Because of this, Britain, and therefore the English language, had a very extensive influence over a large portion of the world. This led to English being spoken globally, as the colonies of the British Empire developed English as the lingua franca. Now, the British Empire is no more, so why is everyone still speaking English? Well, though the English left the colonies, the English language didn’t. As you are probably aware, English is still spoken today as a first language in Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, and of course, the United States of America, as well as many more.
That is to say the native speakers of English are not confined to Great Britain alone, but are spread over three continents of the world, namely Australia, Europe and the United States of America. It is historical accident which led English to take deep roots also in other continents like Africa and Asia. There were many countries which became the colonies of Great Britain and since the day they came under British rule, English has been taught and used as a medium of communication there. In countries like India, Ceylon, Singapore, Pakistan, Nigeria, Zambia etc., English is still
We can see how English language evolved in structure and how it differs from the type of Contemporary English we use today in the works of William Shakespeare (Rowe and Levine 2015). Once the boom of the English language started it spread rapidly due to the expansion of the British Empire, going as far as Asia, Africa, India, the Americas and most of Oceania (Rowe and Levine
In its role as a global language, English has become one of the most important academic and professional tools. English has become the official language of the business and scientific world, although in academic and scientific communities, formal English usage is prevalent. It is spoken as a first language by the majority of populations of several sovereign states, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New zland and a number of Caribbean nations. It is the third -most common native language in the world after Mandarian Chinese and
English; the Universal Language Today, the English language is one of the most widespread languages on the planet, but to that it originated from a small, gloomy, rainy island that Julius Caesar thought would not amount to anything, is pretty difficult to believe. As time went on, and influential people came and went, and important events took place, the language changes tremendously from it’s Old English origin. The biggest visible change in the language occured between Old and Middle English as a whole other language was combined with English. The Modern era gave light to more concrete spelling and literacy as learning became more widespread and readily accessible. Although the English language has gone through immense transformation over time, its can be distinctly divided into three periods; Old English, Middle
In the same way English language also developed through cultures and through cultural rituals and norms. One of the person named Jacob Grimm once said that I haven’t seen any language other than English getting so many acceptances and language which seems to be a sort of divine language. English was called the language which never falls. From the year 1850s around the globe there were almost 60 million people which were speaking English and this rate could be multiplied by three in to this age. At the end of the nineteenth century and at the start of the twentieth century English language showed much growth due to the many social events that took place and English language during this course grew more and
The Invasion of the English Language In the previous sections, we have already analyzed and defined what are a global language or a lingua franca and the globalization process, but the question arising now is, how does English become a global language? Or, why English language and not another one? David Crystal in his book English as a Global Language established two different branches to answer to this question: the historical-geographical and the socio-cultural, these two factors are interconnected and related with the growth and spread of the English language. At first place, from a historical-geographical point of view, English began to expand with the thirteen colonies’ foundation (British colonists that had become independent from the British Crown and settled on the East Coast of North America) in the 16th and 17th centuries and the formation of the United States of America, accordingly with Crystal’s article this expansion continued until the 19th century. With the spread of English language during this period, the current situation is that, English is the only language spoken around the five continents and it is the official or co-official language in more than 60 countries, this situation is a reflection of “how English looked for and reached a position of pre-eminence” (Crystal, 1997).
Due to the strength of the British Empire, English language spread to many parts of the world. Over time, English spoken in the United States and in Britain started diverging from each other in various aspects, which led to two dialects in the form of the British English and the American English. When starting to study
Experts on the English language like David Crystal, author of "English as a Global Language," say the world has changed so drastically that history is no longer a guide. (Mydans, 2007) English has got the status of international language for various reasons. It has crossed the national borders of English speaking countries and reached people who speak other languages. Another important reason is that almost all the international organizations conduct their meetings in English and it reveals its
Throughout the years, English has established itself as a global language and frequently distinguished itself as a lingua franca and the language used for universal communication. It is widely used especially in the business field which creates a working and social life for many European citizens. It is a requirement in most of the top universities to be fluent in English. However, it cost time and money to learn a language. It’s like deciding that if people speak French more than English, therefore it should be treated as a global language.