English is known as our
global language, what is global language? Based on David crystal, “A language
achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is
recognize in every country” (Crystal, 2003).
Knowing that language boundaries have become one of the obstacles
in communicating with different people who have different thoughts, global
languages have become an effective way to communicate throughout the world
without any language boundaries. The simplicity and flexibility of
English language is capable in turning English into an international language
used by hundreds of countries. English have become a good thing for certain
learnings such as mathematics and science, but not great news for the world’s
literature.
English today have a ‘lingua franca’, a language that allows
people from different cultural backgrounds to communicate. The establishment of
this global language is when it was spoken by people who have great
power. The influence of a language globally dominating the world are
because of three main factors: number of countries that uses the language, the
number of countries that turns it into their main language, and the number of
school who uses the language to deliver lessons. Languages are not independent.
Certain languages will become a lingua franca if the speakers have political or
economical power to expand their language (Mastin,
2011).
The expansion of English language started at the 20th century
when countries demanded nationalism, and that is by having their own pride to
their national language and literature. In this state, every person spoke in
their own language to honor their nationality. Which brings inventors of global
languages to invent a constructed language that can be used internationally.
The most famous constructed language is Esperanto, however, only a few who
learnt it. Then, another language expands, which were spoken by diplomats,
politicians, artists, businessman and more. This language was influenced by the
rise of Great Britain bringing English language to the world (BBC, 2010).
The fact that English have become our global language has created
both pro and contra sides in cultural perspectives. English have become one of
our main causes that could create a strong bond between countries. But on the
other hand, there are some concerns regarding in having a global language. One of them is the risk of the increase in adopting English as a
main language of a country. This could lead to the disappearance of minor languages,
or even all languages around the world that could also endanger cultural
literatures. In David Crystal's thesis about ‘English as a Global Language’, he
wrote:
Perhaps the presence of a global
language will make people lazy about learning other languages, or reduce their
opportunities to do so. Perhaps a global language will hasten the disappearance
of minority languages, or-the ultimate threat – make all other
languages unnecessary. ‘A person needs only one language to talk to someone
else’, it is sometimes argued, ‘and once a world language is in place, other
languages will simply die away’. (Crystal, 2003)
Other concerns are that natural speakers of the global language
have more advantages than people who learned it as their second language. This
could threaten the freedom of speech and creates laziness for people to learn
other languages, because people are more focused in sharpening their global
languages in order to communicate with each other.
In life, there will always we minorities and majorities, leaders
and followers that separate people into different groups. The presence of
global language couldn’t be avoided, because most majorities have the power to
expand and change the world. In this case, people should have the capability to
not only study global languages but also to hold on tight to their own
nationalism.
-Nabila Prihandina Purwanto, Geofisika, 1506740925
Reference List:
· Crystal,
D. (2003). English as a global language. Retrieved from http://www.sprachshop.com/sixcms/media.php/811/English_as_a_grobal_lang_sample_ch.pdf
·
·
How
english evolved into a global language. (2010, December 20). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12017753
·
Mastin, L.
(2011). English as a global language. Retrieved from http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/issues_global.html
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