English as the Global Language - Article Example

There are numerous nations and languages in the world. Till recently, they were compartmentalized to a great extent. However, the last few decades have led to leaping progress in communication technology. The national boundaries are being wiped out considerably. People from different parts of the globe are reaching out to other parts for purposes like trade commerce and education. Sooner or later, a need will be felt for a common global currency. Similarly, a need for a common global language was experienced in the past decades and English filtered out of the vast range of world languages to gain the international status. It is interesting to discuss why English, and why not any other language. According to Crystal David (2003 ) a language achieves a global status only when it develops a ‘special role’ and fulfils certain functions. The ‘power function’ of language expects that it should enable us to gain goods and services in order to live well and lead a good life. The ‘community function’ of language helps us to represent a personal and social identity. The former is a centrifugal force and the latter is a centripetal force. Let us examine how far the English language is successful in playing the ‘special role’ which implies numerous facets, so that it can rightly be called an international language. One hypothesis can be that a language that is the Mother Tongue of people in maximum number of countries can be an international language. But geographically speaking, English is a mother tongue in a handful of nations like USA, Canada, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa several Caribbean countries and a few others. Yet, we observe that its influence has reached all parts of the world. Hence, being a mother tongue of many nations cannot be a criterion for being qualified as an international language. From the historical viewpoint, it is necessary to go back to the 19th century to seek the origins of how English emerged as an international language. Britain established its colonies in several parts of the world, spreading not only its political power but religion, culture and language as well. Even after the nations became independent, the impact of English remained. The Christian missionaries had converted a significant part of the population to Christianity before they left the colonies. The language adhered to the religion and was retained. English was the language of administration during the British rule and even after Independence, English continued to be used as an official language in more than 70 countries like Ghana, Nigeria, India and Singapore, to mention a few. In the 19th century, England was politically a powerful nation. In the 20th century, its power began to wane and USA became economically dominant. The mother tongue in USA is also English. Political power establishes a language, as it happened in the 19th century. But it is economic power that helps to maintain and expand it. This happened in the 20th century when America became an economic power. It is indeed true that ‘English was at the right place at the right time’. ( Crystal David, 2003 ) The Industrial Revolution and the Electronic Revolution were two important historical events that changed the face of the world. These revolutions were led by British and American scientists. They brought vast changes in the lifestyle of people all over the world and were two major steps towards globalization. Following these events, English language captured areas like media, advertising, popular music, broadcasting, cinema, computers and internet. In order to stay ‘with the world’, people realized that they had to know the English language. It promoted international relations. English is taught as a foreign language in more than 100 countries today, the chief among them being China, Germany, Spain, Egypt, Brazil, India and an ever increasing number of countries for that matter. A lot of time and money is spent by many countries in teaching English as a foreign language. It is realized by one and all that an individual having knowledge of English definitely has an edge over one who lacks knowledge of English. Kachru ( 1985 ) has divided English in the world into 3 circles – the inner circle consisting of native speakers ( 320 to 380 million ), the outer circle of people using English as a second language or as an official language ( 150 to 300 million ) and expanding circle of people learning English as a foreign language. ( 100 to 1000 million ). ( Cited in Nagraj Geetha, 2008, pg 2 ) We cannot claim that a language possesses certain intrinsic structural qualities that make it superior to other languages. ( Crystal David, 2003 ) A mother tongue is mastered by every human being irrespective of its difficulty or complex structure. A language cannot become global because of its structure, size of vocabulary, vehicle of great literature in the past or association with culture and religion. Latin fulfilled all these conditions, yet it is a dead language now. Progress in technology and means of communication led to a need for a common language, or a ‘ligua franca’ for the whole world, a language which would be simple to learn, fulfill the power and community functions and enable smooth communication for all purposes. Trade and commerce relations between nations make it necessary to share a common language. ‘Sabir’ was a pidgin based on Portuguese and Spanish which was used for trade between Europeans, Arabs and Turks, but this was prevalent only in the spoken mode. Such a pidgin cannot survive. English is well developed in both spoken and written modes. Majority of research carried out in all subjects was reported in English. Research studies in English were published and circulated in all parts of the world. The work of scholars, who reported in their own languages, unfortunately remained neglected and was not brought forth before the world. Innumerable terms in biology, chemistry, mathematics, botanical names of plants, and other technical jargon is in English, used and understood conveniently and accepted by scholars the world over. If these subjects are to be studied in other languages, a bulk of translation work would have to be carried out, which is neither practical nor feasible. It was in the 20th century that organizations like UNO, UNESCO, WHO etc were established. The world could participate and contribute in international events and peace matters only through English. Important human issues like health, education and peace were promoted by these organizations and they functioned in English. With thousands of languages all over the world, the idea of ‘global village’ cannot succeed. A common lingua franca is essential. It will prove advantageous in many ways. First, it enables smooth trade, commerce and administration. It supports trans-national organizations like WHO, UNO etc. It also enables international business and academic communities to function better. It makes possible greater mobility and quick and easy communication. In former times, means of transportation and communication were crude and slow. The needs for mobility were limited to certain purposes. Interlocutors and translators could serve the purposes very well. They cannot fulfill present needs and will be very expensive even in case they are considered. We cannot exactly predict what will happen in the future if English is established as a global language but we can foresee the consequences, given the existing situation. One must not forget that although English is the world language, it is not THE ONLY language in the world. If majority language functions can be achieved through English there will be inequality in world languages. There is a possibility that an elite, monolingual class will emerge, knowing and using only English and other languages will be neglected or dismissed. The luckiest will be those who use English as a mother tongue. The native English speakers will take English for granted and will not take any efforts to learn any other language. This is called ‘linguistic complacency’. ( Crystal David, 2003 ) ‘One world, one language’, will diminish language diversity on the one hand but lead to the death of other languages on the other hand. Around 6 to 7 thousand world languages may die. There is a fear that this will give rise to cultural imperialism. But this seems to be an over statement. Whatever else globalization might be, it is certainly not a uniform culture and language. Globalization is an abstract concept, an attitude, a mental outlook. It does not equate with language and culture. Language is a means for global communication. Internet is a technology that makes global communication possible. People the world over communicate in English and through the Internet. Crystal states, ‘Are English speaking ‘netizens’ forming a global social elite who have privileged access and experience of the global village?’( Crystal David, 2003, pg. 2 ) “English is the language of the future”, wrote William White in the weekly ‘The Schoolmaster’, in 1872.9( Cited in Crystal David, 2003, Pg 76 ) Which English is the future? The Standard variety as per the International Phonetic Association is far different from Indian English, Chinese English, American English etc. Each nation has imposed its own imprint upon English. “An international language belongs to its users, not to 5the countries whose national languages have become international” ( Edge, 1999, Cited in Nagraj Geetha, 2008, pg. 1 )). Kamala Das, the famous Indian poetess has written the following lines in her poem ‘An Introduction’: Don’t write in English, they said, English is Not your mother-tongue. Why not leave Me alone, critics, friends, visiting cousins, Every one of you? Why not let me speak in Any language I like? The language I speak, Becomes mine, its distortions, its queernesses All mine, mine alone. English will thus fragment into several national varieties. Instead of thousands of languages, the future may display thousands of ‘dialects’ of English. There will be ‘multi-dialecticism’ , according to David Crystal, ( p 177 ) instead of multi-lingualism. Perhaps, the dialects may be so different, there might be unintelligibility. In that case, David Crystal suggests that a ‘World Standard Spoken English ( WSSE ) will have to be created. ( pg. 185 ). Whatever happens, given the current status,, there is a strong possibility of English enjoying the most superior position among world languages and being used in all spheres of human communication. ‘At least for the near future it is difficult to foresee any developments which could eliminate the significant role of English.’ (Crystal David, 2003, pg. 122 ) Based on the figures given by Graddol ( 1997 ) ( Cited in Nagraj Geetha, pg. 3 ) showing the numbers of people using English in different parts of the world, it is possible to forecast the position of English in the world’s fast hanging social and economic spheres. Current figures show that it is way ahead of other languages when it comes to communication across continents and people. REFERENCES Nagaraj, G. (2008), English language teaching,Approaches, methods, techniques, 2nd ed, Orient longman Private Limited, Hyderabad Crystal, D. (2003), . Available from: http://books.google.co.in/books?id=d6jPAKxTHRYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=david+crystal+english+as+a+global+language&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=false [Accessed: April 11, 2011]. Das, Kamala. http://lit205a.blogspot.com/2007/11/introduction-by-kamala-das.html[Accessed: April 11, 2011]. Read More