Unit 1 – Language Matters · The Rule of English

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The final task you have to do is to write an opinion article on the relevance of the English
language in today’s world for a magazine writing competition. Write about 120-180 words.
Activities A and B will give you input for Activity C.

Activity A
1. Comment on this picture and 12 points

explain how it portrays the

relationship between the English
language and other world
languages.

15 points

2. Complete this text about the

English language with words from
the boxes below.

Why The English Language Rules The World – No Really, Why?

English has become a a language. There are many reasons for its b : the
heritage of the British Empire, and the Post-World-War economic hegemony and cultural
c of the United States.
But the main reason is the d of the language and the broad-mindedness it e .
If English grammar is rudimentary, the linguistic f of rock’ n’ roll, the English vocabulary
is huge. There are very few things that can’t be g in English, and if it can’t be said in
English, then a word is h from another language – like “kindergarten,” for example. If it
doesn’t exist in English and a word isn’t taken from another language, it’s because what it
represents doesn’t make i to thinking j by the English language: a case in
point, “Schicksalsgemeinschaft” (companions in fate).
Adapted from: www.worldcrunch.com

elasticity lifted dominance equivalent influence

shaped communicates expressed sense universal

3. Rewrite these sentences as suggested below. 12 points

a. English has been proclaimed our world’s first true global language.

Some linguists...

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b. S
 ome European online publications have gained a large number of new followers. They have begun
publishing articles in English as well as their native languages.

Some European online publications, ...

c. They have sent us an invitation to attend the conference on endangered languages.

We...

d. T hey expect the committee’s decision soon. This decision should help solve the problem of the official
status of native dialects.

They expect the committee’s decision, ...

Activity B
Read the text and do the tasks that follow it.

English is coming

Avaliação escrita e de listening

The adverse side-effects of the growing dominance of English
European efforts to resist the rise of the English language have now reached a high point. The latest
Anglo-surge comes from the European press, with a dramatic increase in the number of heavyweight
publications launching English-language websites, offering translated news stories and opinion pieces.
English-language publications aimed at expatriates and tourists have been common for years. But the
5 new development involves big, established national journals, whose bosses want to be more visible in
English. Der Spiegel, a German newsweekly, has founded a pan-European “network” linking up such
websites. A Dutch daily, NRC Handelsblad, joined a few months ago, followed by Politiken from Denmark.
The trio are in talks with newspapers in France and Spain. They are eager to expand into Eastern Europe,
though the credit crunch is likely to slow progress as an online English edition can cost half a million euros
10 a year in translation fees. Beyond this network, a non-exhaustive search finds English-language websites
of big newspapers in Germany, Italy, Finland, Greece, Spain, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Turkey. Many
are recent ventures.
Editors’ motives are a mix of idealism and commercial ambition. Bosses at Spiegel have a political
dream to create a platform where ‘Europeans can read what other Europeans think about the world,’ says
15 Daryl Lindsey, who runs the international edition of the magazine. But an English presence is also a “calling
card” when pitching to international advertisers. It has proved helpful to journalists seeking interviews
with world leaders.
The evidence points to the imminent collapse of the European Union’s official language policy, known
as “mother tongue plus two”, in which citizens are encouraged to learn two foreign languages as well as
20 their own (i.e., please learn something besides English). Among Europeans born before the Second World
War, English, French and German are almost equally common. But according to a Eurobarometer survey,
15-to-24-year-olds are five times more likely to speak English as a foreign language than either German or
French. Add native speakers to those who have learnt it, and some 60% of young Europeans speak English
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“well or very well”.

25 This is a clear win for English. But paradoxically, it does not amount to a win for Europe’s native English-
speakers. There are several reasons for this. Start with a political one. European politicians long feared that

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Unit 1 – Language Matters · The Rule of English

XPL12TF © Porto Editora

the use of English in the EU would lead to the dominance of Anglo-Saxon thinking. They were wrong. The
example of newspapers is instructive: thanks to English (and the Internet), a genuinely pan-European
space for political debate is being created. It has never been easier for other Europeans to know what Poles
30 think about the credit crunch, Germans about the Middle East or Danes about nuclear power. English is
merely an instrument not a surrender to a dominant culture.
Adapted from: www.economist.com

1. Answer these questions according to the text. Use your own words as far as possible. 20 points

a. What has prompted editors to develop English versions of their native language publications?

b. Which aspect could slow down this trend of creating Pan-European linked websites? Why?

c. Explain which benefits arise from having an English version of certain publications.

d. Why is the European policy known as “mother tongue plus two” decaying?

2. Using information from the text explain the meaning of this expression. 10 points

English is merely an instrument not a surrender to a dominant culture.

3. Identify the idea each of the following words/expressions refers to. 12 points

a. The trio (l. 8)

b. Many (l. 11)

c. which (l. 19)

d. it (l. 23)

4. Find in the text synonyms for these words. 9 points

a. influential

b. projects

c. crisis

Activity C
Now write an opinion article on the relevance of the English language in today’s world for a magazine 80 points

writing competition. Write about 120-180 words. Use input from Activities A and B to help you.

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Activity D – Listening
Audio CD 2 – Tracks 17-18

1. Listen to this news article on how English creates barriers in the classroom 14 points

and complete the text. Use between one to three words.

Like a growing number of scholars in Europe, Philipp J.H. Schröder, a popular professor
of Economics at Aarhus University, is something of a a . A native of Germany, he
earned his undergraduate degree in England and now lives and teaches in Denmark’s second-
largest city.
His English, though b accented, seems flawless in c , so he would
appear the ideal candidate to preside over an increasingly common type of d in
Europe: one with few e English speakers but where English is the f .
Mr. Schröder estimates that about g of his teaching is now in English, but he has
few illusions about how h he truly is. “I prefer to speak German, or Danish, for
that matter,” he confesses. “I have frustrations in English.”
He is not alone. As universities across Europe offer more programs in English to attract an

Avaliação escrita e de listening

international student body and raise their international profiles, the i are becoming
evident. Some students complain that their professors’ j are not classroom-ready.
Some professors complain that their students, many of whom come from different countries
and cultures, aren’t adapting well to their new environment.
Adapted from: http://chronicle.com

2. L isten to the second part of the news article on how English creates barriers in the classroom. 16 points

Decide if the statements are True or False and correct the false ones.

a. A
 dopting English as a lingua franca creates classrooms where cultural differences aid in
communication and comprehension.

b. U
 niversities must pay more attention and take some action in order to deal with any difficulty that
may appear.

c. As universities welcome students from multiple backgrounds and different teaching styles, they
must develop programmes to help teachers deal with this diversity.

d. A
 university director stated that he believes universities should have courses taught exclusively in
English.

Test Specification
Activity A Activity B Activity C Activity D Total
1. = 12 1. = 20 80 1. 14
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2. = 15 2. = 10 — 2. 16
200 points
3. = 12 3. = 12 — —
— 4. =9 — —

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