English as a World Language

Summary of the text «English as a world language

According to the text, 1.2 – 1.5 billion people speak English! In this text we learn about how English has become such a widely spoken language. The reason for this is that the British Empire had several colonies all around the world, and therefore many of the countries adopted the language. For example, in Australia and the US, they speak the same language, but their pronunciation is completely different.

Checkpoints p.44

                                                                                                                                                           What is a lingua franca?

1.      A lingua franca is when two people who are not native speakers, use a language as communication.

We say that English is the world’s most important lingua franca. Why is this?

2.      This is because so many people around the world speak it, and are exposed to it every day through television and many other social media platforms. However, the reason why this language became so big in the first place, is all the colonies the British Empire had a long time ago. This way the language spread, and were adopted by many countries. This is also the reason why there is still 52 countries who still has it as one of their official languages

                                                                                                                                                                    Who started to build the English Empire?

3.      The person to start building the English empire was Queen Elizabeth I.                                

                                                                                                                                                                            What were the reasons for its decline?

4.      Britain suffered big losses during the two world wars at the beginning of the twentieth century along with some trouble in Africa and the Indian Sub-continent.                              

                                                                                                                                                                  What is happening to the language today?

5.      Today, the language is developing. It is developing with the help from all English speakers around the world.

Viewpoints p.44                                                                                                                                               

English is the world’s most important lingua franca. Do you believe English threatens the 

position of national languages in small countries such as Norway? Why or why not?

1.      In a longer period of time, I believe that the English language may take over the position of some of the smaller languages. I believe this because we are exposed to English every single day through all types of media. However, I think it is going to take a long time. 

                     

Are there any other languages that can threaten the position of English as a world language?

2.      There are some other languages that are used many places in the world (for example Chinese), but I do not think there are any languages threatening the English language. The reason for this, is that I believe the language has become so big and widely spoken, it has come to stay.

Comprehension questions                                                                                                                                   

How many years have passed since the Romans left Britain? What significance did their withdrawal from Britain have for the development of the English language?

1.      There has been 1500 years since the romans left Britain. Since Romans left, the English language has been able to develop in many different ways. As a result of this, we have gotten many different types of English, for example “Chinglish” or Chinese English

.                                                                                                                                                               Which capabilities did the English language have since it managed to conquer the world?

2.      English has shown some unique abilities to absorb, evolve, invade and steal words from other languages. 

                                                                                                                                                                  How many languages has English adopted words from?

3.      English has adopted words from over 300 languages.   

                                                                                                                                                                 What is the total number of English speakers?

4.      In total, there is about 1.5 billion English speakers around the world.   

                                                                                                                                                                   How many speak it as their mother tongue?

5.      A quarter of 1.5 billion speak it as their mother tongue. 

                                                                                                                                                                  How many speak it as a second language?

6.      Another quarter speak it as their second language.   

                                                                                                                                                                 What problems does English present for a learner?

7.      The spelling can be very difficult sometimes, because a lot of the word are not spelled as they are pronounced.               

                                                                                                                                                                      In which context is Singlish, Hinglish and Chinglish mentioned. Where do you find these accents and why is it necessary to give these accents individual names?

8.      Singlish, Hinglish and Chinglish are different types of English. These three types are from India, Singapore and China. They are given their own name, because they are not the same as American or British English.  They have some of their own words and expressions.          

                                                                                                                                                                   Why do you think the lecturer suggests that if somebody should think up a new word for English, “it should be in Chinese”?

9.      Because English has so little to do with England these days, it might as well get a Chinese name. Also because there is a type of Chinese English as well.