9.Global language and Kachru’s three concentric model.

A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every
country. They must decide to give it a special place within their communities, even though they may
have few (or no) mother-tongue speakers.

There is no official definition of "global" or "world" language, but it essentially refers to a language that
is learned and spoken internationally and is characterized not only by the number of its native and
second language speakers, but also by its geographical distribution, and its use in international
organizations and in diplomatic relations. A global language acts as a “lingua franca”, a common
language that enables people from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities to communicate on a more or
less equitable basis.

Historically, the essential factor for the establishment of a global language is that it is spoken by those
who wield power. Latin was the lingua franca of its time, although it was only ever a minority language
within the Roman Empire as a whole. Crucially, though, it was the language of the powerful leaders and
administrators and of the Roman military - and, later, of the ecclesiastical power of the Roman Catholic
Church - and this is what drove its rise to (arguably) global language status. Thus, language can be said
to have no independent existence of its own, and a particular language only dominates when its
speakers dominate (and, by extension, fails when the people who speak it fail).

The influence of any language is a combination of three main things: the number of countries using it as
their first language or mother-tongue, the number of countries adopting it as their official language, and
the number of countries teaching it as their foreign language of choice in schools. The intrinsic structural
qualities of a language, the size of its vocabulary, the quality of its literature throughout history, and its
association with great cultures or religions, are all important factors in the popularity of any language.
But, at base, history shows us that a language becomes a global language mainly due to the political
power of its native speakers, and the economic power with which it is able to maintain and expand its
position.

The UN, the nearest thing we have, or have ever had, to a global community, currently uses five official
languages: English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese, and an estimated 85% of international
organizations have English as at least one of their official languages (French comes next with less than
50%). Even more starkly, though, about one third of international organizations (including OPEC, EFTA
and ASEAN) use English only, and this figure rises to almost 90% among Asian international
organizations.

As we have seen, a global language arises mainly due to the political and economic power of its native
speakers. It was British imperial and industrial power that sent English around the globe between the
17th and 20th Century. The legacy of British imperialism has left many counties with the language
thoroughly institutionalized in their courts, parliament, civil service, schools and higher education
establishments. In other counties, English provides a neutral means of communication between
different ethnic groups.
But it has been largely American economic and cultural supremacy - in music, film and television;
business and finance; computing, information technology and the Internet; even drugs and pornography
- that has consolidated the position of the English language and continues to maintain it today.
American dominance and influence worldwide makes English crucially important for developing
international markets, especially in the areas of tourism and advertising, and mastery of English also
provides access to scientific, technological and academic resources which would otherwise be denied
developing countries.

Here are 5 Reasons Why English Has Become Today’s Global Language:

1) The British Empire. The first, and most obvious reason that English became widespread in the first
place is because of the British Empire. Before colonizing around a quarter of the planet (!), Britons were
the only ones speaking English, and the language was confined to the British Isles. But once they started
doing trade with places like Asia and Africa, colonizing and settling around the globe, the language
naturally spread. However, it was mainly used in administration and business dealings—locals were still
speaking their native languages for the most part. But when it came to getting an education, that was
done in English. So English then became an elitist language of sorts, spoken by those who were
educated in literature, philosophy and poetry, much like French was back when it was the most widely
spoken language. So how did English take over French as the most spoken language? Well there’s more
to the story than the Brits.

2) Post-war USA. The world after the first two world wars was a vulnerable and changing one. American
businesses were booming and started doing trade all over the world, much like Great Britain had done in
the previous century. This bolstered the use of English as the language of global trade. But at the same
time, American culture was being exported heavily through music and film. The advent of jazz, rock n’
roll and other popular music from both the USA and UK infiltrated the culture of people everywhere,
making English more than just the language of business, but the language of entertainment for the
masses. Hollywood was also booming with popular films exported worldwide, and then in the 1960’s
the counter-culture movement arrived with social change and the hippie movement sweeping across
the USA and Europe. Which brings us to the next point:

3) The coolness factor. English is used across the world to signify a certain lifestyle or culture linked to
American-style success or entertainment, or sometimes to signify a certain British quality. Advertisers
use it all over the world in multi-national markets to sell their products in this way. But, it is also the
most common language used in the film and music industry. Big-budget movies and everyone’s favorite
classic films are mostly produced in English. In music, if a band wants to become popular or famous,
they will produce their work in English as well. Maybe it’s because English will reach a wider audience,
or maybe because English is taken more seriously as an element of good pop music. And then there are
sports—American-invented sports today like BMX and skateboarding, and even basketball, have an
entire vocabulary in English, and many of the best athletes in those fields are English-speaking—even if
they have been recruited from abroad!

4) Technology. At the same time that the USA was becoming the world’s business superpower, the
internet was also invented in the USA. This created an entire lexicon for computers and technology that
was invented in English. Computer keyboards are suited for writing languages using the Latin alphabet,
and the hardware for all our smart technology uses English words that have become commonly used
around the world, as there was no other alternative in place when the technology spread like fire to the
corners of the Earth. The world of science is also dominated by English for much the same reason:
historically, universities publishing important research were doing so in English, and as a scientist today,
any serious publication must be done in English. With science and technology playing such a big role in
our lives today, English won’t be going anywhere soon.

5) The snowball effect. Now that English is so widespread across the internet, on the radio, in schools
and in the business world, it is hard to escape. It is well known that in order to get a good job in today’s
global market, speaking English is becoming a requirement more often than not. That’s why students
and more adults than ever are taking private lessons, taking language immersion holidays and studying
English to become as fluent as they can. It is not a guarantee of success, but it certainly does help!

Some people cite other reasons for the popularity of the English language, such as that it is “easy to
learn” or that is evolves with our changing times. Some people long for the days when every country
spoke their own language, and English was an eccentricity for language experts. But one thing is fairly
certain: English will continue to grow as the world’s dominant language. But for how long?

In his investigation of the spread of English, Braj Kachru (1985) presents a model that consists of three
circles each one representing a particular group of countries on the basis of the situation and the use of
English in them (see Figure 1 below).

Figure 1: The three circles of English according to Kashru (1985) with estimates of speaker numbers in
millions according to Crystal (1997) (Graddol, 1997, p. 10)

Expanding

100-1000

Inner

320-380
Outer

150-300

The Inner Circle (at the centre), represents the countries where English is the primary language and it
includes the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. These
countries are said to represent what is called native speakers of English. He also refers to them as
«norm- providing» (Kachru, 1985) countries since the norms of English use are derived from them.

Thesecond circle, which is called the Outer Circle, represents countries where English is one of two or
more official languages and used in a variety of functions. Examples of such countries are mainly former
colonies of Britain such as India, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana. Kachru calls such
countries «norm-developing» (ibid) countries since they are developing their own varieties. Some
examples for such category are Singaporean English and Indian English.

The third circle, which is called the Expanding Circle, includes countries where English is used as an
international language like, China, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and Zimbabwe. These countries, according to
Kachru, are «norm-dependent» (ibid) as they are not developing their own varieties of English.