How English became global. English as an international language. Why is English an international language? English as a global language. Reasons and prospects

English as an international language.

English language English is popular all over the world as the global language of the world community. Already today, English occupies a very special position and is becoming a linguafranca - the language of interethnic communication of all mankind. But half a century ago, English was just one of the international languages, along with others, accepted among the languages of communication in the United Nations.

As the biblical legend says, the construction of the grandiose Tower of Babel stopped due to a lack of mutual understanding between people who spoke different languages. It seems that today humanity again has a chance to find a common common language, in the role of which English already serves for a large part of the world’s population.

More precisely, not real English, but simplified global English, since most of those who use global English today have never been to countries where English is their native language.

Global English Initially, the English language became widespread in all corners of the world due to the expansion of influence and colonial conquests of the powerful British Empire. However, in the twentieth century, English acquired an even more significant international status due to the growing influence and power of the United States. Nowadays English is a universally recognized language international communication, the language of the modern global economy, the language of advanced science and high technology.

English is the universal language of communication, from the international language of aviation and tourism to Email, Internet, computer language. About 400 million people on Earth consider English their first language, and another 500 million consider it their second language. A total number There are billions of people who are more or less familiar with the English language today. English is effectively becoming the language of humanity.

English is the main language not only in the USA, but also in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, but it is also the main official language of many countries in Africa and Caribbean, on the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. English is the second official language of India.

Of course, due to such a wide geographical distribution, there are many local differences in the pronunciation and vocabulary of the various versions in English in different parts of the world. However, these differences are usually not so deep that English speakers cannot understand each other. New Zealanders communicate freely with Indians, and Scots easily understand Kenyans. Moreover, the speed at which the English language spreads across the globe is such that today English belongs to all humanity, but is not a “linguistic colonialism” of the countries where the English language comes from and where the speakers of this language live. The result of using English mainly in countries where it is not the native language will inevitably lead to such changes in the global English language (apparently towards simplification) that it will soon have little in common with the original English roots. However, it is important to consider that lack of knowledge of global English may soon prove to be a serious obstacle for social adaptation and personal development in the new global world. Thus, global English is gradually becoming the most widely spoken language on the planet and will probably soon become the second language of all humanity.

Why and how English became international For Europeans, discussions about the globalization of the English language and securing its international status are by no means empty talk. Many questions still remain open. Is modern English really the optimal means for communicating between people of different nationalities? Or is it becoming a threat to the diversity of national cultures and languages? Are there other ways (languages) of communication in the global community?

This topic is also relevant for Russia, which is also trying to feel like part of an integrated world, and it is very important whether Russia finds a common language with this world.

Interestingly, the term “global” in relation to English is only used in English! This fact only emphasizes the uniqueness of the English language. But this does not mean that it should become the same for everyone.

Note that global, or international, English differs significantly from British English. It turns out that it is not the official language of any European country. At the same time, ironically, international English has isolated the British in Europe; they seem to have fallen out of the general European context.

Most English people, because they speak the most universal language, rarely feel the desire, and even less the need, to learn any European language. But it is multilingualism and cultural diversity that is the quintessence of both Europe and Russia.

History of the spread of the English language The answer, as always, lies in history. The English language was taken by English emigrants to North America and other parts of the world. In addition, England spread its language to all conquered countries, former colonies British Empire. Figuratively speaking, England stretched a cultural and linguistic bridge across the ocean, connecting continents.

But the United States was created by emigrants not only from Great Britain. People from all over Europe and other countries have flocked to this country. The new nation needed a unifying element that would help overcome national and linguistic differences. This role was fulfilled by the English language.

English as a universal international language The surest factor in accelerating the development of a universal way of life is the spread of the English language. If English becomes the main language of communication, then the consequences of this are obvious: culture English speaking countries will dominate throughout the world.

English becomes the world's first universal language. It is the mother tongue of about 500 million people in 12 countries. This is much less than the estimated 900 million Mandarin speakers. Chinese language.

But another 600 million speak English as a second language. And several hundred million more have some knowledge of English, which has official or semi-official status in some 62 countries. While there may be as many people who speak different dialects of Chinese as there are English speakers, English is undeniably more widespread geographically, indeed more universal, than Chinese. And its use is growing at an amazing rate.

In the modern world linguistic order, two trends can be distinguished. The first is related to the efforts of the elites of nation states to maintain a monopoly on the national language, since it is language that is still perceived as the strongest marker of statehood and national identity. The second trend contradicts the first and concerns the unprecedented spread of English as a language of international communication. These two opposing trends have their roots in different eras. However, today hardly anyone can deny that postmodernity has already radically changed the world linguistic order of the modern era, and global English is the political and cultural reality of the 21st century.

On the wave of globalization and development modern technologies English has subjugated the world in a way that no other language in the history of mankind has done. Experts say that almost one and a half billion people belong to the English-speaking world. English today is spoken by three times as many non-native speakers. The largest English-speaking country is the United States of America - about 20% of the English-speaking population of the planet. English is already a second language for citizens of the European Union, with a population of almost 500 million.

Many factors played in favor of the establishment of English as a global language. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. it was the language of a huge colonial state - Great Britain. The latter was destined to happen in the 18th-19th centuries. thanks to the industrial revolution, become the most developed country in the world and, together with all of Western Europe, give rise to a process that over the next centuries will determine the development of mankind - global modernization. Since it is based scientific revolution, English has become a means of accessing and disseminating knowledge. Well-known global English scholar David Crystal argues that if you summarize everything that was done by English and American scientists, it becomes obvious that in the period from 1750 to 1900, more than half of all significant scientific and technical works were written in English.

The spread of English in the modern era was facilitated by the power of another super-powerful world player - America. For her, after the defeat of Germany in 1918, the path to economic dominance opened up. In 1898, Bismarck, answering a question from journalists about what he considered the decisive factor in world development, said: “That the North Americans speak English.”

A language becomes a means of international communication when its special role is recognized by all countries. The reformatting of the world order after the First and then the Second World Wars led to the creation of new international organizations and alliances. This has created an unprecedented need for a global lingua franca. Lingua franca is the name for a language that is used as a means of business and cultural communication between people speaking different languages. Many eras in human history are characterized by the presence of their own lingua franca. These are Greek and Latin in the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, Spanish in the Spanish Empire, etc. In the 20th century, English gradually replaced French as the language of international diplomacy. For the first time, English was given official status by the League of Nations. Its importance increased even more after the creation of the UN in 1945.

No less favorable for the emergence of a world lingua franca in the 20th century were other events and trends on a global scale. Firstly, this is the collapse of the colonial system in the late 60s, when English became the official or semi-official language of many liberated countries. Secondly, new opportunities in English are emerging due to globalization. National economies have become more integrated into the global economy, and money and labor have become significantly more mobile. The process of bringing peoples closer together in the era of globalization, which began back in the 19th century, was accelerated thousands of times by the explosive growth of communication and information networks, which led to practically the “annihilation of space.” Never before have so many countries and peoples felt the need to communicate with each other and did not want to travel around the world in such large numbers. The increase in technological capabilities has proven to be directly proportional to the need for a global lingua franca.

If global English began with the dominance of two successful empires - the British and the American - it is now the language of yet another empire whose unconditional dominance extends across the globe - the Internet. Without English, can you take advantage of the intellectual power it provides? Obviously not. Researchers prove that 80% of information is stored on the world wide web in this language, and its volume doubles every 18 months.

Today, English is the language of the global economy and global business environment. Even if an international company is located in Sweden or France, its employees communicate in English (or a mixture of their native language and English), not to mention correspondence. Almost the same situation in science. More than 90% scientific journals, enjoying authority in the world, are published in English.

In a globalized world, English is the language of intercultural communications, because no matter who you are - Ukrainian, Italian, Indian, Russian or German, when you get together, you will communicate in English. In many countries where interethnic tension exists, English plays the role of an ethnically neutral language.

If the spread of English around the world is associated with the political and economic influence of English-speaking nations, then today there is every reason to say that it is gradually losing its imperial status. Moreover, it ceases to be tied to native speakers and begins to exist separately from them, no longer being American and British, but increasingly turning into global English as a phenomenon. It already has a name - “globish”, or “Word Standard Spoken English”.

An interesting illustration of this trend, especially given the constant language wars in France, is the book of the French businessman Jean-Paul Marie, Don’t Speak English. Speak Globish (“Don’t speak English. Speak Global”). Describing his meeting with partners from different parts of the world - an Englishman, a Korean and a Brazilian - he notes that when communicating, they spoke a special dialect of English, understanding each other perfectly. The Englishman found himself in a difficult situation. He was too sensitive to different shades of meaning, so he had difficulty grasping the thoughts of his partners. They, in turn, could not understand him immediately - due to the complexity of his language. Marye notes that today it is developing new form English, which is spoken by those for whom it is a second language. Globish is about 1,500 words long and users should avoid humor, metaphors, acronyms, or anything that might cause cross-cultural confusion. They should speak slowly and in short sentences.

Native speakers are concerned that globish as a phenomenon has another side. Because of it, refined English may be lost. IN Lately Even the language has undergone significant simplification Queen of England. A native speaker of English must actually be proficient in two languages, including global English, in order to be able to communicate with other speakers of the global lingua franca.

Another trend is that English continues to spread around the world, fragmenting into many local dialects called englishes - English languages. No less accurate is another name for glocal English - “glocal English” (from the combination of the words global (global) and local (local)). For example, spanglish is a peculiar mix of Spanish and English on the border of Mexico and the USA, greekish is a mixture of Greek and English in Greece. Or singlish, which is spoken in Singapore, and tanglish - in the Philippines. Their own dialect, European English, is also spoken in the EU. Its peculiarity is that it has limited vocabulary and is absolutely devoid of idioms, therefore simple and easy to use. Today, more than half of Europeans in the EU can communicate in English - 51% (for comparison: in Ukraine, according to the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences, only 1.3% of the population). It is systematically spreading thanks to the language policy of the European Union: 90% of schoolchildren, starting from primary school, study it. Thus, American and British English become nothing more than local dialects.

The spread of English was also facilitated by changes in the global geopolitical order, in which language was and remains a power factor. English is gradually replacing Russian in many territories where it dominated during Soviet Union. Since language is a source of political, economic and cultural influence, the governments of most former Soviet republics, trying to get rid of the Russian factor, are pursuing a policy of de-Russification. Another, no less important reason for this is the decline of science and economics in the USSR, as a result of which Russian has ceased to serve as a way of accessing modern knowledge and information and cannot compete with English.

In educational policies in many countries around the world, knowledge of English is increasingly considered basic. Speaking English means the same as knowing how to use a computer, a mobile phone and drive a car. Vivid examples are China and South Korea, where there is a prevailing belief that national development depends on speaking English.

The spread of English could not have happened without heated political debates surrounding this process. Opponents of the formation of a world lingua franca describe this process in terms such as “linguistic imperialism”, “linguistic aggression”, “domination”, “linguistic colonization”, and give many arguments in their favor. Considering that language is a basic component of any sovereign state, intellectuals are trying to understand whether it is possible to maintain national identity, monolingualism and monoculturalism in the era of globalization. And whatever the answers, it is clear that the national language policy of the postmodern era can hardly be isolationist.

Everyone knows that English is a global language. And what is it? What is global and what makes it so?

What makes it possible to maintain this status, and how did it happen that English became the leader in the world “superiority” of languages?

What is a global language?

A language acquires “golden status” when it begins to be recognized in every country. This may seem obvious, however, it is not. The role of a language as a global one will be most noticeable where people speak it as a native language. For English this is Great Britain, USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, some Caribbean countries. However, no language is spoken as a mother tongue in more than ten countries. The exception is. That is why the identity of the language and the term itself “ native language» cannot give the language global status. To achieve it, a language must be borrowed by other countries and become part of a special culture within small communities, regardless of whether there are any native speakers there or just a few.

In order to become global, a language needs to meet two criteria:

1. Become the official language of the country (used as a means of communication at the government level, develop in society). Role official language best characterizes English, because it has a special state status in countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, India, Singapore and Vanuatu.

2. Without official status in the state, play a huge role in teaching. Such languages are often learned in school, and adults often use them in communication after learning them in early childhood.

Today they teach in more than 100 countries, which include China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Egypt, Brazil and many other countries. In 1996, English replaced the English language in Algerian schools.

However, when choosing a foreign language, the study of which becomes virtually mandatory in the country, a number of problems arise. This concerns, first of all, historical traditions, political advantage, as well as the desire to maintain commercial, cultural and technological ties with countries for whose residents the language being studied is native. In economically developed countries foreign languages are developing rapidly, as this is facilitated by the state, media resources, libraries, schools, and institutions. In other countries, due to insufficient government funding There is a “winding down” of mass language teaching programs.

How to become first among equals?

Latin became an international language thanks to the Roman Empire, but not due to the number of native speakers. Thanks to the power of the Empire, Latin became the language of education. Based on this, we can conclude that, without a strong base, the language is unlikely to become global. However, we should not forget that language in itself has no power, because it exists only thanks to the people who speak it. Language exists in the heads and hearts of those who use it. I wonder what would happen if we all stopped using English one day?

A language does not become global because of its inherent structural features or the size of its vocabulary, nor does it become global by having a significant literary heritage or being associated with a particular culture and religion. Of course, these factors can encourage a person to learn a language, but all of them (or some of them separately) cannot guarantee the popularity or prevalence of a language, nor its survival on the world stage.

Driven by globalization and technology, English dominates the world like no other language ever, and some linguists say the language will never be dethroned as the king of languages. Other scientists see the pitfalls, but the facts they publish only highlight the enormous power English has in the world. Nothing can destroy this language, not even nuclear war, nor climate change - nothing can make this language unnecessary.

Some scholars insist that linguistic evolution will continue for many centuries, and that English may die like Latin, Phoenician or Sanskrit. “If you live in the middle of the 15th century, you can confidently say that the future Latin language extremely bright", says Nicholas Ostler, author of the language history Empire of the World. “But if you live in the 21st century, then you can say the same about the English language.”. This skepticism is a minority priority. English language experts such as David Crystal, author of "English as a global language" says the world is changing so radically that history is no longer a guide. “For the first time we are talking about a language that is spoken sincerely and globally by people all over the world and nothing gives us reason to believe that something can happen to this language.”.

Globalization of English in every field of knowledge

John MacWhorter says that English is dominant over all any languages that came before it and it is completely unclear what mechanisms or conditions could eradicate this language. According to scientists, as the new millennium begins, a quarter of the planet can speak English to some extent. English is the language of virtually every branch of knowledge, from science and air traffic control (air traffic services) to global jihad, where English is supposedly the means of communication between speakers Arabic and other languages.

“The English language has increased its influence by becoming the language of the Internet, keeping 80% of all information in English.”

– reports David Graddol, linguist and researcher. Chinese, Spanish and Hindi may be spoken by more people, but only English is the language of intercultural communication and it is only English that the Chinese and Spanish teach their children to help them communicate freely and develop their knowledge. In call centers around the world, English is naturally the primary language. The radio stations play pop music performed in English.

(banner_adsense)

“English has become a second language for each of us”

- says Mark Warschauer, professor of computer science at the University of California. In some countries, English has invaded companies along with global economy. Some Swedish companies speak English in their workplaces because most business and online communication takes place in English. As English continues to spread, linguists say it is becoming fragmented, i.e. is divided into groups of dialects. As a result, these dialects are fully developed languages known as English. New vernacular languages have emerged in countries such as Singapore and Nigeria, although widespread literacy and communication systems may be slowed by the natural process of diversification. The hybrid language of Papua New Guinea already has its own literature and translations of Shakespeare. Unlike Latin, English is firmly established and cannot simply go away. Jean-Paul Nérier, retired vice president of IBM, says the English language has too many words. He offers his own version of the Globish language, which will have no more than 15 thousand simple words, for use by non-native speakers. Due to the rise of a simplified version of English, modified forms of the language appear that are common in Britain and America, but they cannot become anything more than dialects. Although, however, native speakers themselves need to become bilingual in order to understand people who speak such dialects, and this is, for example, Singlish (English in Singapore) or Taglish (English in the Philippines).

David Crystal argues that a world language can only emerge once.

After this, no one will be able to oust him. D. Crystal reports that the last quarter of the 20th century was precisely that critical moment in the emergence of a world language. The English language and globalization have spread so much in the world that language helps globalization and vice versa. This process began with the dominance of two successful English-speaking empires, British and American, and continues to this day in the new virtual Internet empire. D. Crystal notes that a phenomenon that has not previously been noticed is that the number of speakers of English as a foreign language is three times higher than the number of people who speak it as a native language.

David Crystal
David Crystal
David Crystal at the Humber Mouth Festival 2009
Date of Birth:
Citizenship:
Awards and prizes:

David Crystal- specialist in English philology.

Biography

Crystal was born in , and grew up in , and . In he studied at the University of St. Mary's. Crystal studied in from to. He was a researcher who, under the direction of Randolph from to , studied the use of the English language. He then lectured at Bangor University. B became a professor. Now he is an emeritus professor of linguistics at. His research interests included English language studies and English language teaching, as well as the study of lexicography. He paid special attention to the study of the works of foreign and English linguists. He is currently a member of the World Association of Teachers of English as a Second Language and Distinguished Vice President of the Publishers and Readers Community. It is also one of the main publishers of textbooks for students. Crystal was awarded and became a member of the. He is the founder of the Learned Society of Wales and is also a member of the University of Linguists. David Crystal lives in Holyhead with his wife. He has four adult children. His son Ben Crystal is the author of several books and is also a co-author with his father. Since retiring, Crystal has worked as a writer, publisher and consultant.

In her works, Crystal hypothesizes that differences between varieties of English on a global scale will both be leveled and deepened, due to which the mutual intelligibility of local varieties of English will gradually decrease. So he came to the conclusion that it was necessary to create what he calls a world standard spoken English language. His 2004 book contains stories about the English language, a general history of the English language where he describes the amount he sees in linguistic diversity in combination with varieties of English that are considered "non-standard English". Besides scientific works Crystal writes, among other things, poetry, plays and biographies. From 2001 to 2006, Crystal worked on Internet issues. To this day, Crystal writes and also contributes to television and radio programs. His interviews are posted on the BBC website. in 2008 His book Txtng: Gr8 Db8 was published, in which David Crystal's thought focused on literary language and its impact on society. In 2009, the publisher published his autobiography, Just a Phrase I'm Going Through: My Life in Language, which was published simultaneously on three DVDs. He also developed a search engine that operates on principles different from those used by today's SE giants. The Sense Engine is a semantic engine that relies not on statistics, but on the semantic relationships between words and the interaction of words and the context in which they appear.