Topic 2. English as an International Language. Mastering English.

1. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England.

Now English is one of the most common languages in the world which is spoken by perhaps 400 million people. It is a very widespread language, thanks to the former British Empire.

English is the almost universal language of science, business, and international politics. Many higher academic institutions require a working command of English.

2. It might be thought that English will become ever more dominant and will, in effect, become the global language. But turning English into the global language would cause damage and disasters.

The English language heritage in culture and in literature would cast all others into the shade, and the humanity would lose their humanistic ideals and values it has worked on and cherished for hundreds of centuries.

The people would also lose that rich variety of ways in which they are able to express their concepts today.

Those who speak English as a native language would have an advantage over those for whom it is a learned language, and it could cause strong national reactions against the global English.

3. What’s the alternative? Translation and interpretation?

One of the main arguments against translation is that it is too expensive.

And then could we trust interpretation, whether it is human or computerized?

Another way out is an artificial language. The best known is Esperanto, invented in 1887. It is sensible and easy to learn, but it is based on European languages and might therefore rouse non-European hostility.

4. The problem of world communication, however, may take care of itself. A solution may arise with no one’s purposeful interference. In the Mediterranean world in late medieval times, a lingua franka (language of the Franks,” i.e., Europeans) developed among the merchants of the area to handle necessary communication. It was a mixture of Italian, French, Spanish, Greek, and Arabic. Similarly, in eastern Asia, various mixtures, called “pidgin English,” were developed to break the language barrier.

As communication around the world improves, lingua terra, “a language of the Earth,” may slowly arise. None of the languages would take an advantage over others, as every language will add vocabulary, idiom and grammar. That language could develop a mighty literature of its own and would emphasize the familyhood of humanity.

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