I. THE CHANGING WORLD OF ENGLISH

              I. The changing world of English

 Why did English become such an important language? Why do you consider it continues being so important? How do you predict the future of English?

The English language is considered as a universal language, mainly because it is the most spoken language worldwide. A lot of extinct and existing languages have contributed into the English language, starting with Latin and ending with French. Throughout history, people have had to communicate to each other, whether it be for business, for hunting, or for fighting. From the very beginning of human civilization it has always been the main international language used.

One of the reasons why it’s such an important language is because it’s the ‘business language’. For example if a company is dealing with a foreign company with a different mother tongue, they will use the English, the universal language to communicate to each other (Lingua Franca). Nowadays the global economy is more consolidated than ever, large corporations have established themselves all over the world in almost every country and all stock, commodity and currency markets are so closely tied up that even the tiniest changes in an important stock price will have a immediate effect on other prices worldwide.

With the rise of English as the language of choice throughout the global business community it is important for non-English speakers to understand that without the necessary language skills they run the risk of being left behind. Each must adapt their skills to business needs and to be a cog in this dynamic world it is important to learn it. Hence, learning English is primary to individual success and should be given to anyone wishing to gain access to the corporate world of today. As the spread of English continues, learning the language appears to be one of the most productive means to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.

English is also one of the most studied language all across the world, most of the countries teach it as a second language from primary school. English is the language of travel. English speaking countries are the most affluent regions on this planet, and the amount of people going abroad on overseas holidays have created the phenomenon of English being the common language people with different national backgrounds use to speak with each other.

English can be at least understood almost everywhere among scholars and educated people, as it is the world media language, and the language of cinema, TV, pop music and the computer world. All over the planet people know many English words, their pronunciation and meaning.

And we consider it continues being so important, first, because If you speak fluent English, your job opportunities are much better than those of your peers, and it’s inevitably leading to a certain social status being assigned to fluent English speakers.

We may have Hollywood to thank for the predominance of the English language throughout much of the world today. Distribution of American movies, television programs and music has allowed many peoples, even in so-called third world nations, to at least become somewhat familiar with spoken English. A large percentage of multinational corporations originated in the United States and continue to be headquartered in this country and their influence throughout the global community is quite predominant.

Perhaps most important of all is the emergence of the Internet, where the English language predominates and is evidenced by the fact that many foreign language websites provide the means for translation into English. 

Since most of us don’t have time machines, how can we predict the future at all? With fortune tellers and crystal balls? No, we haven’t even reached the extremes. Instead, many communities, passing their ancestral language (in this case English) along by teaching it in school and to adults, will create new versions of the languages, with smaller vocabularies and more streamlined grammars.

In cities world-wide, children of immigrants speaking many different languages are growing up speaking among themselves a version of their new country’s language that nibbles away at such arbitrary features as irregular verbs and gendered objects. It’s a kind of compromise between the original version of the language and the way their parents speak that language which is English.