse and independent. Clearly, scientists and businessmen, whatever
linguistic background they come from, in order to maintain a standard of
communicative effectiveness they preserve a common standard of English
(Jenkins, J. 2009,p.180). So, Standard English is a kind of a social dialect
mutually intelligible of native and non- native speakers around the world
(Jenkins, J. 2009,p.36). And it is absolutely necessary that this is a
unanimous decision, for teachers of English to maintain the same
approaches. A whole industry is built around teaching and testing English
today, with colossal institutions being involved, such as the British Council,
Cambridge Examination Syndicate, Oxford University Press, Cambridge
University Press and the list goes on. Apart from that, international
organizations, such as NATO, UNESCO, United Nations, UNISEF, WWF etc.,
which are of global reach and people of around the world may hold posts, use
English for conferences, lectures, meetings, agendas, daily documents and
correspondence (Jenkins, J. 2009). However, there are inner circle varieties
of English that may contradict this argument, such as Singlish (spoken in
Singapore) (Bolton, K. 2008) and Indian English (spoken in India). Singlish
may be unintelligible to the rest of the speaking world and have attributed a
very derogatory manner, however, as argued in an article by Ho, it reflects
attitudes expressed in a culture of a particular people. Singlish mirrors identity
flux rejecting SE and therefore Western imperialist culture but not totally,
measuring the economic benefits it offers. If Singapore wished to participate
in world trade and advanced technology, they had to support the language of
the colonizer because of the economic advantages gained from maintaining
close bonds with the west (Ho, D. 2006). Therefore, Singapore people are
added to the list of those who use English as an official language. The
Ethnologue also proves that many countries around the world use English as
official language for obvious financial benefits. India is one of them,
contributing enormously in the general increase of the estimate population
who speak English. David Crystal, in an article in English Today, clearly
exposes India, as a typical example of an overpopulated country where
English has official standing, being the language of the legal system, of
Parliament, and preferred language for senior administrative and foreign
service positions. The semi-fluent ‘broken’ English does not seem to be a
barrier for trade and other purposes (Crystal, D. 2008).
All the above arguments reach the sensible conclusion that the reasons why
English has achieved global recognition and has spread as international
lingua franca are several First of all, it holds a historical legacy dating back to
the British imperialism leading to internal political reasons emerging from
financial benefits. External economic reasons are added for international trade
and multinational businesses as well as practical reasons such as
international air traffic control and maritime. There are also intellectual
reasons, being the language of science, technology and academic information
as well as entertainment reasons, being the language of satellite
broadcasting, home computers and video games (Jenkins, J. 2009,p. 40-41)
(Mesthrie, R.2008). Therefore, English qualifies for an ideal international
auxiliary language (Smith, R.2005), developing as a vehicular language
alongside other languages, but not instead of them (Crystal, D. 2003). There
is unanimous agreement on the importance of learning English, so it is part of
the national curriculum in most European and Asian countries. China also
adds to this list and doubles the ratio of EFL when taken into account. In 25
years the estimate speakers of English will be 1/3 of the world’s population
(Crystal, D. 2008). We realize that as the century proceeds English is
becoming the language of ‘others’ (Jenkins, J. 2009,p. 50) and has been
accused of slaughtering other languages. Although we cannot totally deny
that, it must be considered within the framework of globalization as a whole
(Jenkins, J. 2009,p.160) (Crystal, D. 2008). A global language, though, must
have a special role that is recognized in every country, and English obviously
covers all the components (1. Native language of the majority of speakers in
some countries, 2. Widely adopted as an official language, 3. Priority in
foreign language teaching) (Gil,J. 2011). Considering the nomination of
Chinese or Spanish as global languages, these characteristics are limited in
comparison to English. However, the foreign language role of English offers a
route by which other languages can expand their global status (Gil, J.
2011).The current condition of English holding the three-fold model of ENL,
ESL, EFL contributes to the wide agreement to be the global language
(McArthur, T. 2001).

Concluding, I will use a quote by Churchill: ‘Basic English is not intended for
use among English-speaking people, but to enable a much larger body of
people who do not have the good fortune to know the English language to
participate more easily to our society’ (Al-Dabbagh, A. 2005) . English is here
to stay as a world language for the time being at least, because the global
information society needs a lingua franca. English may not be perfect, but it is
undoubtedly the unchallenged linguistic power (Smith, R. 2005).
BIBLIOGRAPHY

Al-Dabbagh, A. 2005 “Globalism and the universal language.” English

Today,

Bolton, K. 2008 “English in Asia, Asian Englishes, and the issues of

proficiency.” English Today

Bolton, K. 2008 “English yesterday and today.” English Today 93(24), 2.

Crystal, D. 2003 English as a Global Language. New York

Crystal, D. 2008 “Two thousand million.” English Today

Culpepper, J., Katamba, F., Kerswill, P., Wodak, R. And McEnery, T.

(2009) English Language: Description, Variation and Context. Basingstoke:
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Davidson, K. 2007 “The nature and significance of English as a global

language.” English Today

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towards a new global language?’ English Today

Graddol, D. et al. (Eds) 2007 Changing English. London: Routledge

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Jenkins, Jennifer 2009 World Englishes: a resource book for students, 2nd
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McArthur, T. 2001 “World English and world Englishes: Trends, tensions,

varieties, and standards.” Language Teaching

Mesthrie, R. 2008 “English circling the globe.” English Today

Smith, R. 2005 “Global English: gift or curse? The case against English as
the world’s lingua franca.” English Today

http://www.ethnologue.com/country_index.asp