English as a global langurage - Essay Example

Every country has a first spoken language. There is French for people from France, German for people from Germany and Spanish from people from Spain. Other countries even have dialects as part of their language, like how the Philippines has Filipino as the national language, and dialects specialized in regional locations in the country. For many years, civilization from around the world developed with their own unique languages because throughout history language was equated to geographical territory-land (The Language Situation of Today’s World).

Who we are roots from where we come from, and with the cultural richness of our upbringing comes the language we speak. In this sense, it would be very important to value local dialects and languages of all forms because it simple reminds us of how we see and present ourselves to the word (Crystal, 1997). These two language functions of intelligibility and identity presented by David Crystal tell us about the conflict raised in the interest we build when it comes to our world languages. In today’s modern age of technological advancement and booming globalization, the English language has entered or even dominated different countries from across the globe.

It would be best to discuss the positive and negative effects of its boom to being the world’s global language. . Having a common language provides a positive avenue for healthy relationships across nations and it even provides employment for a lot of people from different parts of the world. China is known to be one of the biggest and most powerful nations in the world aside from the US and the UK. English is now viewed as “the gatekeeper” to their higher education, employment, economic prosperity and social status.

It has recently faced controversies when it comes to putting English in the pedestal over other local dialects and languages in the country (Qiang and Wolff). Many Chinese dialects has become marginalized, forgotten or totally banished in the country. The Chinese Academy is just one of the many educational institutions that have English as a required course in their curriculum. With this said, when a student fails to reach the standards on English proficiency will fail to receive his diploma as well.

It has become a competitive part of the work force wherein despite the minimal chances of using the language in the comfort of the nation’s corporate territory, employees put extra effort in learning the language as it is a pre- condition for promotion. Furthermore, China has made English its unofficial second language. An estimated 150,000 foreign English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers and more than 1,000,000 Chinese English teachers are now educating more than 600,000,000 Chinese students (Qiang and Wolff).

With effects to do world’s biggest populated country as proof, English has long secured its status as a global language in the 20th century. All these are under the reason of its strong acting force in facilitating globalization. China only complied with the growing