The Popularity of EnglishI. Present status of EnglishA

The Popularity of English
    Good morning, everyone!
    Today’s lecture is about the popularity of English. As we all know, English is widely used in the world. Although English is not the language with the largest number of native or first language speakers, it has really become a lingua franca. Then what is a lingua franca? The term refers to a language which is widely adopted for communication between two speakers whose native languages are different from each other’s, and where one or both speakers are using it as a second language. For example, when an Indian talks to a Singaporean using English, then English is the lingua franca. Then actually how many people speak English as either a first or a second language? Some researchers suggested a few years ago that between 320 to 380 million people spoke English as a first language and anywhere between 250 to 350 million as a second language. And of course if we include people who are learning English as a foreign language all over the world, that number may increase dramatically.
    Then we may ask a question, "How did English get there?" That is "How did English gain the present status of popularity?" There are, in fact, a number of interlocking reasons for the popularity of English as a lingua franca. Many of the reasons are historical, but they also include economic and cultural factors that have influenced and sustained the spread of the language. Let’s go through the reasons one by one. First is the historical reason. This is related to the colonial history. As we know when the Pilgrim Fathers landed on the Massachusetts Coast in 1620 after their journey from England, they brought with them not just a set of the religious beliefs, a pioneering spirit or a desire for colonization, but also their language. Although many years later the Americans broke away from their colonial master, the language of English remained and still does. It was the same in Australia, too. When Commander Phillip planted the British flag in Sidney Cove on the 26th of January, 1788, it was not just a bunch of British convicts and their guardians, but also a language. In other parts of the former British Empire, English rapidly became a unifying or dominating means of control. For example, it became a lingua franca in India where a variety of indigenous languages made the use of any one of them as a whole country system problematic. So the imposition of English as the one language of administration helped maintain the colonizers’ control and power. Thus English travelled around many parts of the world in those days. And long after that colonial power has faded away, it is still widely used as a main or at least an institutional language in countries as far apart as Jamaica and Pakistan, Uganda and New Zealand. That is the first factor.
    Now the second major factor in the spread of English has been the spread of commerce throughout the world. The spread of international commerce has taken English along with it. This is the 20th century phenomenon of globalization. Therefore, one of the first sights many travelers see when arriving in countries as diverse as Brazil, China, for example, is the yellow twin-arched sign of a McDonald’s fast food restaurant or some other famous brands’ outlets. And without doubt, English is used as the language of communication in the international business community.
    And the third factor related to the popular use of English is the boom in international travel. And you will find that much travel and tourism is carried on around the world in English. Of course, this is not always the case, as the multilingualism of many tourism workers in different countries demonstrate. But a visit to most airports on the globe will show signs not only in the language of that country, but also in English, just as many airline announcements are broadcast in English, too, whatever the language of the country the airport is situated in. So far, English is also the preferred language of air traffic control in many countries and is used widely in sea travel communication.
    Another factor has something to do with information exchange around the world. As we all know, a great deal of academic discourse around the world takes place in English. It is often a lingua franca of conferences, for example. And many journal articles in fields as diverse as astronomy, child’s psychology and zoology have English as a kind of default language.
    The last factor I cite here concerns popular culture. In the western world at least, English is a dominating language in popular culture. Pop music in English can be heard on many radios. Thus many people who are not English speakers can sing words from their favorite English medium songs. And many people who are regular cinema goers or TV viewers can frequently hear English in subtitled films coming out of the USA.
    Now, to sum up, in today’s lecture we have reviewed some of the reasons or factors that lie behind the popular use of English as the No. 1 world language. Before we finish, I would like to leave a few questions for you to think about. Is the status of English as the No. 1 world language assured in the future? Will it split into varieties that become less mutually intelligible? Or will some other language or languages take the place of English as world language in future? These questions are not easy to answer, I know. But they are definitely worth pondering over after the lecture. OK, this brings us to the end of today’s lecture. Thank you for your attention!