English is the second or third most widely spoken language in the world today. A total of 600–700 million people use the various dialects of English regularly.
Notice the word "dialect". Are you aware that Cambrige University sometimes includes Tok Pisin in its equation? It might be English, but I still can't understand it.
About 377 million people use one of the versions of English as their mother tongue, and an equal number of people use them as their second or foreign language.
And how many know more than one dialect, or how to avoid confusion caused by words with different meanings in different countries, such as even the simples words like "fag" and "billion". I mean, for crying out loud, what other language has two meanings for a MATHEMATICAL NUMBER.
English is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world.
And le't look at the consequences:
1. Legal I myslef have had to see lawyers once (not cheap), nearly openned a case (on another occasion) and had to rewrite a contract on yet a third! because the people who were writing this legal contract (all of whom had degrees in English!). had missed various subtleties of the language.
2. General Communication Breakdown
I was eating wiht a fluent teacher of English in a restaurant a few years ago, when I then struck up a conversation with a Pakistani sitting next to us. We talked for about five minutes before the teacher and I finally left. Upon leaving the restaurant, the teacher asked if the Pakistani was speaking in English. I answered yes, and she said: "I thought so, since you were always answering in English."
Shocked, I asked if she had understood a word he had said, and her answer was: "I would never have guessed that he was even speaking in English had you not been there."
In an official meeting in Hefei, communication broke down when the interpreter, with a Master's degree in English, could understand neither Cameroonian nor Australian English, at least during the first fifteem minutes of teh meeting. So I had to intervene for the first few minutes by interpreting from Cameroonian to Canadian, and on some occasions help with some Australian word pronunciations until her ear could start adjusting.
In a restaurant in Beijing in the Summer of 2004, a French woman got into an argument with the waiter because he could not understand her English (she thought he was mocking her English).
During a meeting in Beijing during the same week, in which language experts, including some higher level government officials and experts working for the European government, from various countries had gathered to discuss international language politics, we had speakers speaking in Esperanto, Chinese and "Japanese British English" (i.e. British English with a Japanese accent along with some japanese idiomatic English), along with a Chinese interpreter from US Chinglish (i.e. A Chinese who has learnt US English, but with a Chinese influence) and a British (native English speaker) to Esperanto interpreter who lived in Japan.
A Chinese friend sitting next to me, after having listened to the speech from the Japanese lady, had told me that the translation from English to Esperanto was much better than that of English to Chinese.
Later, once we'd met the British interpreter, he had explained that, having lived in Japan for awhile, he'd learnt how to adjust for the Japanese English in his interpretation.
3. Ethnic Conflict
In China, English is enerally perceived as a white language, whenever a Chinese sees a person with white skin, he will normally automatically address him in English, even if "Hello" is the only word he knows. Now here's the problem. Some Chinese from Northwestern China, are in fact caucasian; needless to say when they are in Beijing and hear "Hello", they are a tad offended by it since it suggests that they are foreigners. Apparently, beijing newspapers have tried educating people about this so it might have improved since then, 2002. I've also met Belgians who do not take kindly to strangers juast assuming they can speak English. In one case on a bus, a Chinese tried to strike up a conversation with one Belgian, in english. The Belgian, in Chinese (he was studying Chinese at a local univisity) answered: "Do I look British?"
Chinese: "I don't know."
He: "Well, I'm not; I'm Belgian. Are you British?"
Chinese: "No."
He: "So if you're Chinese, and I'm Belgian, the we can eitehr speak in Chinese or French." The Chinese passenger chose Chinese, and I laughed.
In addition, many white Chinese, Russians, Frenchmen and others (some with very bad English) can find teaching jobs very easily, while Canadians, Americans and Britons with yellow skin have a hard time with it. This has likewsie lead to racial tensions over language. I've known of a few cases of white staff either walking out or threatening to walk out upon learning of their employer's whites only, or no-blacks or no-yellows policies (and yes, they will discriminate against their own since they perceive English to be an exclusively white language). This has also lead to native speakers of English prefering to speak in any language other than English on their own time as a kind of protest against such racism (needless to say, this is of great benefit to those Chinese learning French, Spanish or other popular second languages in Englsih speaking countries, since they are the ones with whom the foreigners usually end up making friends outside of work).
In addition, the language has occupied a primary place in international academic and business communities.
To some extent; but again, many academicians still can't speak English.
The current status of the English language at the start of the new millennium compares with that of Latin in the past.
Similar, but with a difference. Back then, it was fine if only the elites could speak Latin. Today, with the advent of new philosophies increasingly placing emphasis the notion of the "right to communicate", limiting the bridge language to the elites only leads to heightennedconflicts. In Chinese internet forums, for instance, China's English language policy is increasingly being challenged as creating a world of linguistic haves and have-nots contributing to China's finest talents leaving the country and contributing to the economies of English-speaking coutries, as well as giving significant economic advantages to the upper classes who have access to more highly qualified teachers over those of the poorer classes who can't afford such teachers.
This perception that native speakers have an unfair advantage in the world has also lead to a certain bigotry envy, which again doesn't contribute to healthy racial and ethnic relations in China.
English is also the most widely used language for young backpackers who travel across continents, regardless of whether it is their mother tongue or a secondary language.
And this is about the only use for which it doeasn't cause too many problems. But remember, "ackpacker English"doesn't require a high level of language ability.
Notice the word "dialect". Are you aware that Cambrige University sometimes includes Tok Pisin in its equation? It might be English, but I still can't understand it.
About 377 million people use one of the versions of English as their mother tongue, and an equal number of people use them as their second or foreign language.
And how many know more than one dialect, or how to avoid confusion caused by words with different meanings in different countries, such as even the simples words like "fag" and "billion". I mean, for crying out loud, what other language has two meanings for a MATHEMATICAL NUMBER.
English is used widely in either the public or private sphere in more than 100 countries all over the world.
And le't look at the consequences:
1. Legal I myslef have had to see lawyers once (not cheap), nearly openned a case (on another occasion) and had to rewrite a contract on yet a third! because the people who were writing this legal contract (all of whom had degrees in English!). had missed various subtleties of the language.
2. General Communication Breakdown
I was eating wiht a fluent teacher of English in a restaurant a few years ago, when I then struck up a conversation with a Pakistani sitting next to us. We talked for about five minutes before the teacher and I finally left. Upon leaving the restaurant, the teacher asked if the Pakistani was speaking in English. I answered yes, and she said: "I thought so, since you were always answering in English."
Shocked, I asked if she had understood a word he had said, and her answer was: "I would never have guessed that he was even speaking in English had you not been there."
In an official meeting in Hefei, communication broke down when the interpreter, with a Master's degree in English, could understand neither Cameroonian nor Australian English, at least during the first fifteem minutes of teh meeting. So I had to intervene for the first few minutes by interpreting from Cameroonian to Canadian, and on some occasions help with some Australian word pronunciations until her ear could start adjusting.
In a restaurant in Beijing in the Summer of 2004, a French woman got into an argument with the waiter because he could not understand her English (she thought he was mocking her English).
During a meeting in Beijing during the same week, in which language experts, including some higher level government officials and experts working for the European government, from various countries had gathered to discuss international language politics, we had speakers speaking in Esperanto, Chinese and "Japanese British English" (i.e. British English with a Japanese accent along with some japanese idiomatic English), along with a Chinese interpreter from US Chinglish (i.e. A Chinese who has learnt US English, but with a Chinese influence) and a British (native English speaker) to Esperanto interpreter who lived in Japan.
A Chinese friend sitting next to me, after having listened to the speech from the Japanese lady, had told me that the translation from English to Esperanto was much better than that of English to Chinese.
Later, once we'd met the British interpreter, he had explained that, having lived in Japan for awhile, he'd learnt how to adjust for the Japanese English in his interpretation.
3. Ethnic Conflict
In China, English is enerally perceived as a white language, whenever a Chinese sees a person with white skin, he will normally automatically address him in English, even if "Hello" is the only word he knows. Now here's the problem. Some Chinese from Northwestern China, are in fact caucasian; needless to say when they are in Beijing and hear "Hello", they are a tad offended by it since it suggests that they are foreigners. Apparently, beijing newspapers have tried educating people about this so it might have improved since then, 2002. I've also met Belgians who do not take kindly to strangers juast assuming they can speak English. In one case on a bus, a Chinese tried to strike up a conversation with one Belgian, in english. The Belgian, in Chinese (he was studying Chinese at a local univisity) answered: "Do I look British?"
Chinese: "I don't know."
He: "Well, I'm not; I'm Belgian. Are you British?"
Chinese: "No."
He: "So if you're Chinese, and I'm Belgian, the we can eitehr speak in Chinese or French." The Chinese passenger chose Chinese, and I laughed.
In addition, many white Chinese, Russians, Frenchmen and others (some with very bad English) can find teaching jobs very easily, while Canadians, Americans and Britons with yellow skin have a hard time with it. This has likewsie lead to racial tensions over language. I've known of a few cases of white staff either walking out or threatening to walk out upon learning of their employer's whites only, or no-blacks or no-yellows policies (and yes, they will discriminate against their own since they perceive English to be an exclusively white language). This has also lead to native speakers of English prefering to speak in any language other than English on their own time as a kind of protest against such racism (needless to say, this is of great benefit to those Chinese learning French, Spanish or other popular second languages in Englsih speaking countries, since they are the ones with whom the foreigners usually end up making friends outside of work).
In addition, the language has occupied a primary place in international academic and business communities.
To some extent; but again, many academicians still can't speak English.
The current status of the English language at the start of the new millennium compares with that of Latin in the past.
Similar, but with a difference. Back then, it was fine if only the elites could speak Latin. Today, with the advent of new philosophies increasingly placing emphasis the notion of the "right to communicate", limiting the bridge language to the elites only leads to heightennedconflicts. In Chinese internet forums, for instance, China's English language policy is increasingly being challenged as creating a world of linguistic haves and have-nots contributing to China's finest talents leaving the country and contributing to the economies of English-speaking coutries, as well as giving significant economic advantages to the upper classes who have access to more highly qualified teachers over those of the poorer classes who can't afford such teachers.
This perception that native speakers have an unfair advantage in the world has also lead to a certain bigotry envy, which again doesn't contribute to healthy racial and ethnic relations in China.
English is also the most widely used language for young backpackers who travel across continents, regardless of whether it is their mother tongue or a secondary language.
And this is about the only use for which it doeasn't cause too many problems. But remember, "ackpacker English"doesn't require a high level of language ability.
