English as the Global Language

Steve Torok, a Hungarian living in Thailand, opposes English as the international language. I am afraid that, like it or not, English is the global language.  Siegfried Ramler writes: There is no doubt that English will continue to maintain its role as the dominant international language and as the key second language studied in nations outside the English speaking regions of the world.  At a tier below English there will be only two other languages with international outreach and impact: Chinese and Spanish, due to such factors as numbers of speakers and economic power.  Other languages, such as German, French, Russian and Japanese, will, of course, maintain their function as the national medium of communication and as repositories of literature and cultural traditions.  However, they will have only limited usage when it comes to international transactions.  When I recently lectured to graduate students at the international law institute of Peking University, I was told by the professor in charge that the entire course was conducted in English. He said that these students in their careers will function from an English speaking platform and that their studies should reflect that reality.

This phenomenon of English language dominance, while inevitable and certainly comfortable for the English speaker, also has negative consequences. The English speaking tourist or businessman displays, intentionally or not, some arrogance when there is always an expectation that transactions be conducted in English. And, of course, we are impoverished when we are limited to monolingual behavior.  To quote Goethe, "wer keine anderen Sprachen kennt, weiss nichts von seiner eigenen."  ( "He who knows no other languages, knows nothing of his own.")

RH: Can someone provide figures on the knowledge of English in Arab and other Muslim countries?The alphabet is a problem. In medieval Spain there were Arabic document written in the Roman alphabet, but I have not heard of that in modern times.  Does Ed Jajko have any comment?

From India, Madhukar N. Gogate writes: For the last over 50 years, English has been in use as a global  language in the following matters.

(1) All export products carry markings MADE  IN XYZ (name of country) in English.
(2) All pilots flying over any country communicate with airport control rooms in English.
(3) At all International airports, the annnouncements, signboards, disembarkation cards etc are in local language (if not English) and English.
(4) Though the UN is multi-lingual, the name boards of countries on delegates' desks are in English.

Another point. Esperanto seems to be a contender for Global Language status. It has many newspapers, radion stations, Unesco recognition. Details should be obtained and checked.

RH: I would be interested in any ideas Madhukar N. Gogate has about simplifying English spelling.  We have basic English, now we need basic spelling.

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