Why English in particular? Why not French, German, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, or any other language?
I align myself with a number of the points already made here. However, the question of simplicity and superiority should not arise. No language is superior to another. The factors that make English tick are its history, the hegemony of America and Britain and its stronghold on science and technology as well as weapons of mass destruction, its powerful media, and the fact that the world being multilingual needs a global lingua franca. English is that lingua franca. However, English will not reign forever. Remember Sanskrit,
Latin, Greek, French in the Medieval period, etc. Global lingua franca come and go; so will English though it may take some time.
Well the rise and dominance of America at some point in many ways propelled English language to assume the status of the most applied language in multilateral engagements.
False question! Hoax problem of the whites!
English NOW is a language of no future. Significant is only Chinese.
The spread of English as a global tool for communication have
several reasons.
1. Numerical Argument: spoken by nearly 337 million (David Crystal, 1997, p.60) as the national or official language in North America, Australia, Commonwealth, and other small countries. About 1350 million speak English as 2 nd language in countries like India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya, Philippines
2. Physical Distribution: Spoken across continents in the day to day life. Urbanization in developing countries combined with international migrations to major English speaking countries is changing the world demographics. It is creating new constituencies of English users who look up to English as the gateway to success and better quality of life.
3. Vehicular load: Preferred for scholarly, commercial, technological, diplomacy, tourism, and entertainment purposes.
4. Monetary and Political Power of English It is facilitating capitalism, economic opulence, and the effects of globalization.
Firstly it spared through colonialism. spreading language and religion was an integral part of British colonialism which subjugated territories all over the world. In these post-colonial territories English language is powerful, it is a tool of social mobility and a marker of class and prestige.
In the modern world, English continues to hold sway because of prevalaence of English in education/ technology/ media/ entertainment (Hollywood for instance)
In many multilingual nations, English is adopted as Lingua Franca as it enables people to understand one another regardless of their language, culture, or ethnicity.
It's easy to learn and enables communucation with relatively poor vocabular. You can express almost everything with several verbe and adverbs (get, put, off, on, up, down).
Power. English is not superior to other languages (or, as a whole, easier to learn), it is simply the language associated with a global superpower, and as such becomes a lingua franca. Think of Latin in the time of the Roman Empire.
No language is superior than the other. Having said that, English imperialism has a long drawn history from colonisation era. But, nevertheless, it has become the most powerfull medium now for communities across the globe for easy communication.
English is an easier language to communicate with someone. English has accepted worldwide than other languages.
The influence of American business, combined with the tradition of English left around the world by the British Empire, have made English the number one language of international trade in the 21st Century. All of the world's top business schools now teach in English.
Apart from historical reasons, English represents the economically and intellectually dominant groups. Next, English has borrowed lexical items from a great number of world's languages and therefore sounds close to the speakers of those languages as well.
Thanks.
I align myself with a number of the points already made here. However, the question of simplicity and superiority should not arise. No language is superior to another. The factors that make English tick are its history, the hegemony of America and Britain and its stronghold on science and technology as well as weapons of mass destruction, its powerful media, and the fact that the world being multilingual needs a global lingua franca. English is that lingua franca. However, English will not reign forever. Remember Sanskrit,
Latin, Greek, French in the Medieval period, etc. Global lingua franca come and go; so will English though it may take some time.
Ther e are many reasons why English became language ni. 1 in the world:
1) England found the right way to built the perfect strategy of colonual expansion
2) English is a pretty easy language, in particular i terms of grammar, which gives it the advantage cimpared to french and germsn, (same Albanian) which made this language words easy to remember.
3) The language rather of a nasculin or nachoist nature, making it to be known as the language of order and comand. The world has been for long years machoist, and so is nowadays.
3) Music
4) Freedom and economy
5) Education
6) Nato, promiting peace, freedim and demicracy
7) The influence of Latin and French, as languages of science and culture, found in many other languages. This is the so called " bridging language phenimena" which swiftly overtake learners to embrace this language.
And many more reasons, which made it lang. No. 1
Aggressive nature of English-speaking countries ( Great Britain in the past and the USA now) as such and complementary , in comparison with other Indo-European languages a relatively simple grammar structure. The importance of English will decline though following a soon political and economical decline of the US imperialism.
As the old adage has it, "He (or today 'She') who has the gold makes the 'rules'" And needless to say, one of the 'rules' is the language used.
English becomes a global language because of its power to move businesses and to connect people.
Others language like French, English is more durable and easy to learn. The main important fact is its colonization impact which helped its expansion.
Regardless of the effect of history on the users of this language, we find it the easiest language in most of its details if measured in other languages, and this makes it the dominant language globally, in addition to successive scientific discoveries that are often at the hands of the owners of that language and through it go to the rest of the world
English has become widely known because of the colonial experience in many countries around the world,the establishment of the language for administration,commerce,science and technology,and international diplomacy.
The notion that English is widespread because it is a « simple » language needs re-examining. Yes, it can be easily spoken at a basic level, but it has its share of idiosyncracies in grammar and pronunciation (see for example through, though, thought, tough). As a result, non-native English speakers struggle to speak at a more nuanced level, and native speakers who master the subtleties enjoy unjustified power and status in international business settings.
« All Indo-European languages have the capacity to form compounds. Indeed, German and Dutch do it, one might say, to excess. But English does it more neatly than most other languages, eschewing the choking word chains that bedevil other Germanic languages and employing the nifty refinement of making the elements reversible, so that we can distinguish between a houseboat and a boathouse, between basketwork and a workbasket, between a casebook and a bookcase. Other languages lack this facility. » —— Bill Bryson
Also see a short article by Robert J. Lewis, "Why English is the world's Lingua Franca", but be sure to read the comments at the end for contrary opinions.
http://www.artsandopinion.com/2020_v19_n4/lewis-105englishlinguafranca.htm
The English grammar is so simple when compared with French and German and many other popular languages.
Informative discussion. I have found some of my question’s answer. Thank you all.
Well, given the old linguist joke that a language is a dialect with an army and a navy, one look at US military budget answers the question.
It's about economy , trade power, and the interest of scientific english research these are the factor's that make English the powerful language in the World.
The following attachment will provide clues to the puzzle Adel Bahameed P. Contreras Mohamed Ballouki Sven Beecken Abdul Kuddus .
It may simple, but without the tailwind from the British Empire's globalisation drive, I doubt English would have been this dominant. When you see the countries on the list, it would make sense. Also factor in, the cascading or domino effect into the cultural, political and economic spheres.
Hello,
The UK still has an influence with the 54 states included in Commonwales https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Nations
English is spoken in USA which has a very international popular culture.
Other point about french. I translated (sorry quick and dirty Google translate) a part of this article which explains the decline of French as a diplomatic language: https://www.ledevoir.com/opinion/idees/478351/le-francais-langue-de-la-diplomatie
"The decline of French as a diplomatic language dates from the Paris Conference in 1919. It was decided at this Conference to adopt English alongside French as the working language and the Treaty of Versailles was drafted in both languages (but in case of divergence, only French was authentic). This was explained by the presence of non-European countries at the negotiating table, especially since US President Woodrow Wilson spoke no French at all. Until the 1960s, French still occupied an important place in diplomatic negotiations. This is no longer the case. He is often dethroned by English. Of course, it remains one of the working languages of the European Commission and one of the official languages of the United Nations. It is one of the two official languages of the International Court of Justice. It is the working language of the Court of Justice of the European Union. But it is losing ground. However, its precision makes it a language well suited for international negotiation."
Error of omission on my side, Prof. P. Contreras - see below
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_that_have_gained_independence_from_the_United_Kingdom
Because it is the language of developed and economically powerful nations, militarily and scientifically.
I think there are many reasons, so I agree with the answers of my colleagues dr. Michael & dr Isam.
Because it has been the official language of science worldwide.
I think it is the economic power of english rulers which lead to this conclusion.
I think the scientific revolution start after the second world war, so the british and american start controlling economy of the wrold, this support english to be the 1 language
You can read the last three chapters of Charles Barber’s The English Language: A Historical Introduction. In which he introduces and explains the main theoretical and technical concepts of historical linguistics.
[This point has actually been alluded to already - at least partly]: Throughout the course of history, empires and political powers never manage to maintain themselves for ever: they eventually decline and give way to another one. During the late 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, French was the dominant language in Europe. After Napoleonic rule collapsed, Britain rose to be the 'Number One' power in the world, establishing an extensive empire - but after World War One, Britain was eclipsed by the USA.
In history, it is unusual for two successive 'Number One' powers to have the same language - but this did happen during the 20th century. So the answer to the question - is that the USA (and therefore the English language) was able to build on what had earlier been achieved by Britain and its Empire/Commonwealth.
I think the economic power has a deep connection with the language. The language of power is the language of people. The United States of America is powerful at the moment, so its language is no.1. When Russia was super power, their language was no.1. So the language of power is no.1.
A lot of historians admit that Germany could actually have won World War Two ... [A really horrifying thought, certainly, but all it needed was just a little bit of common sense from Hitler]. Had that happened, German would have become the main language of Europe. In the scientific world, as well as commercially, it would then have been a serious rival to English.
Everything is simple here, along with the reasons indicated by the colleagues - a complete scientific and technical thesaurus has been formed in English. There are very few languages in the world that have such a wide range of terms for many branches of knowledge. The funniest thing is when "small" nations begin to form such glossaries artificially, and even on the basis of political preferences. For a language to function, a "substrate" is required, i.e. a community of people who understand it. A funny incident once happened to me. Together with a Russian colleague we discussed a scientific problem. After a few phrases, an American joined us. After a while, I felt some awkwardness and realized that we were speaking in a language that was incomprehensible to one of those present, and suggested switching to English. The American said: "Don't worry, I understand almost everything - all the terms are familiar, and I can translate your "well" myself ..." (FYI - he did not know Russian for sure).
The domination of English as a language came as a result of the domination of the English people in large parts of the world as a result of invasion and immigration to the New World. This made English the language of politics and economy, and later of science and technology. So, this domination is not related to some intrinsic attributes of the language itself but to the power of its speakers.
To me, the Britons colonized many countries and transfer their knowledge to them and the countries are now civilizes and this was what made English Language No.1
Supongo que por el poder a nivel internacional de los Estados Unidos
I think
English language structure, advanced economics, colonial politics and literature
This is because immigration and the media have developed it.
As several contributers here have implied - the ease with which a particular language can be mastered, must make a difference to its popularity. I suspect that the complex "character-system" in Chinese is an obstacle to a more widepread diffusion of its publications in the academic world...
A Finnish person once remarked to me - that English had the advantage that you could begin to use and practise it almost straightaway when learning it. [Spanish is probably like that, too - i.e., in its initial stages, before students encounter the subjunctive !] ... But he did not feel that he could praise and recommend German or Russian in that way; (compare Karl Pfeifer's post above).
Of course, the correct spelling of words in the English language is a problem - but foreign researchers can usually read and understand its text.
English came up pushing off Latin,Greek,French due to political reasons.For a long time Anglo-Saxon was in usage. They merged as the Britishers began to colonise.Even now English is not a pure language. It has its own mixes
English language is simple and commonly used in international dealings.
It's actually NOT the Number One language in the world, in terms of speakers. The language with the largest number of speakers is Mandarin. On the other hand, English has become the largest second language in the world.
There are multiple reasons for this, but one is the fact that the United States, a nation with the largest number of English-speakers in the world, supported the Allies in the second world war. As Olarenwaju Akinnawo has written (see above), colonisation is another factor, but we need to bear in mind that many English speakers colonised many parts of the world (including my own country, Australia) histocally there were also many other colonising groups who imposed THEIR languages upon those they colonised. To name a few: the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Dutch, the Germans, the French, the Chinese, the Russians, and the list goes on and on and on. All have left their mark on colonised peoples. And there are other factors as well, but I'll leave it at that for now.
Because English is the mother tongue of 380 million people.Many people can easily understand it.
Because English is the mother tongue of 380 million people.Many people can easily understand it. You can easily use it to share your ideas, feelings, and emotions to others.
Еnglush language is much more easier to study, compared to many others languages.
It is used in IT & business a lot. There is also historical reasons due to which English became the most spoken second language in the world.
@Adel Bahameed Several reasons could account for making English language widely adopted. The English ruled several countries, making English-speaking peoples to prosper in the respective countries. As the English were scientifically and technologically more advanced, precious scientific findings were documented in English language. Moreover, the simplicity of English language also contributed to make it widely adopted. However, English is a language, and not an index of intelligence and scientific superiority. Nowadays, important findings are also available in Chinese, Japanese, Russian, etc languages. I think English hegemony may decline sooner or later.
Hello Adel, I believe this has everything to do with the economics and geopolitics of the last two centuries. There are many forms of English spoken across the world today, the most commonly emulated being American English. Even with Britain leaving the EU, press conferences and briefings are still being held in English. How strange. As Chinese economic and geopolitical influence increases, it has long been expected that Mandarin will become, at very least, a diplomatic language of exchange. British colonial institutions, along with American popular culture (Hollywood, music, leading international brands) have made English an expedient language to acquire, if not to learn fluently. Many multinational companies use English as their lingua franca. Who knows, perhaps Artificial Intelligence will one day negate the need to learn a language, though it is always preferable to converse in any language with a feel for culture and idiomatic expression. Language is about genuine, connected communication. And that means anyone's language. Not just English.
Little awareness of Esperanto, the constructed language alive and well for decades of international communication.
Colonialism; here is a good read https://brownpoliticalreview.org/2017/04/linguistic-colonialism-english/
Trade and colonialism. English is a commercial language used in international business. It has the critical mass from a "close cooperation" of four countries - USA, UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Commonwealth also play a role in the spread of English.
Firstly it is colonial expansion at individual or group or nation level to all over the world.
Secondly it is top positions in all world level economy by Englishmen.
Thirdly maximum of educational institutes of high prestige using English as medium.
Fourthly after all above ,it started to be used as Lingual Franca.
Sequel to the the independence of most colonised countries in the world by Britain,there has not been much disaffection in the retention of English for administrative purposes or official language,liguafranca
,where there are several languages,for teaching purposes or as medium of instruction which have been further facilitated through bonds such as The Commonwealth Scholarship,The British Council Scholarship,The Chevennin Scholarship,several grants and Fellowships that enable citizens from outside the UK to study,work and even become UK citizens thereby acquiring the accent.
- May be for being widely used among nations..
- It is said that people of inner earth use Sanskrit and English, however, let us keep scientific... let us ignore this..
- The United Kingdom governed nearly the whole world in the past.. Peoples governed by France still using French till now.. and so on...
- Being used by UN, for example, may has a role setting it as a global language.
- Now, we have a language named Esperanto.. and it was created to be used globally instead of English.. This may really happen in the future... it`s easier than many European languages.. (Well, may be English was created for the same purpose as well in the past... who knows?)
These are just ideas.. we need evidences for them..
I`m giving you keys... and I hope they are helpful.. even for some extent.. It`s other researchers now checking and validating these ideas.
Regards,
it's worth reading books by the Welsh linguist David Crystal, because he explains the phenomenon of massive language loss well. The English had a long history or destroying languages on its own island - Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, and they almost destroyed Welsh until the Welsh fought back for language rights - and of course Irish Gaelic was out under huge pressure.
Welsh activism brought about the THE WELSH LANGUAGE ACT (1993) which brought the language back from the brink.
The Welsh Language Act (1993) afforded equal legal status to the Welsh and English languages and spells out Welsh language rights in every area of life. The legislation covers district or community councils, National Park, Police, Fire and Health authorities, banks and credit unions. In practice this means that these bodies are obliged by law to provide interpreter services and appropriate dual signage when such services are requested.
The Welsh Language Act has been exceedingly successful in the maintenance of the Welsh language and in generally raising educational standards in Wales.
And the British wiped out most of the 250 Indigenous languages in Australia bias their colonisation. Colonising policies are the main culprit. Same thing applies to Spanish colonialism in South America and parts of North America....
All the best Felipe and good wishes, Christine (Dr. Christine Nicholls, Australian National University)
Thank you Dr. Christine Nicholls for your interesting detailed reply.
Christine - A lot of what you say is true: it is indeed very sad when a language gets wiped out by alien invaders. In particular, a wealth of valuable information was lost when the Spanish autorities burned the (majority of) Mayan codices.
Unfortunately, it is an ever-recurring feature of history. But not just the English (and their Anglo-Saxon predecessors) were guilty of leaving the British Celtic languages in a dire state: the Romans must also bear a large proportion of the blame, surely?
The situation with Irish is actually more complicated than you imply: the government there is trying hard to encourage its use, but the majority of people are not very enthusiastic about it.
This discussion would be incomplete without some acknowledgement of the positive efforts of British (and other?) colonists in Africa, and perhaps in parts of Asia? ... Certainly in Africa, British missionaries and the administrative authorities deserve credit for strengthening many of the languages there - by giving them written form, and then by publishing dictionaries, grammars and story-books.
Thanks for this David. And the same applies in Australia - there are many examples of missionaries and linguists et al. working to strengthen Australian (Aboriginal) languages but more examples of people who tried - and succeeded - in eliminating languages and replacing them with English.
Apropos of Australian (Aboriginal) languages English has been a "killer" language, but the same applies to many other languages of peoples who've colonised places worldwide. The Romans of course were instrumental in that process, too, I agree.
I think that the situation in Ireland with Gaelic is almost certainly similar to one significant factor that has causes the loss of about 90% of the original 250 Australian languages (albeit that there are many language revival programs popping up now, but of course these language were never written languages BC - by which I mean 'Before Cook'). The similarity is that speakers of those globally endangered languages have internalised the views of the colonising groups- whose belief was (often, but not always) that their language was superior to those
that they had colonised. But enforcing the use of the colonising language was also a means of controlling the colonised.
Finally, apropos of Spanish, Crawford (1994) wrote that "In 1492, Antonio de Nebrija completed a Castilian grammar book, the first ever
completed of a European language. When he presented it to Queen Isabella and
she asked, "What is it for?" the Bishop of Avila answered for him: "Your
majesty, language is the perfect instrument of empire." Thus began a
300-year attempt by Spanish monarchs to wipe out indigenous languages in the
New World. Yet despite repeated edicts from Madrid, the policy was
frequently ignored by Spanish priests and civil officials who found it
easier to pursue their work through indigenous lingua francas like Nahuatl
and Quechua (Heath 1972)."
So I agree with your point that some missionaries and others did all they could to assist people in retaining their languages, but sadly, and some languages are just hanging on, they haven't won out......
As Crystal has written, any language with under 100,000,000 speakers is global endangered, which includes languages like Cantonese. My feeling is that if we are concerned about eco-diversity, we also need to be concerned about linguistic diversity.
All the best and thank you for your comments, Christine
I presume that colonialism made English number 1 language particularly winning of this competition by British Empire and the fact that one of English colony USA became World superpower... however I am amused by some answers. Thank You.
Following are the reasons:
a) British Colonization of the Countries
b) Introduction of English as an Official Language during colonial rule and continuance even after the freedom also.
c) Introduction of English Literature in course curriculum in all the countries and control of Educational Medium in English.
d) Higher recognition and prestige of the person with the expertise of English.
e) Suppression of local/regional languages by both the Governments and Multinational Companies.
f) Recognition of English as international/ Global/ Link Language.
g) Over all cultural and linguistic politics.
I can't seem to read anything that challenges the idea that English is the N°1 language in the world, probably because we are all English-speakers here, native or not.
I would tend to say that, to answer your question, you first need to establish that English is really the N°1 language of the world and that your views are not biased. The main reason why the answers here are objectively biased is that you asked the question in English to people who speak English and answer in English. You would probably get VERY different answers if you asked a Chinese -speaking group. And that would be extremely interesting.
So I would start, for example with "what does it mean to be the N°1 language?" "For whom, where, when?".
Just a few thoughts.
I wish I could challenge the idea that English is the N° 1 language in the world, Eric, because its supremacy only perpetuates the dominant position of English-speakers that is at the root of its supremacy! The hegemony of English deprives business leaders and political leaders of the benefits of diversity, like innovative and inclusive problem-solving, and confers unearned status on those who master it by birth or education (see Neeley, Tsedal, and Tracy Dumas. "Unearned Status Gain: Evidence from a Global Language Mandate." Academy of Management Journal Vol. 59, No. 1.)
Many people here have spoken my mind. Colonization of many countries and the use of English over indigenous languages as the lingua franca among other factors may have contributed to this assertion.
Thank you Abiola Eunice for your answer. I think that what you wrote is quite right.
I would love for it to be true that English facilitates "democratic" speech and is less prone to social blunders, Neda, but I'm afraid that it only appears that way because English is more socially complicated than beginners realize. Yes, the grammar contains distinctions that can be ignored at a superficial level, but don't try that basic version in educated circles where social blunders and credibility are directly tied to language use.
English is considered to be the world's lingua franca. Therefore, it is obvious to be one of the most commonly used languages in many countries worldwide
No me parece que la razón pueda ser que el inglés tenga una gramática simple. Los motivos son más bien de tipo político/económico. Razones de poder, más que lingüísticas
Tienes razón, Amelina (en gran parte) - aunque el chino también tiene poder, pero su difícil sistema de escribirse será un obstáculo para hacerse una lengua del mundo?
Monopoly over education and business system. English language is a hurdle for poor countries.
English is no better or worse than any other language in the world. It its simply the language of power, spoken by privileged, first world people, who were among the greatest colonisers of poor countries and parts of the world.
Hence others, with good reason, wish to acquire it, so share in that power≥
Unfortunately ENGLISH is also a "killer language" killing off many other languages with fewer speakers as a result of ongoing colonial activity (now more economic than expressing itself in other ways). It has killed off more than 9o% of the original Australian Aboriginal languages, and it is similar in the US.
If we are concerned about biodiversity we must also concern ourselves with linguistic diversity, not just bow to the colonising language
Mandarin, the language of the Han Chinese, is another killer language, along with Spanish, Portuguese, French, you name it, but English is the one one that has managed to establish itself as a global lingua franca.The political dimension to this question needs much more discussion.
With best wishes to all, Christine
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