TEFL Coffeyville Kansas

It was an overcast day in June. I was sitting on the sofa in the living room of my apartment, watching a documentary on the television. A woman named Delores was discussing language and made a remark about english, and not Aramaic, being “the language of Jesus”. There I sat, wide-eyed and frozen in shock, the yoghurt from my spoon dripping into the plastic carton in my hand. Little did I know that, on reflection, Delores' profoundly uninformed statement was the symptom of a larger issue: the globalisation of the english language. One need only hit the search button on the Google homepage or, more exotically, take a stroll in a bustling Eastern city to recognise the expansion of this Western language and its appropriation by non-native speakers for purposes of local promotion, development or other ends. As an example, David Spichtinger (2000) argues that “[d]emonstrators in non-english speaking countries often use signs in english to convey their demands to TV-audiences around the globe” (Wikipedia). And understandably so, for the world has become a ‘melting pot' in need of a linguistic chef, so to speak. Take the university community in my hometown of Durban, where I have been fortunate enough to befriend, be taught by and teach people from all walks of life: Norwegians; Lithuanians; Germans; Italians; (African-)Americans; chinese; Congolese; Zambians… This eclectic group of nationalities would prove itself to be lost in translation were it not for the hegemony of one language which, as it so happens, is english. At present, many foreign countries see the urgent need for english instruction in the business and educational sectors. In parts of the world as diverse as Chile, Georgia and South Korea, english learning curricula have been devised which aim “to equip students with the linguistic tools to communicate internationally” (Wikipedia). These countries have even taken the initiative to employ native english speakers as teachers in the professional and non-professional spheres so as to provide foreign language learners with living and breathing examples of mother tongue english. Acronyms such as tefl, tesol, esl, EYL and ESP (not to be confused with extrasensory perception!) have become commonplace and are a testament to the international demand for proficiency in english. Yet does the growth of this language not speak to cultural imperialism or the globalisation of Western culture and values at the expense of the non-Western world? More simply put, what of the pitfalls of Globish? Jacques Mélitz, a Professor of Economics and a Research Fellow at Centre de Recherche en Economie et Statistique, makes an interesting point in that he condones the global dominance of english in science as it fulfils a utilitarian function, but he argues that if english predominates the world publishing scene, only translations from english to other languages will be most viable commercially in terms of reaching a world audience and gaining ‘classic status'. As Mélitz cautions us: “World literature will be an english literature” (CEPR). While Mélitz's argument is a valid one, he misses the point in that, internationally speaking, Globish performs its function most notably in the academic and business sectors, with a focus on formal english as opposed to “creative use of the language” (Wikipedia). Further, does the precedent of english as an influential intercultural force not open a gateway through which literature and language skills across the board are able to traverse the linguistic and cultural divide? If one considers english itself, its origin is multicultural and multi-linguistic in that it evolved from Norse, Norman, Latin and West Germanic languages and has adopted various tongues on account of its status as a language of many accents: Cockney, Queen's english, American english, South African english... The possibilities for many and diverse linguistic crossovers in terms of all languages are therefore not out of the question. And yet what of the rumblings one hears about chinese being a strong contender for a new or replacement global language? Contrary to popular belief, Satrajit Sanyal argues that chinese – more specifically, Mandarin – is not set to overtake english as the global language (not now anyway!). Sanyal posits as reasons for his claim the following: china's failure to spread its language either through missionary work or through the creation of a foreign colony or an empire beyond its borders, and the difficulty of non-native speakers to learn chinese and its classical hieroglyphic alphabet. Historically and rationally speaking, english, in comparison, was a language of colonisation, particularly in terms of missionary work and trade and commerce, and is far simpler to learn than Mandarin, on the most part thanks to the Roman and phonemic alphabets. Perhaps ironically then, the world's ‘Most Spoken Language', Mandarin, is not quite ready to supersede the ‘Global Language', english, in contemporary society. In many ways, the twenty-first century is a very exciting time of intellectual and cultural exchange, as the increasingly globalised world in which we live provides the ideal context for a truly global language which, at least for now, happens to be english. Will english dominate the international language scene forever or will there be a linguistic revolution? No and most likely yes. After all, the world is in a state of continual flux. So, as I have been asked sceptically on countless occasions: “What are you going to do with an english degree?” Well, I'm going to travel. I'm going to travel and teach people how to speak the language of the moment and I'm going to have a marvellous time doing it. References http://www.cepr.org/press/DP2055PR.htm http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/sanyalsatrajit/will-chinese-overtake-english-global-language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_english