Teach English in Dawang Zhen - Yuncheng Shi

English is now the world’s most popular language. The most recent edition of Ethnologue (2019, 22nd edition) states that 1.32 billion people in total speak English. Of these, 379 million speak English as their mother tongue, but almost double as many, some 753.3 million people, have learned English as a second language. This makes English the most popular language on the planet to learn. Mandarin Chinese, by comparison, has three times as many native speakers as English, namely 917.8 million, but only 198.7 million have learned it as a second language. It is therefore clear, that taking the time and effort to learn English is something that a huge number of people all across the globe have decided to do. This is motivated by the fact that like Latin in the Middle Ages, English is now the language in which native speakers of many different languages communicate with each other, a so called lingua franca. Participants attending conferences organised by global organisations such as the International Bar Association, may come from all four corners of the planet and the conferences may take place in a wide variety of countries. What will be universal is that the the papers given and discussions held will almost always be in English. The use of English will also extend to networking and socialising between the majority of attendees, many of whom will have English as a second language. It is therefore the case that for many people, a good command of English will be essential in order to progress their careers. This is especially so in industries and professions that have a strong international component. In an increasingly globalised economy this criteria will apply to an ever growing number of employees and business owners. The desire to speak English proficiently is unlikely to diminish any time soon. The development of the internet and the rise of social media has reinforced this tendency. According to the website Statista, (https://www.statista.com/statistics/262946/share-of-the-most-common-languages-on-the-internet), in April 2019, 25.2% percent of the content online was in English. This was closely followed by Chinese content, at 19.3%. Content available in other languages such as French 3.3% or German 2.1% is not extensive. Given that much of the global population, especially young people, spend a lot of time online, they will certainly be consuming content in English. This is another motivating factor in mastering the language. Clearly these trends represent good news for English teachers. There is an apparently insatiable demand to learn the language and a good and competent teacher is a valuable resource. These developments could also be seen as working to the advantage of those who have English as their mother tongue. If English is this global lingua franca, then native speakers need not bother learning other languages, we already speak the world’s language of choice. What many native speakers of English don’t understand, is that the version of English used as a lingua franca, is not the same as the version of English which they speak on a daily basis. It is a more simplified version of English, where idiom is reduced, grammar is simplified and the vocabulary is more basic. The term “Globish” was coined by the French businessman Jean-Paul Nerrière in the mid-1990s to describe an extreme form of this pared down English. Native speakers of English who do not themselves speak foreign languages, can find it difficult to put themselves in the shoes of someone for whom English is a second language. They sometimes charge ahead speaking English as they would to a fellow native speaker, filling it with colloquialisms, using idiomatic terms, complex vocabulary and domestic cultural references. They assume that because their interlocutor speaks good English, they will naturally be able to follow all of this. This can, paradoxically, make the native speaker harder to follow than a non-native speaker. In an international context, this might place the native speaker at a disadvantage. Native speakers interacting with learners of their language, need to be careful to make their English easy to understand. This is so even when the person with whom they are dealing speaks excellent English. It is even more important when addressing an international audience where the level of English may vary. Simple and clear does not have to mean boring and uninteresting. It just means being aware when your language may have become more difficult for a non-native speaker to follow, or when your references may have lost them. Showing this consideration allows native speakers to enjoy the ease of communication that English gives them. It also helps those who teach the language to communicate effectively with the ever growing number of students hungry to learn the world’s most popular language.