UNIT 7

Cultures

TH E PLACE OF ENGLISH
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Before you read

What is the place of the English language in your country? How many
people speak it? Who uses it?

Reading
Read this article from th e Financial Times and answer the questions.

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LEVEL OF DI FFICULTY e e 0

The difficulties of cross-cultural communication

by William Barnes
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X English has frequently been speakers - who have never been 65 often don ' t communicate as well
-i compared to Latin, which challenged to acquire the ability as they think they do.' says this
to flourished for centuries as an 35 to make themselves clear to continental European. who has
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z international language, even after 'foreign' speakers - may strugg le worked in Asia for more than 30
" 5 the collapse of the Roman Empire, to overcome what may be, by years. They are, he explains . Thais
becoming a shared resource for international norms. their personal 10 who have forgotten how to switch
much of the g lobe . English is usagc. lt is likely that any manager between their social personalities.
rap idly becoming an i nternational .w wo rking in Asia will agree that As a first language. English has
lingua franca, as it becomes the merely speaking a common already peaked - the number of
10 essent ial skill of any manager with language docs not amount to native speakers is growing, but
ambition. l t i s a language that in mutual comprehension, let alone 75 not nearly as fast as non-native
some ways is becoming separated a guarantee o f trust or friendship. speakers. There are many experts
from its origins. One consequence 45 lt used to be thought i n the who say that the flllure of English
is that non-native speakers may high days of the British empire is uncerta i n , as the economic
15 be better at using English with that everything worth knowing centre of the world shifts east.
each other than native speakers. could be known in English. We so Nevertheless, its current global
David Graddol, an applied are more likely to feel these days usc appears as strong as ever.
l i nguist and consultant, observes: so that a language carries with i t China alone adds 20 million to
'Conventjonal wisdom has it certain cultural baggage, ways of the global community of English
20 that native speakers must be best thinking that cannot be ex pressed speakers every year. Many
at communicating in English. well in another language. ss native English speakers who
That may not be true. I n fact , A man who runs a design have worked in Asia w i l l not
native speakers may be poor at 55 company in Bangkok thinks that necessarily accept Mr Graddol's
u s i ng Engl i sh as an international fore ign-educated Thais often do warning about the 'native-speaker
25 language. What is more, the not fit well into his work teams. problem · , while accept ing
presence o f native speakers may 'They think that because they are 90 his idea that cross-cultural
hinder communication within a fluent in the "global language", communication is a tricky thing.
group of non-native speakers.' c,o they somehow know all the A matter of more than just
Mr Graddol says research secrets of the world. ln acquiring language.
30 shows that, whereas intelligibility an "international" culture. they
is the most important thing for have lost some of their cu lt ural
non-native speakers, native yardsticks and consequently

138 © Pearson Education Li m i te d 2010 PHOTOCOPIABLE

 TEXT BANK ... ... UNIT 7

1 Look at how the expressions in italic are 5 Find two-word expressions in paragraphs 4
used. True or false? and 5 that mean the following.
a) If something flourishes (line 3), it is successful. a) countries that used to belong to the U K
b) A shared resource (line 6) can only be used by b) ways o f thinking that belong to a particular
one person. country, group, etc., that might not be helpful in
c) A lingua franca (line 9) is only spoken by a small another country, etc.
number of people in one country. c) a language spoken all over the world
d) The origin (line 1 3) of something is where it d) way of judging things in a particular country,
comes from. group, etc.
e) A native speaker (line 1 6) of a language learns it e) someone from Europe but not the U K or
as their first language. Scandinavia
f) Conventional wisdom (line 19) consists of f) the way someone behaves differently depending
opinions that only a few people believe. on the context
g) Someone's presence (line 26) in a place refers to
the fact that they are there. 6 What, according to someone in paragraph 5
h) If something hinders (line 27) something else, it who manages a team of them, is the problem
helps it. for the members of a particular national
group who speak good English?
2 Complete the table with words from
paragraphs 2 and 3, and related words. 7 Answer these questions using the words
given and information from paragraphs 6 and
adjective noun
7 of the article. (The first one has been done
. . . . . . . . a)
. convention for you as an example.)
present ....... b)
. .
Is ...
intelligible . . c)
. . . . . . . a) the num ber of English speakers rising as fast as it
able . ....... .
d) was? - No, it h«$P.�(l.k�t;l..
e) b) the centre of economic power moving? ­
. . . . . . .
. . native
Yes, it . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .n person
c) English declining as a world language? -
. . . . .. . . . .
g) foreigner No, its . . . . . . . . . .
h) d) the number of English speakers in China rising? -
comprehensible ....... . .

Yes, it . . . . . . . . . .
3 Now match the adjectives in Exercise 2 to e) David Graddol right about the 'native-speaker'
their meanings. problem? - Not necessarily, but it's true
that . . . . . . . . . .
a) understandable (2 expressions)
b) usual
Over to you 1
c) relating to an individual
'Non-native speakers may be better at using English
d) referring to someone from a particular place
with each other than native speakers.' Do you agree?
e) not from the speaker's country Why? I Why not?
f) not absent
g) capable Over to you 2
How long will it be before English is replaced as the
4 What is the most important point in world's lingua franca? What will replace it? Give your
paragraphs 1 and 2? Choose the best reasons.
summary.
a) English is like Latin, as it is now spoken
everywhere and is used as a language of
international communication.
b) Most people think that native speakers are the
best speakers of English, but this may not be
true when considering English as a language for
international communication.
c) Some native speakers make great allowances
when they speak with non-native speakers and
are careful to avoid using unusual expressions.

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