Why is it important to learn English? Why does it seem English is spoken everywhere?I gave those questions very serious thought, and even asked other people. I forgot who suggested it, but the idea that the British had a worldwide empire certainly contributed to the fact that English is nearly universal. But even though the British Empire began to fade after World War II, it is still an important language, and it is still spoken in its former colonies.This story will introduce yet another reason English spoken almost everywhere: Once, at a scientific conference, a French scientist complained, "Why are these conferences always held in English? Why do we always have to talk about science like Americans?" An American scientist walked up to him, and said, "Because if it wasn't for us Americans, we'd be having this conference in German!" I'm talking about the American soldier...Everywhere soldiers go, they make friends with children. They borrow words, and leave word behind. American soldiers have been almost every single place on earth. Since the 1890's, in war and in peace, the American soldier has visited probably every single country in the world. Did you know that the most popular - most used - foreign word in the world is "OK", an American word?Who introduced world wide telegraph, radio and television? The Americans. So, of course, their language would spread the fastest. Americans didn't invent the movie, but they did spread movies and movie making around the world. The same goes for automobiles. The inventor of the phonograph was an American, as was the inventor of the telegraph, the telephone, and the radio. So, being responsible for all these communication devices, it should come as no surprise that the English language is spoken almost everywhere.I'd like to hear what you all think of this. So I will wait to tell what I think is the final piece of the story of how English became so popular.
You just reminded me of the difference between AmE (American English) and BrE (British English). Some say AmE is more popular now, but some other people prefer BrE. There're more BrE books here than AmE ones here where I live (especially Cambridge and Oxford). Most learners here might be totally unware of the difference. Should they need to know the difference when they are learning?
Expextor: That blog raised some very interesting points about whether English might replace all other languages. Here in the United States, when we teach immigrants English, we always refer to the classes as classes in "English as a second language", because we have no desire to wipe away a foreign language. In fact, since the birth of our nation, the American English language has probably borrowed thousands of words from other languages.
I like to think of English as more of a lingua franca, a "language that is widely used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages".
After fall of British Empire I think developments in science and technology ( which mostly happened in U.S.) is the single most powerful factor in spread of English language. Hollywood is the world's largest film industry. Even those people in my country, Pakistan, who don't understand English go to cinemas to watch Hollywood movies and these people do catch the simple words like OK, sorry and excuse me and use them in their daily conversations. However, I will also point to the fact, that main reason the English is popular in subcontinent (INDIA and PAKISTAN), is because this is a former British colony. After matriculation (10th standard) the whole educational system is in English, so we have to learn it some how. Here we do not have medical, engineering, law etc. books translated in our native languages, commonly. So we have to study English. And this is all because our educational system is still based on what Britons left for us. The other main reason that American English is common, is I guess, is the popularity of internet. I guess, all the giant internet search engines belongs to Americans( by the way I'm not very sure who are the owners of internet search engines). So people, specially the younger generation is interested in learning English. The other thing here is that rich people usually sent their children abroad for higher studies, preferably to U.K. and U.S. so when these people come back home, they are like half English or half American. These people no doubt constitute a larger portion of high society and they are trend setters most of the time. Young people from middle and lower middle class try to copy them; they want to eat like them, they want to dress like them and of course they want to speak like them!
I also agree with other factors that you've mentioned in your blog; however I doubt that American Soldier is one of the main reasons for the popularity of American English (but of course I might be wrong totally cuz I haven't researched on this topic like you have done).
Thanks a lot for this wonderful and interesting blog, Frank! I also want to see what others think about this.
Once my teacher at the university asked a question: "Why English is so popular?". Everybody suggested different answers including the information you've given in your blog post but...the teacher said it was not the correct answer and he never told us the right one, so I'm still curious.
Comments
Hi Frank,
You just reminded me of the difference between AmE (American English) and BrE (British English). Some say AmE is more popular now, but some other people prefer BrE. There're more BrE books here than AmE ones here where I live (especially Cambridge and Oxford). Most learners here might be totally unware of the difference. Should they need to know the difference when they are learning?
Cheers,
Expetor
I like to think of English as more of a lingua franca, a "language that is widely used as a means of communication among speakers of other languages".
After fall of British Empire I think developments in science and technology ( which mostly happened in U.S.) is the single most powerful factor in spread of English language. Hollywood is the world's largest film industry. Even those people in my country, Pakistan, who don't understand English go to cinemas to watch Hollywood movies and these people do catch the simple words like OK, sorry and excuse me and use them in their daily conversations. However, I will also point to the fact, that main reason the English is popular in subcontinent (INDIA and PAKISTAN), is because this is a former British colony. After matriculation (10th standard) the whole educational system is in English, so we have to learn it some how. Here we do not have medical, engineering, law etc. books translated in our native languages, commonly. So we have to study English. And this is all because our educational system is still based on what Britons left for us. The other main reason that American English is common, is I guess, is the popularity of internet. I guess, all the giant internet search engines belongs to Americans( by the way I'm not very sure who are the owners of internet search engines). So people, specially the younger generation is interested in learning English. The other thing here is that rich people usually sent their children abroad for higher studies, preferably to U.K. and U.S. so when these people come back home, they are like half English or half American. These people no doubt constitute a larger portion of high society and they are trend setters most of the time. Young people from middle and lower middle class try to copy them; they want to eat like them, they want to dress like them and of course they want to speak like them!
I also agree with other factors that you've mentioned in your blog; however I doubt that American Soldier is one of the main reasons for the popularity of American English (but of course I might be wrong totally cuz I haven't researched on this topic like you have done).
Thanks a lot for this wonderful and interesting blog, Frank! I also want to see what others think about this.
Have a great time!