Essay about English as the Lingua Franca

Maritime English Basic Terms

Present by:

Juan Cárdenas
Isabella Oñate

Administración Marítima y Fluvial

Universidad Autónoma del Caribe

(UAC)

October – 2021
Over the years, English has become the sea lingua franca. 500 years ago
around 5 to 7 million people could speak English, almost everyone lived
throughout British islands, nowadays up to 1800 million people around the
world can speak English. This language's growing has nothing to do neither
with the language structure nor any inherent attribute from it, It has to do with
politics and history.
English was the language of the British Empire, and the goal of the Empire
was trade – which was driven by shipping. Over time the growth in trade and
shipping settled on the common denominator language and English fitted the
bill.
With flags of many nations and seafarers from even more, shipping has to
have a unifying voice – and English is that. It is vital that communications are
understood, are simple and can be acted on. According to a major study,
“Deficits in communications account for up to 35 % of ships’ accidents”.
Accidents can happen because of misunderstandings, and sometimes they can
be made worse. Such as the fire on the ferry “Scandinavian Star” in the
Skagerrak in 1990, in which 161 people lost their lives because there had been
practically no communications from the crew.
In another accident, there was a breakdown in communication between the
engineer and the bridge – instead of just a fire in the engine the result was a
total loss of the ship. Also in the case of collisions, the causes are often
difficulties in understanding.
A shared language, comprehension and responses are the bedrock of a safe
industry. Shipping can only work with all its component parts in harmony.
The ship has to fit the cargo, the fuel needs to fit the engines, and seafarers
need to be able to communicate.
In summary, English is the first spoken language used in the maritime
industry. Moreover it became the "base language", therefore, this situation
forced the people who work in the maritime zone to learn English. Knowing
English can reduce the possibilities of occurring an accident, it was proven
that accidents usually happen because of communication problems, making
English as the most important language in the maritime industry.