Teach English in Cartwright - TEFL Courses

english as a Global Language (18) Introduction While english is not an official language of the world, it is obviously a language widely spoken in the whole world and serves as a global communication tool. In this paper I will briefly look at what a global language is and discuss the need for a global language. Then I will show how english is a global language today and how it has come to play this role. 1. What is a global language If the language with the largest number of native speakers was what make a language a global one, then Mandarin chinese would clearly be the first contender for the role as a global language. However, Mandarin chinese is clearly not a global language, so we will have to find another definition for what makes a language a global one. We can identify three requirements a global language should meet: It is the native and official language of one or several important nations. The language is has the status of an official language or common language beside existing native tongues. The language is used on a wide scale, but has no official status or function. A global language is thus widely used worldwide not only by native speakers but by a large number of people using it beside their native language. 2. The need for a global language The use of one language as a common language in a defined region is nothing new to the world. Ever since empires arose, where a ruling ethnic group lorded over diverse ethnic groups, the need for a common language to successfully administrate that entity naturally arose. greek became the global language in the Hellenistic world following the conquests by Alexander the Great. rome eventually supplanted that Hellenistic world and consequently Latin succeeded greek as the official and common language in the whole expansive Roman empire with a multitude of ethnic and linguistic groups. Nowadays, the world is not a politically unified entity, far from it. But an economy that has gone global, with political international organisations, the need for negotiations of all sorts involving entities in the whole world, the need for a common language is as great as ever. Organisations, companies, politicians, individuals, etc. all need a tool to communicate with each other across language barriers. We need a global language. 3. english as a global language Clearly english meets all the above stated requirements to claim the status as a global language. The exceptionally large geographical expansion of the use of english is a direct result of the politics to establish settler colonies under British rule (north america, australia, New Zealand). Thus english became the official language of whole continents, settled by people of diverse ethnicities. In the time of the British empire at its peak fell a rapid industrialisation. This resulted in the need to trade resources and manufactured goods worldwide - with english being the language in command. So we could say that english became language of technology and trade, and not just the language of politics and administration. The status of english as a global language has survived the demise of the British empire. Global trade and business did not stop because of this where english had become the global language. On top of this, the usa, succeeding the British as the major western power in the world is also an english speaking nation, a direct result of the British colonisation. english has become a global tool, not connected to the fortunes of a single nation any more. It is everybody's language, it has a "life of its own": it is the language of science, technology and economy. In all these fields it is firmly established as the lingua franca and is thus likely to remain in this position, even as the political dominance of the world by english speaking countries will diminish further.