INFORMATION CAMPAIGN 7
InformationCampaign: Global English Language
AffiliateInstitution
Englishas a global language
Theglobal governance and the political context of different parts of theworld have stimulated the discussion of an emerging universallanguage. In January 1995, the concept of global communication gotpublished by the Commission for Global Governance. However, within aspan of one year, the co-chair of the board referred to as SridathRamphal made stunning comments on the report. He asserted that therewas no way the global neighborhood could function without the Englishlanguage as the building block for interactions and negotiations(Gray, 2014). The essay paper, therefore, uses the concept of aninformation campaign to present English as a potential globallanguage.
EnglishDominance
Crystal(2012) claimed that most people across the globe mistake English as alanguage of imperialism, yet it is a method of communication thatevolved due to historical demands. The legacy is, therefore,noticeable because of the real effects of such language requiring theglobal community to adopt as a universal way of informationdissemination. In different perspectives, McKay (2013) argued thatthere will be no retreat in making English the world language. However, such strong political viewpoints cannot go withoutstimulating immediate questions. Can an entity stop a language fromachieving the desired goal ones it has attained global prominence? The answer is “yes”, especially if the dominance is attached apolitical and financial influence of the choice.
Inother words, desperate revolutions from different sectors of theworld to ensure a global balance may bring about consequences on alanguage selection. Moreover, numerous science fiction books wouldconsider the global adoption of other languages such as the Chinese,Arabic and any rough alien tongue. Conversely, small-scale revolutionmay not bring about a lot of adverse effects to English speakingnation. The reason is that the language is diverse therefore, nocountry can own a particular technique of information determination.The only particular scenario is that people can develop other methodsof communication making English irrelevant (Crystal, 2012).
EnglishLanguage Penetration and New Technology
Thestate of affair enhancing language diversity has led to reducedinternet penetration because some nations require a translator toconnect to the globe through internet networking. Furthermore,computer software is helpful in translating different languages toenable communication with monolingual persons. The downside ofsoftware translators is that they cannot provide acute meanings tometaphors, idioms and different stylistic features of English. Thescenario is clear evidence that technology require numerousadvancements to concur with the humanity (McKay, 2013).
Moreover,the accuracy and efficiency of software translators while improvingin the recent past due to technological enhancement. The aspect maytake an extended period before it becomes socially acceptable andfinancial acceptable in different parts of the world. Such aspectmay, therefore, threaten the current appeal of the global language. That quest for fame also provides the English language a chance toremain stable in the international community (Crystal, 2012).
Englishas the Global Language
Whyshould English be the global language whereas the world encompassesnumerous ways of information dissemination? Scholars approach suchquestion in two different perspectives, for example,geographical-historical viewpoints and social-cultural worldviews.The geo-historical ideologies provide how English became a dominantlanguage. Besides, the socio-cultural answers depict the way Englishhas maintained its dominance amidst global challenges (McKay, 2013). Furthermore, the combination of such features reflects the waydifferent strands build up to bring about the English language. Theclaim is realistic because different English-speaking nations havetheir unique application of sounds, vocabularies, and grammar.
Historicalaccounts date the English movements around the world from thepioneering voyage to Antipodes, America, and Asia. Such expansionprogressed to different parts of the globe, and thenineteenth-century colonial development made the language spread tothe Africa and South Pacific. Precisely, the first permanent Englishsettlement America was in 1607 when they arrived in Chesapeake Bay.In the eighteenth century, the Spanish occupied west and southwesternparts of the US, the French were in the northern territories and theDutch settled in New York City. However, the English managed tooccupy the places and inhabit in the U.S and influence the universallanguage of that region (Gray, 2014).
ManyAmericans doubted that the English language would expand in numerousareas of the world, but people like John Adams who was a Congress foran American Academy had a strong belief in English as the mostspreading language. He claimed that the language would succeed morethan Latin and French by the nineteenth century. Scholars argue thataround 60 million people globally spoke English as their firstlanguage by 1850. Furthermore, some researchers extrapolated that bythe end of the century, the number of individuals speaking thelanguage will triple. Surprisingly, other scholars asserted that by1870s, the total of some speakers of English as mother tongue wouldbe 1,000 million (McKay, 2013).
EnglishDynamics and Transformations
However,it is worth noting that the language has undergone numerous changestherefore, no nation can claim possession of English. Besides,researchers found that the US, which is the largest English speakingcountry, account to only 20% of its population ascribing to Englishas their first language. Such loss of ownership made countries likeBritain uncomfortable because they claim historic rights to thetongue. Moreover, local movements like that of purists societies havetried to curb changes evident in the language as well as restore theancient English excellence but to no avail. Besides, most adaptationsin New English take the inflections and vocabularies of the locallanguage of a particular country. The main elements includecollocations, idiomatic phrases, word meanings and formations(DeSwaan, 2013).
Conclusion
Historicalaccounts date the English movements around the world from thepioneering voyage to Antipodes, America, and Asia. Precisely, thefirst permanent English settlement America was in 1607 when theyarrived in the Chesapeake Bay. In the eighteenth century, the Spanishoccupied west and southwest parts of the US, the French were in thenorthern territories and the Dutch settled in New York City (DeSwaan,2013). However, the English managed to occupy the places and inhabitin the U.S and influence the universal language of that region. Itis, therefore, evident that countries with a lot of geographicaluniqueness developed some English words for natural features such asrivers, plants, birds, rocks and different types of animals. Suchdiversity and penetration of the English language in various nationsare clear evidence that it has the potential to be a universal methodof speaking.
References
Crystal,D. (2012). Englishas a global language.Cambridge University Press.
DeSwaan,A. (2013). Wordsof the world: The global language system.John Wiley & Sons.
Gray,J. (2014). The global coursebook in English languageteaching. Globalizationand language teaching,151-167.
McKay,S. L. (2013). TeachingEnglish As An International Language: Rethinking Goals and Perspectives.New York: Oxford University Press.
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