Anyone who has travelled outside his own country is aware of the thrill-and frustration-of dealing with foreign languages.
The thrill comes from the fact that the languages are foreign. When you hear people speaking differently from you, and see newspapers, magazines, posters and other written materials that look different from what you are used to, you know you have actually gone somewhere.
The frustration also comes from the fact that the languages are foreign. If you really need to say something to someone who doesn't understand you, or need to read something you don't understand, frustration is inevitable.
The solution, of course, would be a common language that everyone would understand, everywhere in the world.
Implementing such an idea wouldn't mean anyone losing his or her native tongue. A Frenchman would still speak French, a German would still speak German, a Chinese would still speak Chinese, etc. However, in addition to their native language, they would also speak "X", the common language that would allow everyone to communicate with everyone else, no matter where on the planet they might be.
English to a large extent already fulfills this role; however, this has come about by historical accident, not by conscious design. If we really want a worldwide common language, some international body (the United Nations?) would first have to designate it, then diligently work so that everyone on the planet could learn it.
-Philip Yaffe is a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and a marketing communication consultant. He currently teaches a course in good writing and good speaking in Brussels, Belgium. In the "I" of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like A Professional, his recently published book, is available from Story Publishers in Ghent, Belgium (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com).
In some countries. speaking in English is considered as "the individual is highly educated and knowledgeable"....
"English is just an another language, a medium of instruction. not a knowledge per se"
Dear Friends, I seek your opinions and views....
You are right in your description of the subject. Yes to some extent the English language is universal.
Dear Dr Raid M. Al-Ani, thanks a lot for sharing your view....
Have a great day!
-Selvam.
I am partially agree with you sir. What about the other respected languages like Spanish, ...etc?
Regards, Emad
hello
English is without a doubt the actual universal language. It is the world's second largest native language, the official language in 70 countries, and English-speaking countries are responsible for about 40% of world's total GNP.
from link
www.omniglot.com/language/articles/engunilang.php
regards
Dear Dr.Selvam
English has spread around the world and has become the language of most business
The reason is that Britain was controlled most of the world's economic resources when it was an empire, This coincided with the weakness of countries to make their language prevail, These two reasons have become as a marketing for the English language
In addition to your clarification on the subject.
Accept my regards.
Well, If we study it from the age of 5 !!! our thought processing also ends up in that language . I mean I do know multiple languages , all I can do is talk not read and write (very much) .
It is not about educated or not it is just most of the technical terms and others are in that language. I guess so is French /German /Russian .
There are some french speaking countries (Tunisia /Haiti ) , Portuguese in Brazil I think (not sure ) ...
Dear Selvam Ramasamy ,
Thank you very much for sharing your view points about the English language.
I see this language as a lingua franca.
Warmest reagrds,
Litart
You are very precise in your description dear.Still English is a global language.
Dear Selvam Ramasamy,
In my understanding, there are only three universal languages: MUSIC, IMAGE and MATHEMATICS. Yes, mathematics is not a science, but only language. I would be interested to know: Is it possible to convey any thought by a combination of these three universal languages ?
Dear Selvam Ramasamy ,
English nowadays are spread into wide range of countries spoken as their second language. English has become a global language . It's a language that has been globalizing for millions of people to communicate.
Warm regards
Hassan
Thank you friends and colleagues for enlightening the subject....
Have a great day!
-Selvam.
Yes , I agree with you that English is the solution when you intend to find a common ground in other countries. This kind of English usually called lingua franca.
Liqaa
Is "English" an "universal language?
Different people label English differently according to their objective, need, convenience, opinion etc. Some people might claim English as universal language / global language, whereas some prefer to call English as the de facto language or more popular language in the world.
Dear Dr Han Ping Fung , thanks for sharing your view with more clarity....
Have a nice day!
-Selvam.
Dear Selvam, we are witness that the English has become the language of the globalized world. However, I do not think that it has to be universal. There are many languages in the world and every one has its beauty. They represent the identity of a community. Thus, I strongly believe that every language has its value for its speakers. Thus every language deserve fear treatment. To travel and face various languages is one thing. And I agree there is frustration when you can not reach understanding. But, imagine when write a research paper, you have to translate every tiny nuance of the text written in your mother tongue and sometimes during this process it is almost impossible to translate tour thoughts in English.
Best regards,
V. Janusheva
Beautiful comments on this subject. Spoken language-English has a very wide tentacle. But what constitutes language is arguable because many factors comes to play. Language is a means of conveying thoughts, ideas to people. This can be done more with symbols, imagery, sound, gestures and so forth.
Dickson Adom
I agree with your description. I think English is perceived by many people as the universal language.
Yes in this time but i think that China language is future language......
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