Problems Associted with the Rise of English - Essay Example

There re number of problems ssocited with the rise of English s world lnguge. outline three of these problems, explin how they rose, offer solution [Name of the school] [Name of the teacher] Introduction The benefits which would flow from the existence of globl lnguge re considerble; but there re lso potentil risks tht the spred of English lnguge currently hs in the worldwide context. Perhps English cultivtes n elite monolingul linguistic clss, more complcent nd dismissive in their ttitudes towrds other lnguges. Perhps those who hve English t their disposl - nd especilly those who hve it s mother-tongue - will be more ble to think nd work quickly in it, nd to mnipulte it to their own dvntge t the expense of those who do not hve it, thus mintining in linguistic guise the chsm between rich nd poor. Perhps the presence of English mkes people lzy bout lerning other lnguges, or reduce their opportunities to do so. Perhps English hstens the disppernce of minority lnguges, or - the ultimte thret - mke ll other lnguges unnecessry. ' person needs only one lnguge to tlk to someone else', it is sometimes rgued, 'nd once world lnguge is in plce, other lnguges will simply die wy'. Linked with ll this is the unpltble fce of linguistic triumphlism - the problems tht society meets in the contemporry world. It is importnt to fce up to these fers, nd to recognize tht they re widely held. In the following essy I will discuss couple of problems tht rise out of "English going globl" 1. Thret for English speking countries. new lndmrk report commissioned by the British Council on the position of the English lnguge in the world shows tht the globl dominnce of English poses mjor problems for Britin. Prticulrly, the globl spred of English, which hs brought tngible benefits to Britin nd other ntive-speking countries, will led to serious economic nd politicl disdvntges in the future in Britin unless plns re put in plce immeditely to remedy the sitution. Monolingul English grdutes fce blek economic future s qulified multilingul young people from other countries re proving to hve competitive dvntge over their British counterprts in globl compnies nd orgniztions. "English is, s ever, n importnt tool for operting on the world stge," sid John Whitehed, director of the British Council. "But Grddol's reserch highlights tht once everyone speks English, compnies will nturlly look for employees who spek other mjor lnguges such s Mndrin Chinese or Spnish s well. There is need to tke rdicl ction nd pln for the future, otherwise we in the UK will find ourselves t permnent disdvntge." (Butist, 2006) Figures indicted tht there hs been n explosion in English lnguge teching since 1945 so tht in his previous reserch, Grddol ws ble to show tht two billion people would be speking or lerning English within decde. (Grddol, 2006) But in "English Next" the reson for the huge rise in populrity of English is becuse it is no longer foreign lnguge for most of its lerners. English is rpidly turning into ner universl bsic skill. Sttistics showed tht nerly 60 per cent of primry school children now lern English in Chin. Wht's more, the totl numbers of English spekers in Indi nd Chin now exceed the number of spekers elsewhere in the world. s globl English mkes the trnsition from 'foreign lnguge' to bsic skill, it seems to generte n even greter need for other lnguges. Even in English-speking countries such s the United Sttes nd Britin, immigrnts hve discovered tht they not only need to lern the lnguge of their host society, but lso other lnguges. Since they tend to live nd work longside other ethnic communities, they my find they hve to lern other lnguges s well. ccording to n ssocited Press rticle lst yer, s new immigrnts rrive in lredy diverse neighbourhoods, the lnguge they embrce isn't lwys English. If left to themselves, such trends will diminish the reltive strength of the English lnguge in interntionl eduction mrkets s the demnd for eductionl resources in lnguges, such s Spnish, rbic or Mndrin, grows nd interntionl business process outsourcing in other lnguges such s Jpnese, French nd Germn, spreds. "The chnges identified by Dvid Grddol ll present cler nd mjor chllenges to the UK's providers of English lnguge teching to people of other countries nd to broder eduction business sectors." (Grddol, 2006) Lord Neil lso pointed out tht the effect of developments in tht direction would not be limited to the commercil nd eductionl sectors. Culturl nd civil contcts nd understnding would lso be diluted. I suggest tht English speking countries' best defence ginst the thret of the spred of English is to lern other lnguges. People hve to think crefully bout which lnguges those re. French, for exmple, is declining s n interntionl lnguge, but Spnish, Mndrin nd rbic re ll lnguges of the future. Ethnic minority groups in the UK my well prove to be mjor sset in this effort. The British Council, Britin's interntionl orgniztion for eductionl opportunities nd culturl reltions, kick-strted Mndrin clsses in the country. It hs pioneered number of progrmmes to encourge lnguge lerning nd student/techer exchnges both in Europe nd the rb world, s well s in Russi, Jpn nd South meric. English speking countries hve lredy recognized tht it is bsolutely essentil for British children to lern other lnguges, nd we will be working hrd to put further strtegies in plce to ensure this. 2. Linguistic power The risk tht English speking countries will get the power is certinly rel. For exmple, scientists who do not hve English s mother tongue re tking longer to ssimilte reports in English compred with their mother-tongue collegues, nd, s consequence, hve less time to crry out their own cretive work. It is lso problem tht people who write up their reserch in lnguges other thn English hve their work ignored by the interntionl community. Besides, senior mngers who do not hve English s mother tongue, nd who find themselves working for English-lnguge compnies in such prts of the world s Europe or fric, find themselves t disdvntge compred with their mother-tongue collegues, especilly when meetings involve the use of informl speech. There is lredy necdotl evidence to suggest tht these things hppen. However, if proper ttention is pid to the question of lnguge lerning, the problem of disdvntge drmticlly diminishes. If globl lnguge is tught erly enough, from the time tht children begin their full-time eduction, nd if it is mintined continuously nd resourced well, the kind of linguistic competence which emerges in due course is rel nd powerful bilingulism indistinguishble from tht found in ny speker who hs encountered the lnguge since birth. These re enormous 'ifs', with costly finncil implictions, nd it is therefore not surprising tht this kind of control is currently chieved by only minority of non-ntive lerners of ny lnguge; but the fct tht it is chievble (s evidenced repetedly by English spekers from such countries s Denmrk, Sweden nd the Netherlnds) indictes tht there is nothing inevitble bout the disdvntge scenrio. (Grddol, 2000) It is worth reflecting, t this point, on the notion tht children re born redy for bilingulism. Some two-thirds of the children on erth grow up in bilingul environment, nd develop competence in it. There is nturlness with which they ssimilte nother lnguge, once they re regulrly exposed to it, which is the envy of dults. It is n bility which seems to die wy s children rech their teens, nd much cdemic debte hs been devoted to the question of why this should be (the question of 'criticl periods'). There is however widespred greement tht, if we wnt to tke the tsk of foreign lnguge lerning seriously, one of the key principles is 'the erlier the better'. nd when tht tsk is tken seriously, with reference to the cquisition of globl lnguge, the elitism rgument evportes. 3. Linguistic complcency Does the English eliminte the motivtion for dults to lern other lnguges Here too the problem is rel enough. Cler signs of linguistic complcency, common observtion suggests, re lredy present in the rchetypl British or mericn tourist who trvels the world ssuming tht everyone speks English, nd tht it is somehow the fult of the locl people if they do not. The stereotype of n English tourist repetedly sking foreign witer for te in loud 'red my lips' voice is too ner the relity to be comfortble. There seems lredy to be genuine, widespred lck of motivtion to lern other lnguges, fuelled prtly by lck of money nd opportunity, but lso by lck of interest, nd this might well be fostered by the incresing presence of English s globl lnguge. It is importnt to pprecite tht we re deling here with questions of ttitude or stte of mind rther thn questions of bility - though it is the ltter which is often cited s the explntion. 'I'm no good t lnguges' is probbly the most widely herd pology for not mking ny effort t ll to cquire even bsic knowledge of new lnguge. Commonly, this self-denigrtion derives from n unstisfctory lnguge lerning experience in school: the speker is perhps remembering poor result in school exmintions - which my reflect no more thn n unsuccessful teching pproch or not unusul brekdown in techer- dolescent reltionships. 'I never got on with my French techer' is nother typicl comment. But this does not stop people going on to generlize tht 'the British (or the mericns, etc.) re not very good t lerning lnguges'. (Grddol, 2000) These dys, there re cler signs of growing wreness, within English-speking communities, of the need to brek wy from the trditionl monolingul bis. In economiclly hrd-pressed times, success in boosting exports nd ttrcting foreign investment cn depend on subtle fctors, nd sensitivity to the lnguge spoken by country's potentil foreign prtners is known to be prticulrly influentil. t lest t the levels of business nd industry mny firms hve begun to mke fresh efforts in this direction. But t grss-roots tourist level, too, there re signs of growing respect for other cultures, nd greter rediness to engge in lnguge lerning. Lnguge ttitudes re chnging ll the time, nd more nd more people re discovering, to their gret delight, tht they re not t ll bd t picking up foreign lnguge. In prticulr, sttements from influentil politicins nd dministrtors re beginning to be mde which re helping to foster fresh climte of opinion bout the importnce of lnguge lerning. good exmple is n ddress given in 1996 by the former secretry-generl of the Commonwelth, Sir Sridth Rmphl. His title, 'World lnguge: opportunities, chllenges, responsibilities', itself contins corrective to triumphlist thinking nd his text repetedly rgues ginst it: It is ll too esy to mke your wy in the world linguisticlly with English s your mother tongue We become lzy bout lerning other lngugesWe ll hve to mke greter effort. English my be the world lnguge; but it is not the world's only lnguge nd if we re to be good globl neighbours we shll hve to be less condescending to the lnguges of the world - more ssiduous in cultivting cquintnce with them. It remins to be seen whether such ffirmtions of good will hve long-term effect. In the mentime, it is slutry to red some of the comprtive sttistics bout foreign lnguge lerning. For exmple, Europen Business Survey by Grnt Thornton reported in 1996 tht 90 per cent of businesses in Belgium, The Netherlnds, Luxembourg nd Greece hd n executive ble to negotite in nother lnguge, wheres only 38 per cent of British compnies hd someone who could do so. In 2002 the figures remined high for most Europen countries in the survey, but hd fllen to 29 per cent in Britin. The UK-bsed Centre for Informtion on Lnguge Teching nd Reserch found tht third of British exporters miss opportunities becuse of poor lnguge skills. nd English-monolingul compnies re incresingly encountering lnguge difficulties s they try to expnd in those res of the world thought to hve gretest prospects of growth, such s Est si, South meric, nd Estern Europe - res where English hs trditionlly hd reltively low presence. The issues re beginning to be ddressed - for exmple, mny ustrlin schools now tech Jpnese s the first foreign lnguge, nd both the US nd UK re now pying more ttention to Spnish (which, in terms of mother-tongue use, is growing more rpidly thn English) - but we re still long wy from world where the economic nd other rguments hve universlly persuded the English-speking ntions to renounce their linguistic insulrity. Conclusion If working towrds the bove gol is idelism, then I m hppy to be n idelist; however, it is by no mens lissez-fire, given the mount of time, energy nd money which hve been devoted in recent yers to lnguge revitliztion nd relted mtters. dmittedly the progress which hs been mde is tiny compred with the disstrous effects of globliztion on globl diversity. But to plce ll the blme on English, nd to ignore the more fundmentl economic issues tht re involved, is, s two recent commenttors hve put it, 'to ttck the wrong trget, to indulge in linguistic luddism'. Solutions re more likely to come from the domin of economic policy, not lnguge policy. s Lysndrou nd Lysndrou conclude: If English cn fcilitte the process of universl dispossession nd loss, so cn it be turned round nd mde to fcilitte the contrry process of universl empowerment nd gin. Bibliogrphy: 1. lsgoff, Lubn, Bo, Zhiming nd Wee, Lionel. 2005. Why you tlk like tht The prgmtics of why construction in Singpore English. English World-Wide 19, 247-60. 2. Butist, Mri Lourdes S. Ed. 2006. English is n sin lnguge: the Philippine context. Sydney: Mcqurie Librry. 3. British Council. 2006. English in the world: the English 2000 globl consulttion. London: The British Council. 4. Crystl, Dvid. 2000. Lnguge deth. Cmbridge: Cmbridge University Press. 5. Grddol, Dvid (2000). The future of English: guide to forecsting the populrity of the English lnguge in the 21st century. London : The British Council : The English Compny, 2000. - 64 p. 6. Grddol, Dvid (2006). English next : why globl English my men the end of "English s foreign lnguge". London: British Council, cop. 2006. 128 p. 7. English as the Global Language: Good for Business, Bad for Literature http://www.cepr.org/press/DP2055PR.htm 8. English as a Global language: the Case of the European Union. Jrg Witt (Erlangen) http://webdoc.gwdg.de/edoc/ia/eese/artic20/witte/6_2000.html Writing English as a Global Language. Martin A. Schell: http://www.writing-world.com/international/schell.shtml Read More