English is a World Language Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

English is a World Language - Essay Example Perhps the presence of English mkes people lzy bout lerning other lnguges, or reduce their opportunities to do so. Perhps English hstens the disppernce of minority lnguges, or - the ultimte thret - mke ll other lnguges unnecessry. ' person needs only one lnguge to tlk to someone else', it is sometimes rgued, 'nd once world lnguge is in plce, other lnguges will simply die wy'. Linked with ll this is the unpltble fce of linguistic triumphlism - the problems tht society meets in the contemporry world. It is importnt to fce up to these fers, nd to recognize tht they re widely held. In the following essy I will discuss couple of problems tht rise out of "English going globl" new lndmrk report commissioned by the British Council on the position of the English lnguge in the world shows tht the globl dominnce of English poses mjor problems for Britin. Prticulrly, the globl spred of English, which hs brought tngible benefits to Britin nd other ntive-speking countries, will led to serious economic nd politicl disdvntges in the future in Britin unless plns re put in plce immeditely to remedy the sitution. Monolingul English grdutes fce blek economic future s qulified multilingul young people from other countries re proving to hve competitive dvntge over their British counterprts in globl compnies nd orgniztions. "English is, s ever, n importnt tool for operting on the world stge," sid John Whitehed, director of the British Council. "But Grddol's reserch highlights tht once everyone speks English, compnies will nturlly look for employees who spek other mjor lnguges such s Mndrin Chinese or Spnish s well. There is need to tke rdicl ction nd pln for the future, otherwise we in the UK will find ourselves t permnent disdvntge." (Butist, 2006) Figures indicted tht there hs been n explosion in English lnguge teching since 1945 so tht in his previous reserch, Grddol ws ble to show tht two billion people would be speking or lerning English within decde. (Grddol, 2006) But in "English Next" the reson for the huge rise in populrity of English is becuse it is no longer foreign lnguge for most of its lerners. English is rpidly turning into ner universl bsic skill. Sttistics showed tht nerly 60 per cent of primry school children now lern English in Chin. Wht's more, the totl numbers of English spekers in Indi nd Chin now exceed the number of spekers elsewhere in the world. s globl English mkes the trnsition from 'foreign lnguge' to bsic skill, it seems to generte n even greter need for other lnguges. Even in English-speking countries such s the United Sttes nd Britin, immigrnts hve discovered tht they not only need to lern the lnguge of their host society, but lso other lnguges. Since they tend to live nd work longside other ethnic communities, they my find they hve to lern other lnguges s well. ccording to n ssocited Press rticle lst yer, s new immigrnts rrive in lredy diverse neighbourhoods, the lnguge they embrce isn't lwys English. If left to themselves, such trends will diminish the reltive strength of the English lnguge in interntionl eduction mrkets s the demnd for eductionl resources in lnguges, such s Spnish, rbic or Mndrin,