“English as an international language” Victoriya Yakhina, form 10

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“English as an international language”

Victoriya Yakhina, form 10

The research work is devoted to spreading of English language all over the world and becoming it an international language. The author aims to find out what were the reasons of the stated above occurrences. But the most interesting question which the author tries to reveal is the next: How long can the English language stay the international one? The author has put some tasks for himself: to research as many as possible historical sources and to present his own experience of using English as the international language. The method of the research work is a historical analysis and a personal practice.

The conclusion of this work is in that there are many reasons for learning and using English. And which is more English is an important part of our life we couldn’t except.

Contents:

The introduction…………………………………………………………………….3

The main part:

Chapter 1. Some facts from the history of the British Empire……………………..5

Chapter 2. The role of English language in the modern world……………………...7

Chapter 3. Esperanto, a constructed international language……………………… 10

Chapter 4. My first travel abroad…………………………………………………..12

4.1. Thailand in brief……………………………………………………………….12

4.2. My practice use of English…………………………………………………….14

The conclusion……………………………………………………………………. 16

The list of literature and resources used……………………………………………18

Supplement 1: Map of English-speaking countries

Рецензия

The Introduction

I have been learning English since the third form. It always was a usual thing for me and I treated it as one from the list of school subjects. But two years ago my parents and me visited Thailand and during our trip I understood suddenly and distinctly that everywhere I came I heard not Thai language but English and I was convinced on my own experience that the knowledge of it was necessary as the breath of life in many so different situations. Of course, I’ve heard earlier that English has been called an international language but only by visiting another country I realized in all the way what it means actually and how it is important to understand and most of all to speak English. But at first I would like to find out, why this language became such popular and why in total about one and a half billions persons speak it.(see Supplement 1)

I think the concept "international language" needs the explanatory, too. We will address to the world Wikipedia: «An international auxiliary language (sometimes abbreviated as IAL or auxlang) or interlanguage is a language meant for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language. The term "auxiliary" implies that it is intended to be an additional language for the people of the world, rather than to replace their native languages. Often, the phrase is used to refer to planned or constructed languages proposed specifically to ease worldwide international communication, such as Esperanto, Ido and Interlingua.

There are from 7 to 10 international languages in the modern world. After World War II, and especially from the beginning of 90th years of the XX-th century English became the most widespread international language. »(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The languages which are considered as international have some following signs:

• a large quantity of people considers this language as their native.

• among people for whom this language isn't native, there is a large quantity of the people using it as a foreign or a second language.

• they speak this language in many countries, on several continents and in different cultural circles.

• this language is studied at school as a foreign one in many countries.

• this language is used as an official language by the international organizations, at the international conferences and in the large international firms.

But it is worth noticing that English became international not at once and not in a flash. The historical distribution of the language has a huge value. In the first chapter of my work I would like to pay some attention to this fact.

Chapter 1. Some facts from the history of the British Empire

The main reason of spreading of English language in that hundreds of countries were colonized by British Empire all over the world. Also the English emigrants helped to spread their native language. Figuratively being expressed, England has stretched the cultural and language bridges through the ocean connecting continents.

The basis of the British Empire took place in the beginning of the XVII century with the advent of some small English settlements in the North America and West Indies and the organization of some the private companies for trade with Asia.

Sometimes Great Britain failed in the colonization of islands, but in 1624 such islands as Sent-Kits (1624), Barbados (1627) and Nevis (1628) were colonized successfully.

In 1655 England annexed the Jamaica Island at Spain, and in 1666 successfully colonized the Bahamas.

At the American continent the first permanent English settlement was founded in Jamestown in 1607.

In 1620 the colony Plymouth was founded as a refuge for some of the English religious minority, Puritans, later known as the Pilgrims.

In 1664 England received the control over the Dutch province New Amsterdam (renamed into New York).

In XVIII century England (after 1707 Great Britain) grows in a leading world colonial power.

In 1770 captain James Cook during his research of a Southern part of the Pacific ocean opened the east coast of Australia and proclaimed the continent the property of Britain.

During his travel Cook also visited New Zealand for the first time opened by Dutch

sailor Tasman in 1642, and declared the islands Northern and Southern the property of the British crown in 1769 and 1770.

In 1815-1914 the territory of the British Empire reaches 10 million square miles (25 899 891 km ²), the population increases to 400 million people. At this time, a variety of different areas on all continents is rightly called an empire "on which the sun never sets."

During this epoch Great Britain subordinated to itself also the economy of many formally independent countries and regions such as China, Argentina, Siam. In the second half of XIX century new technologies such as a steam-engine and telegraph appeared and strengthened the Empire, facilitating control and defense problems.

After World War I according to the conditions of the Versailles contract which was signed in 1919, the Empire increased to 1 800 000 square miles (4 662 000 km ²) and to 13 million persons reaching the maximum expansion for all the history.

But in the middle of XX century many colonies managed to get independence and to leave structure of the British Empire. «The Empire end» was marked in 1997 when the solemn ceremony of transfer of the sovereignty over Hong Kong to the Peoples Republic of China took place.

Decades and sometimes centuries of the British boarding and the British immigration have left traces on many independent states all over the world.

English language is native for 400 million people, about one billion speak it as a foreign one, though spreading of the language is connected also with cultural influence of the United States. The British missionaries extended Anglican church on all the continents, nowadays about 77 million members belong to the Anglican community .

In many former parts of the Empire the colonial architecture such as churches, railway stations and the governmental buildings remains till now. The British sports as cricket, Rugby football, a golf, extended all over the Empire, so as the British system of measures and scales, and also the link sided movement.

Chapter 2. The role of English language in the modern world

English language plays a big role in the modern world. Language is a great agent of the homogenization, the wave which transmits the culture. If English becomes the main language of the contact, the consequences of this are obvious: the culture of the English-speaking countries will be dominant all over the world.

The English becomes the first world universal language. It is a native language of 500 million people in 12 countries of the world. This more less than 900 million which speak the mandarin adverb of the Chinese language. But about 600 million people speak English as their second language. And else several hundreds of millions have the certain knowledge of English, which has an official or a half-official status in approximately 62 countries. English is more spread geographically, more universal than Chinese. Today in the world exists approximately 1, 5 billion people speaking English.

The English, being the most teaching language, does not change other languages, but completes them.

- 300 million the Chinese, more than all the population of the United States, study

English language.

- In 90 countries English is either the second language, or widely studied.

- In Hong Kong pupils of nine from ten high schools study English language.

- In France at the state high schools it is necessarily for pupils to study English or German during four years. The majority at least 85 % chooses English.

- In Japan pupils should study English language during six years till the graduating from a high school.

In Russia, where learning of foreign languages for children necessarily, the majority studies English language.

There are a lot of international linguistic schools all over the world teaching English language and their number increases from year to year.

Mass media and transport

English prevails in transport and in mass media. English is a language of journeys and relationships in the international airway. In all the international airports pilots and traffic managers speak English. Five the most largest broadcast companies such as CBS, NBC, HBC, BBC and CBC (Canadian broadcast company) cover the potential auditorium approximately 500 million people translating their programmers in English. It is also a language of the satellite television.

The age of information

The English is a language of the age of information. The computers “speak” English with each other. More than 80% whole information in more than 150 million computers in the whole world is kept in English. Eighty five percents all international telephone talks are made in English, as well as three fourth of the world mails and telegrams. Earlier the language of the science was German, today 85% of all the scientific works are published in English at first. The Internet is hard to imagine without English!

International business

English is a language of international business. When a Japanese businessman makes a deal somewhere in Europe, it’s a great probability that the talks are in English. It is indicated in English on the industrial goods the country them produced: "Made in Germany", but not "Fabriziert in Deutschland". The multinational corporations has chosen this language too. "Datsan" and "Nissan" write their international memorandums in English. "Toyota" provides the courses of English on the work straight. All employees of the companies "Tetrapak", "IBM" are obliged to know English well.

The International language of "Iveko", the Italian producer of lorries is English. "Phillips", the Dutch electronic company, gives all the meetings of directors in English. Even in France, where they keep the low opinion about all the languages, except their one, in the leading school of business they will teach in English now.

Diplomacy

English language changes some dominating during many ages European languages. English has changed the French language as the language of diplomacy, it is the official language of different international organizations which render help, such as Oxfam and "Rescue the children", UNESKO, NATO and UNO.

Official language

The English is an official or a half-official language in twenty African countries, including Sierra-Leone, Nigeria, Liberia and South Africa.

The students are taught in English at the university Makerere in Uganda, at the university Nairobi in Kenya and at the university Dar-es-Salama in Tanzania.

The English is an official language of the World Church Council, of the Olympic games and of the competition "Miss Universe".

Youth culture

The English is a language of the world youth culture. The youth all over the word sings the words from the songs of the groups "The Beatles", "YU-2" (U2), Michel Jackson and Madonna without a full understanding of them. Such words as "break-dance", "rap-music", "bodybuilding", "windsurfing" and "computer-hacking" integrate in the youth slang of the entire world.

Chapter 3. Esperanto, a constructed international language

English is not the only possible language which can be international. There are some constructed languages created to unite people from different countries. For example, one from them is Esperanto.

Esperanto is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto (Esperanto translates as 'one who hopes), the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887. Zamenhof's aim was to create an easy-to-learn and politically neutral language that transcends nationality and would foster peace and international understanding between people with different regional and/or national languages.

Esperanto is spoken in about 115 countries. The first World Congress of Esperanto was organized in France in 1905. Esperanto is currently the language of instruction of the International Academy of Sciences in San Marino. There is evidence that learning Esperanto may provide a superior foundation for learning languages in general, and some primary schools teach it as preparation for learning other foreign languages.

Zamenhof, a creator of Esperanto, was from Bialystok where the inhabitants were divided into four distinct elements: Russians, Poles, Germans and Jews; each of these spoke their own language and looked on all the others as enemies. Zamenhof wrote in his letter to Nikolai Borovko: “I was brought up as an idealist; I was taught that all people were brothers… so I said to myself that when I grew up I would certainly destroy this evil.” That all people speak different languages, he meant.

Esperanto has never been a secondary official language of any recognized country. However, there were plans at the beginning of the 20th century to establish Neutral Moresnet as the world's first Esperanto state. Qian Xuantong, a Chinese linguist, promoted the replacement of Chinese with Esperanto. In addition, the self-proclaimed artificial island micronation of Rose Island used Esperanto as its official language in 1968.

The US Army has published military phrase books in Esperanto, to be used in war games by mock enemy forces. In the summer of 1924, the American Radio Relay League adopted Esperanto as its official international auxiliary language, and hoped that the language would be used by radio amateurs in international communications, but its actual use for radio communications was negligible.

Esperanto is the working language of several non-profit international organizations such as the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda, a left-wing cultural association, or Education@Internet, which has developed from an Esperanto organization; most others are specifically Esperanto organizations. The largest of these, the World Esperanto Association, has an official consultative relationship with the United Nations and UNESCO, which recognized Esperanto as a medium for international understanding in 1954. Esperanto is also the first language of teaching and administration of one university, the International Academy of Sciences San Marino.

Criticism of Esperanto

Esperanto has not yet achieved the hopes of its founder to become a universal second language. The vocabulary and grammar are based on major European languages, and are not universal. Esperanto is not as easy as it could be for speakers of those languages to learn, even though it is much easier to learn than any other European language. Both the grammar and the 'international' vocabulary are difficult for many Asians, among others, and give an unfair advantage to speakers of European languages. Esperanto has no culture. The vocabulary is too large. It makes the language more difficult for non-Europeans than it needs to be. Esperanto is asymmetry in gender formation. So these dislikes of Esperanto don’t help it to become a really international language as it was hoped.

Chapter 4. My first travel abroad

4.1. Thailand in brief

In 2010 my family and I went to our first, but I hope not the last, travel abroad. We visited Thailand.

Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia.

The country is a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Rama IX, the ninth king of the House of Chakri.

The capital and largest city is Bangkok, which is Thailand's political, commercial, industrial and cultural hub. About 75% of the population is ethnically Thai, 14% is of Chinese origin, and 3% is ethnically Malay.

The country's official language is Thai. It’s interesting that there is one more language in Thailald which is called Tinglish. Tinglish (US) or Thaiglish (UK) (also Thenglish, Thailish or Thainglish) is the imperfect form of English produced by native Thai speakers due to language interference from the first language. Differences from 'native' English include different pronunciation, unusual word choices, and grammatical anomalies, as well as innovative vocabulary items.

The primary religion is Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of the population.

Thailand experienced rapid economic growth between 1985 and 1995, and is presently a newly industrialized country and a major exporter. Tourism also contributes significantly to the Thai economy, as the country is home to a number of well-known tourist destinations, including Ayutthaya, Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin and Ko Samui.

In 2007, Thailand was the 18th most visited country in the World Tourism rankings with 14.5 million visitors. France, comparable to Thailand in land area and population, led the list with nearly 82 million foreign visitors.

In 2008, Bangkok ranked 3rd behind London and New York in Euromonitor International's list of "Top City Destinations" with 10,209,900 visitors, Pattaya 23rd with 4,406,300 visitors, Phuket 31st with 3,344,700 visitors, and Chiang Mai ranked 78th place with 1,604,600 visitors.

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, 55% of the tourists in 2007 came from the Asia Pacific region, Japanese and Malaysians forming the two biggest groups. The largest groups of Western tourists come from the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, the United States and Scandinavia. The number of tourists arriving from the Middle East and Russia is on the rise. Around 55% of Thailand's tourists are return visitors. The peak period is during the Christmas and New Year holidays when Western tourists flee the cold conditions.

4.2. My practice use of English

When we arrived in the airport of Thailand, we were met by guides who helped us to be registered, told us about some features of the country, some interesting places and helped us to settle in the hotel. After that they left us tête-à-tête with people who practically didn't know our native language. Some days we were adapting. I worried how we will communicate and express our thoughts to the people who don't speak Russian at all.

But the problem was quickly resolved, as soon as we went downstairs in the restaurant at the hotel. Almost all Thais could speak English, though it was broken. We had some Russian-English and English-Russian phrase-books which we used actively. However, we needed them less with each day, because we have used to such dialogues and have learned the main phrases: «What is your name? », «How to get to …? », «How much does it cost? », «I don't understand you», « I need…», «Help, please! ».

In some days, my younger sister was strongly ill. The father has asked me to go to the restaurant and to ask a lemon with honey. I have gone and thanks to some knowledge of English language, could explain all the situation well. Next day we went to the hospital where it was much more difficult to explain with doctors.

It was very interesting to talk with waiters. Sometimes we ordered the wrong dishes and drinks, because of the small lexicon we had. It was rather funny. It was the same with the taxi drivers; they could take us away to the wrong place. I have met there some foreign tourists. They were from France, Germany, Finland, America and some other countries. They knew English well and laughed at me when I was trying to connect a pair of words. But I was able to make friends with a Thai girl. She was a year older than me, helped her sister with a pavilion, and was very lovely and cheerful. And though I spoke English a bit, we often talked with our fingers. It was pleasant to us that there are some discrepancies in our conversations, we didn't suffer from misunderstanding and in the opposite way it made us laugh.

During that my trip I was convinced in the importance of English language. When you are a tourist the knowledge of an international language helps you to find a necessary house, a stop, a hotel, a shop and so on. Tourists study English language for this reason. I have understood that it is necessary to learn it, it is useful everywhere, therefore I am going to visit other countries to put my knowledge into practice and maybe to make some new friends. To speak and to understand English well is the key to a high-quality rest!

The conclusion

So some questions came up to my mind when I was writing this work. One of them is whether English language can be replaced with any other as an international one sometimes? I suppose that it can’t be. I think English language gets into life of other countries so strongly that it’s hardly to imagine to the end of the century. Maybe, Chinese is very widespread too but its pronunciation, lexicon and grammar rules are so difficult that it would be hard to learn for the most of people. So is Russian. In Thailand I have met a student from Australia, and she told me that she had learned Russian at school. She spoke it not badly and said to me that our language had been difficult enough in comparison with English. That’s why I believe that neither Chinese nor Russian can change English as an international language any time.

The second question is culture. Both American English and British English have a great influence on traditions and customs of people of other countries. Twenty years ago brides didn’t throw their wedding-bouquets to their friends and young people didn’t give each other Valentines cards on the 14^th of February in Russia. We hadn’t got the Independence Day and the head of the state was called the Secretary General. Of course, we imitate the USA at first because an American lifestyle is cultivated into the cultures of other countries through its so popular Hollywood films and also the American songs. Is it good or bad? I think the main thing for us not to forget our own unique Russian culture and traditions and everything is going to be all right.

And the third question. Must we learn English after we finish school or will the school level be enough for us? As for usual life, we hear, we read and even speak English words every day. We don't notice it, because we got used to this phenomenon. If we look attentively we’ll see that the most names of things and subjects, social networks, even medicines are English. Could we refuse all that? It’s obviously that we couldn’t. Contrary we’ll be missed many pleasures, life will become not so usual and comfortable and we’ll feel as if we are cut off from the world. To study English language is both a necessity and a fashion! It’s like a chain reaction. For example, when I misspell some well-known English words or I don’t know them in general, my classmates look at me smiling, and I am ashamed. To be a modern, well-educated person I must learn and improve my English every day. I do it learning a lot of English songs by heart. It helps me to increase my vocabulary. And as I said earlier I dream to travel around the world and knowing of English is the key to the world. I think I’ve answered the question if we had to learn this language.

The list of literature and resources used

1. «Большая Энциклопедия Кирилла и Мефодия 2008» (2 CD – ROM)

2. Кауфман К.И., Кауфман М.Ю., «Happy English.ru». – учебник англ. яз. для 8 кл. общеобраз. учрежд. – Обнинск: Титул, 2007. – 256 с.

3. О Британии вкратце. / Сост. В.В. Ощепкова, И.И. Шустилова. – М.: Просвещение, 1993. – 157 с.

4. http://ru.wikipedia.org/

5. http://www.5english.ru/

6. http://www.misesperanto.narod.ru/

7. http://enative.narod.ru/

8. http://www.homeenglish.ru/

9. http://www.tgt.ru/map-history-zoom.php/