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The Role of English in the XXI Century
The global spread of English over the last forty years is remarkable. It is unprecedented in several ways: by the increasing number of users of the language; by its depth of penetration into societies; by its range of functions.
Worldwide over 1.4 billion people live in countries where English has official status. One out five of the world's population speaks English with some degree of competence. By 2010, the number of people who speak English as a second or foreign language will exceed the number of native speakers. This trend will certainly affect the language. English is used for more purposes than ever before. Vocabularies, grammatical forms, and ways of speaking and writing have emerged influenced by technological and scientific developments, economics and management, mature and entertainment genres. What began some 1500 years ago as a rude language, originally spoken by obscure Germanic tribes who invaded England, now encompasses the globe.
When Mexican pilots land their airplanes in France, they and the ground controllers use English. When German physicists want to alert the international scientific community to new discoveries, they first publish their findings in English. When Japanese executives conduct business with Scandinavian entrepreneurs, they negotiate in English. When pop singers write their songs, they often use lyrics or phrases in English. When demonstrators want to alert the world to their problems, they display signs in English.
Three factors continue to contribute to this spread of English: English usage in science, technology and commerce; the ability to incorporate vocabulary from other languages; and the acceptability of various English dialects.
English, like many languages, uses a phonetic alphabet and fairly basic syntax. But most importantly, it has a large and extensive vocabulary, of which about eighty percent is foreign. Therefore, it has cognates from virtually every language in Europe and has borrowed and continues to borrow words from Spanish and French, Hebrew and Arabic, Hindi-Urdu and Bengali, Malay and Chinese, as well as languages from West Africa and Polynesia. This language characteristic makes it unique in history.
Finally, no English language central authority guards the purity of the language, therefore, many dialects have developed: American, British, Canadian, Indian and Australian, to name a few. There is no standard pronunciation. But within this diversity is a unity of grammar and one set of core vocabulary. Thus, each country that speaks the language can inject aspects of its own culture into the usage and vocabulary.
1. Find the information relating to:
1) the facts speaking of the global spread of English;
2) the reason why English can be understood by people speaking other languages, not only European ones;
3) the examples of wide use of English in everyday life, business and science;
4) the factors that influence the spread of the language;
5) the reason of developing different dialects on the
basis of English.
2. Search the text and vocabulary for the English equivalents of the sentences listed below:
1. В скором времени носителей языка будет меньше, чем людей, для которых английский язык является вторым языком общения.
2. Роль английского языка в современном мире беспрецедентна.
3. Количество публикаций на английском языке превышает все остальные публикации.
4. Все международные переговоры ведутся на английском языке.
5. Для осуществления деловых отношений также необходимо знание английского языка.
6. В разных европейских языках много слов общего происхождения.
7. Уникальной чертой английского языка является то, что около восьмидесяти процентов слов - иностранного происхождения.
8. В разных диалектах существуют варианты произношений одного слова.
9. Английский язык характеризует способность включать в свой словарь лексические единицы другого языка.
10. Большинство слов английского языка заимствовано из других языков.
3. Paraphrase the following:
1. It is unprecedented. 2. The language encompassed the globe. 3. Native speakers. 4. The number of people will exceed one million. 5. Scandinavian entrepreneurs. 6. They negotiate in English. 7. The language is unique. 8. The scientists publish their findings in English. 9. No English language central authority guards the purity of the language. 10. The diversity of dialects.
4. Ask one of the students:
1) how many people in the world use English as an official language;
2) if the number of native speakers will be less than that of people who speak English as a second or foreign language;
3) what contributes to the spread of English through out the world;
4) what social factors influenced the development of the language as an international one;
5) what examples can he (she) give to illustrate the use of English by foreign specialists;
6) what percent of the English vocabulary is foreign by origin;
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