TEFL Commerce Texas

As a child I was taught to speak french in school and a little spanish on holiday. As time progressed I found that I hardly used the languages except when on holiday in those countries. Although when abroad I try to speak the native language I have frequently found that I am spoken back to in english. At first I thought it was because my language skills were somewhat lacking, however with further questioning it became apparent it was because they wanted to practice their english. It wasn't until I was in Morocco that this became particularly apparent. I embarked on a spanish language course; I believe the third most common language after english and chinese. However even in this class, being the only native english speaker the students frequently wanted to speak with me in english after the lesson rather than practice their spanish! I asked my friend why this was, he replied because “everyone in the world speaks english, it's a global language”. Its true english is a global language. Historically over time it has been formed from a melting pot of Germanic Angeln, Roman Latin, Viking Norse, and Norman french. As a result it can be seen that there are many similarities in vocabulary between it, french, spanish, italian, Scandinavian and even Arabic. During the 16th century Missionaries used english as a common language to spread Christianity across the globe. As the Industrial Revolution took hold during 18th century Great Britain followed by the 19th century expansion of the British Empire, the english language was reaching further and further across the globe through trade and development. A post World War II globe saw the creation of international agencies and organisations being formed in the 1950s. Two of the major powers within these organisations were both english speaking i.e. the usa and Great Britain. For simplicity and uniformity of understanding the common language used was and still is english. Today business is global. Multinational corporations dominate our everyday lives with their brands reaching across all four corners of the world, for example Unilever, Procter & Gamble and McDonalds with Le Big Mac. With offices across the globe there is a need for uniformity of language to be able to communicate effectively and accurately. The majority of these organisations originate from countries where their first language is english i.e. usa and Great Britain. Therefore the first language or certainly the second spoken is english. Within the powerhouses of the financial world most transactions are also done in english across the globe for the same reason. Science and technology, travel and culture have all had an enormous influence in making the english language global. International technological corporations such Dell & Apple have brought us computers, PCs, laptops and tablets together with brands such as the iPod, iPad, iPhone, these are now all globally recognised words. The expansion of air travel and tourism has meant it is now more affordable than ever for individuals to travel further afield across the globe for business or pleasure. As a result more english speakers are able to travel abroad and more non english speakers are able to visit english speaking countries. A plethora of english speaking TV programmes and films are beamed out by satellite across the global. People are subliminally absorbing the language while watching their favourite english speaking show while reading the subtitles in their native language. The same is true of music, how many times have I heard a little child in the street here in Morocco singing a Justin Beiber song?! english is an ever evolving global language as words and phrases are mutually adopted over time with the language of other cultures.