Why English?

Instrumental reasons to learn English

Fundamental reasons to learn English

Political reasons not to learn English

 Instrumental reasons
• Instrumental rationality is a specific form of
rationality focusing on the most efficient or
cost-effective means to achieve a specific
end, but not in itself reflecting on the value
of that end.
• Examples: Learning English for money, power,
or love… but not for English.
 Fundamental reasons
• Fundamental reasons are based on the value
of the activity itself whatever you may get
from it.
• Examples: learning English for aesthetic and
cultural reasons.
• Learning English as a way to grasp linguistic
relativity.
• The dirty little secret:
Instrumental rationality does
not always work.

• Today’s word: Serendipity

Serendipity is the faculty of
making fortunate discoveries
by accident.
 Linguistic relativity
• The principle of linguistic relativity holds that
the structure of a language affects the ways
in which its respective speakers
conceptualize their world, i.e. their world
view, or otherwise influences their cognitive
processes.
• “The limits of my language mean the limits of
my world.” Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
A good reason not to learn English?
By learning English, you
contribute to Anglo-
American
linguistic
hegemony!
• (1) English has the greatest number of speakers
reaching as many as 1.5 billion people;
• (2) English is designated as official languages of as
many as 62 nations;
• (3) English is the most dominant language in
scientific communication with 70-80 percent of
academic publications being published in it;
• (4) English is the de facto official and working
language in most international organizations;
• (5) English is the most taught foreign language
across the world.
 English dominance
• English is the most dominant language and
operates as a common medium for international
communication.

• However, because it is the most dominant

language, English is also the "hegemonic" and
"neocolonialist" language, creating not only the
structure of linguistic and communicative
inequality and discrimination between speakers
of English and speakers of other languages, but
also indirect rule over many aspects of their lives.
 Why does it matter?
• Linguistic and Communicative
Inequality
• Linguistic Discrimination and
Social Inequality
• Colonization of the
Consciousness
 Linguistic and Communicative
Inequality

• In a situation where English

dominates communication, the non-
English-speaking people are
inevitably disadvantaged.
• They become mute and deaf, and
therefore prevented from fully
participating in communication.
Linguistic Discrimination and Social
Inequality

The dominance of English also

creates the prejudices and
stereotypes which, in turn, creates
discrimination against those who do
not or cannot speak English.
Colonization of the Consciousness

Linguistic domination is made possible by

a combination of "the destruction or the
deliberate undervaluing of a people's
culture" and "the conscious elevation of
the language of the colonizer.“
 Why is English language hegemonic?
• English is the language of globalization.
• The dominance of English serves to facilitate
globalization. Globalization, in turn, assumes and
encourages the use and dominance of English. In other
words, the dominance of English is a reflection of the
structure of global relations.
• This inevitably results in the "ideological control".
American ways of feeling and thinking become very
visible and therefore influential as American cultural
and information products are received and welcomed
by the whole population of the world.
 Is it bad?
• Yes, it is bad, and we are doomed.
• A plea for multilingualism and
multiculturalism.
• But who cares?
• Not better, not worst than 20th century
French linguistic hegemony (except for
French people).
 Law & Language: An Analogy
• Law as a technology of power.
• Language as a technology of power.
• Language is not only a mode of
communication. It is also a tool to frame
concepts. If you use a language, you will also
adopt its conceptual mapping of reality. No
wonder then that legal language is a tool of
power and an object of struggle.
Changes in legal-linguistic dominance
An Historical Perspective
• In Antiquity, along with Roman law, its language,
Latin, spread throughout Europe.
• From the 16th to the 20th centuries, Modern
European languages first replaced Latin and then
spread to other continents along with European
colonisation.
• Laws of the Continent (German, French, Italy…) have
been in a state of mutual rivalry. Today, the common
law of English origin has been challenging them.
 The rivalry between legal languages:
French and English
• French for a long time occupied a pre-eminent
position in international relations.
• During the 20th century the international
arena of legal dealings was characterized by
an important language change: the
dominance of French was first replaced by
French-English bilingualism, and recently by
the dominance of English.
Examples of English dominance in
the legal field

• Public international law

• European law
• Commercial law