Contents

1. What is a global language?

1.1 What makes a global language?
1.2 What are the dangers of a global language?
2. Main English promoters
2.1 British Council
2.2 American promotion of English
3. Personal appraisal
4. Reference
 English as a Global Language

ABSTRACT

Almost two decades ago I was told about a constructed language, which was supposed to work
out as a universal language in the 1880s. Therefore, it was meant to be spread all over the world
and used by every single person in the Earth planet. The language I am talking about was named
Esperanto, created by L.L Zamehoh in order to achieve worldwide peace. Honestly, I was
skeptical about having a language that could be spoken all over the world. Nowadays, it has
become real, we do have one language that has reached the status of a global language, but it is
not Esperanto, it is English. In this paper, I define what a global language is, the requirements to
have such status, and also talk about the promoters of English as well as the rationale of such
interest to keep its continuation and its relevance in the world.
 1.What is a global language?
According to Phillipson (2009), Global English is a project to establish English as the
language of neoliberal empire serviced by global finance whatever the consequences for other
cultures or languages. There is a boom in the market for English learning products and know-
how, for fee-paying international schools, for English-medium universities, for English ever
earlier in basic education, and for native speaker teachers affecting former colonies in Africa
and Asia, and the countries of informal empire in Latin America and Middle East.

A language gains the status as a global language only when it holds a special role that is
recognized in every country in the world (Crystal, 1997) To achieve such prominence from certain
countries does not imply the language must be spoken as a first language by the inhabitants of
those countries. The international language can be spoken as either first, second or foreign
language. The main feature of a global language is that it is widely accepted worldwide as people
have a strong desire to learn it.

As a global language, English is spoken as a first in the USA, Britain, Canada, Ireland,
Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and several Caribbean countries. (Crystal, 1997)
Nonetheless, English has not gained its status a global language due to its usage in the countries
mentioned above. English has achieved its status quo as people from other countries have given
it a special place within their professional and personal lives.

According to Crystal (1997), there are two ways in which people can place a language in a
special place. First of all, people can start using it as a second language. That is to say, English is
used as a means of communication in various contexts such as in the government, the law courts,
the media, and the educational system. Therefore, people in those countries are urged to learn
English as a complement to their first language. Crystal (1997) listed over seventy countries where
English is used as a second language, such as Ghana, Nigeria, India, Singapore and Vanatu.

Secondly, a language can be spoken as a foreign language. Although English has no official
status in several countries, it is the language of choice in several primary and secondary schools
and is also available in many language centers to teenager and adults. Nowadays, English is the
most widely used as a foreign language in over one hundred countries, including China, Russia,
Germany, Spain, Egypt, and Brazil. (Crystal, 1997).

There are plenty of reasons for favoring a foreign language, among those reasons, we can find
historical tradition, political convenience, business and trade, academic pursuit, cultural and
technological exchange. (Crystal, 1997)
 Kachru (1985) suggested the division of the English-speaking world into three concentric
circles. In the first inner circle we can find countries like the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, etc
where English is spoken as a first language. In the second circle,we have the outer circle, where
English is spoken as a second language and countries such as Singapore, India, Pakistan, Malawi,
etc. can be found. In the third circle, we have the expanding circle, where English is used a
foreign language and countries such as China, Sweeden, Japan, etc can be found.

After reading Crystal I agree with his description of what a global language is and what a language
needs to reach such status, that is to say the acceptance from people whose first language is not
necessarily English, but people who use it either as a second or a foreign language for various
reasons such as a historical tradition, political convenience, business and trade, academic pursuit,
cultural and technological exchange.

1.1What makes a global language?

A language becomes a global language because of the power of the people who speak it. This
can be clearly portrayed with Latin that became an international language not because of the
Roman population, but the power they had over the other territories. In this particular case, even
after the Roman Empire fall, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of
education due to the ecclesiastical power of Roman Catholicism. (Crystal, 1997)

Crystal states that (1997), Without a strong power-base, whether political, military or
economic, no language can make progress as an international medium of communication. (P.5)

In other words, language is always linked to the people who speak it, thus when people have
success on the international stage, their language succeeds, but when they fail, so does their
language.

According to Crystal (1997), there have always been a lot of misleading beliefs about why a
language should become internationally successful and most of these opinions point out the
aesthetic qualities, clarity of expression, and literary power of a language. That is why it is often
suggested English owes its prominence to certain factors such as its simple grammar, its lack of
masculine, feminine, and neuter gender. In 1848, a reviewer in the British periodical The
Athenaeum wrote:

In its easiness of grammatical construction, in its paucity of inflection, in its almost total
disregard of the distinctions of gender excepting those of nature, in the simplicity and precision
of its terminations and auxiliary verbs, not less than in the majesty, vigor and copiousness of its
expression, our mother-tongue seems well adapted by organization to become the language of the
world.

Arguments like these are misconceived. In fact, Latin was a major international language,
despite its numerous inflectional endings and gender differences as well as French with its gender
differences (masculine or femine). (Crystal, 1997)

Crystal states (1997) a language does not become a global language due to its intrinsic
structural properties, or because of the size of its vocabulary, or its influence in literature, or even
its relationship with an influential culture or religion. Though, these factor can be used to motivate
people to learn a language, but not even all of them together can assure a language spread.

According to Crystal (1997), the main reason a language gains the status of a lingua franca is
through the political might of its people, mainly their military one-as is quite visible in the most
prominent cultures throughout history. There are various languages that once had that status,
among them, we can find Greek over 2,000 years ago along with Alexander the Great, Latin and
the well-known Roman Empire legions, Arabic that became so widely spoken across northern
Africa and the Middle East along with Islam, carried by the force of the Moorish armies. Needless
to say that the history of a global language can examined through the successful expeditions of
its soldier speakers. Consequently, English cannot have been different in this regard.

Crystal (1997) also attributed the prominence of English to the economic power its main
promoters (The UK and The USA) have had supported by the new communication technologies
such as the telegraph, telephone, radio, and promoting the creation of huge multinational
businesses. The explosion of international marketing and advertising resulted from the growth of
competitive industry and business.

According to Schutz (2005), Today, English is recognized as undoubtedly the most important
language to learn for the increasingly mobile international community. This is a fact that seems
to be irreversible. English has become the language of the business and scientific world.
Dieu (2005) states that,

Before the Treaty of Versailles (1919), which ended the First World War between
Germany and the Allies, diplomacy was conducted in French. However, President Wilson
succeeded in having the treaty in English as well. Since then, English started being used
in diplomacy and gradually in economic relations and the media. During the II World
War, America intervened both militarily and economically to save Europe from chaos.
From then onwards, the United States have consolidated their cultural, economic and
technological power: inventions, rock and roll, the first man on the moon, the revolution
of the Internet, the countrys growing prosperity and commercial aggressiveness have
contributed to the further expansion and importance of English in the world today. (p. 2)

Based on what I have read from Crystal, I can assert that English has not become a global language
because of its structure, vocabulary, pronunciation or spelling, but mainly because of the power
of the people who use it, this power mentioned has had different meanings throughout history.
For example, the political and military power, the power of science in the sixteenth century, the
economic power in the nineteenth century as well as the cultural power in the twentieth century
that has given English the status it currently holds.

1.2 What are the dangers of a global language?

The use of one language generally implies the exclusion of others, although this is by no means
logically necessary. Functional bilingualism or multilingualism at the individual and societal level
is common throughout the world. However the pattern of core English-speaking countries has
been one of increasing monolingualism (Phillipson, 1997:17).

All this can be seen in the current distribution of the main international languages-Chinese,
English, French, Russian, and Spanish that serves as evidence of conquest and occupation,
followed by the adoption of the invaders language. Language spread invariably occurs in
conjunction with forces such as religion or trade, which are seen by some as extra-linguistic, but
the significance of language as a tool for unification has long been recognized (ibid.:31)
Language has always been the consort of empire, and forever shall remain its mate (Illich
1981:34 quoted. in Phillipson 31).

Although there are numerous advantages of having a global language, there are still some possible
risks to point out. (Crystal 1997)
1. Linguistic Dominion

The first danger mentioned states that people who do not speak English as their mother tongue,
but have it either as a second of foreign language, will have a disadvantage over the ones who
speak it as a mother tongue. In other words, having a global language might create a dominating
class, where native speakers could take advantage of the possibility to think and work better using
their mother tongue.

2. Linguistic Superiority
There is a possibility that a global language may make people lazy about learning other
languages, or reduce their opportunities to do so. This type of attitude has brought some
disadvantages to them. Whereas a non-native person can speak two languages, the natives can
speak only one language. But nowadays their rigid attitude is changing. There are clear signs of
growing awareness, within English-speaking communities, of the need to break away from the
tradition of monolingual bias. They have realized that boosting exports and attracting foreign
investment involves learning foreign languages. The UK-based Centre for Information on
Language Teaching found that a third of British experts miss opportunities because of poor
language skills. To solve this problem some measures have been taken. For example, Australian
schools now teach Japanese as the first foreign language, and both the USA and UK are now
paying more attention to Spanish.

3. Linguistic Death

An introduction of a global language might lead to discrimination of other languages. Losing a

language equals losing identity. The language is much more than just a tool for communication.
There is a difference between language death and language murder. Language death is when
a language disappears naturally; its speakers are leaving it voluntarily, but language murder
means that the killer language actively discourages use of other languages. Minority languages
may be removed from the media and educational systems. English is referred to as a killer
language, which means that it is a dominant language learned subtractive, at the cost of the
mother tongues, rather than additively.

4. Threat of losing identity

It is important for people to remember their roots, and language is a very integral part of one's
identity. English is closely linked to the British and the American cultures and history and is
therefore not a neutral language. People whose languages are being lost because of the
dominance of the English language, may lose their identities.
5. Threat of social clash

The use of one single language in a community is no guarantee for social harmony or mutual
understanding. This has been proven several times throughout history, e.g. American Civil War,
Spanish Civil War, and former Yugoslavia.

I believe that there are some positive aspects related to learning English, so we should focus on
them, but at the same time, we should not forget where we come from, our culture, because it is
important to have clear our identity, otherwise, we are going to end up alienated by pretending to
be someone we are not.

2. Main English promoters

According to Phillipson (1997) have been responsible for promoting English. The British
Council has established itself as a fundamental entity for nurturing the teaching of English
worldwide, while the USA has a variety of government and private organizations exercising a
corresponding range of functions, and slightly different constituencies at home and abroad. British
and American efforts are to some extent coordinated. (P.136)

2.1 British Council

In the very long term we have no doubt that the work of the British Council, especially in
regard to the teaching of English in Asia, will be highly beneficial to our seas trade (Drogheda
Report 1954:29 quoted in Phillipson 146)

The learning of English was seen as reaching beyond instrumental needs: A knowledge of
English gives rise in its turn to a desire to English books, talk to British people, and learn about
British life or some aspect of it.. Indeed a knowledge of English is almost essential today for the
study of many branches of science and technology as also, of course, for the study of English
literature, history, and British institutions (ibid.:146)

The British Councils various activities were seen as contributing to the single process of
strenghthening links with the potential leaders of political and economic development abroad.
The British Council had a great task to do in India, Pakistan, and in the Far East and Middle East.
The opportunity was provided because of the importance which English had assumed as a lingua
franca and as the language of science, technology, and sociology (sic) (ibid.:146)
After reading all this, I can say the Britishs support of spread of English served as a springboard
to strengthen Britain by influencing the parameters of education in other independent states.
Furthermore, ELT was used to secure ties with the leaders of developing countries.

2.2 American Promotion of English

The Americans had experience of imposing the English language as a colonial power since the
beginning of the century, when English was introduced in the Philippines as the primary medium
of instruction. With American textbooks, Filipinos started learning not only a new language but
also a new way of life. The colonial relationship between the US and the Philippines demonstrates
that language is power. (ibid.:152)

The Americans are quite willing to make their dependencies politically independent while
economicaly bound to them and see no inconsistency in this (Chomsky 1982:8 quoted in
Phillipson:156)

American government funding for all types of educational and cultural work throughout the
world became increasingly available in the 1950s. By 1964 at least 40 governmental agencies
were involved, between them spending 200 million dollars per annum (Coombs 1964 quoted in
Phillipson:157)

In May 1959, USIA, in collaboration with the Center for Applied Linguistics, and with Ford
Foundation funding, organized a conference on Teaching English Overseas in Washington to
which the British Council sent five participants. The delegates were academics and cultural
diplomacy bureaucrats from head office and the field of this conference were published verbatim
(ibid.:164)

Based on what Phillipson has written, I can see British and American entities have shared a
common interest, which is to spread English all over the world in order to have some sort of power
over the countries that decided to place English in a special place.

3. Personal appraisal
After having read all the material provided, I have been able to see the real meaning of language,
which is power, power that essentially comes from the people who speak it, power that has meant
different things in different times so English has reached that status thanks to that and also at the
expense of the many languages it has killed in the colonized countries throughout history.
One of the problems I have seen throughout my teaching experience has to do with the books
used in most language centers, most of them, if not all, are meant to be used in countries where
English is spoken as a second language, therefore, the contents are irrelevant to our students as
the topics used reflect a different reality to most of our students.

There are a lot of people speaking English as a second language and even more people speaking
it as a foreign language that we might believe it does not longer belong to its native speakers and
a good example of it is how the countries that were once colonized are adapting it to their reality
and feel better about how they use it.

References

1. Kachru, B. 1985. The Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions and Models of Non-native
Englishes. Oxford: Pergamon.
2. Crystal, D. 1997. English as a global language. Cambridge: CUP
3. Schtz, R. (2005). EnglishThe international language. Retrieved July 14, 2017, from
http://www.sk.com.br/sk-ingl.html
4. Dieu, B. (2005). Some facts and figures about the English language. Retrieved July 14, 2017,
from http://the_english_dept.tripod.com/esc.html
5. Phillipson, R. 2009. Linguistic imperialism continued. New York & London: Routledge