In this era of globalization English is the most influential language all over the world. It has achieved its prestigious status of being an international language because of its multifarious importance especially in the field of global communication and its pregnant role of making the world closer to each and everyone. As global communication expands throughout the world, so does the need for a global language. A language that is recognized and understood by people everywhere in the world is considered a global language. In many parts of the world English language has been established. It is the mother tongue of the people of England, United States of America, Australia and some other countries. It is the world's second largest native language, the official or semi-official language in more than 70 countries, and English-speaking countries are responsible for about 40% of world's total GNP.
Literally, English first began to spread during the 16th century with British Empire and was strongly reinforced in 20th by USA's world domination in economic, political and military aspects and by the huge influence of American movies. Now English can be at least understood almost everywhere among scholars and educated people, as it is the world media language, and the language of cinema, TV, pop music and the computer world. All over the planet people know many English words, their pronunciation and meaning. So, the concept of a Universal Language is more significant now, in the era of world mass communication. The causes for this universality are very well known and understandable.
Today's world has been confined within the grip of the human beings. The closer and closer the world becomes the more necessary the global language should appear. It is certain that English is very dominant in the world. According to Seth Mydans, David Graddol says that on the Internet, 80 per cent data are written in English, and although the numbers of native speakers of Chinese, Spanish, or Hindi are larger than the number of native English speakers, conversations between such different language speakers are held in English. So one question may arise to someone: Is English the global language?
According to Crystal, "What makes a language the global language is not the number of people who speak the language but the power of the speakers. I agree that power plays an important role in making a language the global language, but I don't think the number of its speakers is not important. For example, in the Vatican, which has huge power in religion and politics, Italian is spoken. On the other hand, is Italian the global language? Of course, the answer is No. The reason why is, I think, that the number of people who speak Italian is much smaller than the number of people who speak English, French, German or so on. Considering this fact, I am sure that the number of speakers also plays an important role in making a language the global language".
But here the interesting fact is that there is no official definition of "global" or "world" language, it essentially refers to a language that is learned and spoken internationally, and is characterized not only by the number of its native and second language speakers, but also by its geographical distribution, and its use in international organizations and in diplomatic relations. A global language acts as a "lingua franca", a common language that enables people from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities to communicate on a more or less equitable basis.
Historically, the essential factor for the establishment of a global language is that it is spoken by those who wield power. Latin was the lingua franca of its time, although it was only ever a minority language within the Roman Empire as a whole. Crucially, though, it was the language of the powerful leaders and administrators and of the Roman military - and, later, of the ecclesiastical power of the Roman Catholic Church - and this is what drove its rise to (arguably) global language status. Thus, language can be said to have no independent existence of its own, and a particular language only dominates when its speakers dominate and, by extension, fails when the people who speak it fail.
But, the influence of any language is a combination of three main things: the number of countries using it as their first language or mother-tongue, the number of countries adopting it as their official language, and the number of countries teaching it as their foreign language of choice in schools. The intrinsic structural qualities of a language, the size of its vocabulary, the quality of its literature throughout history, and its association with great cultures or religions, are all important factors in the popularity of any language. But, at base, history shows us that a language becomes a global language mainly due to the political power of its native speakers, and the economic power with which it is able to maintain and expand its position.
With the passage of time, people around the world are continuously getting connected with this language. But it is often argued that the modern "global village" needs a "global language". It is obvious particularly in a world of modern communications, globalized trade and easy international travel that a single lingua franca has never been more important. With the advent since 1945 of large international bodies such as the United Nations and its various offshoots - the UN now has over 50 different agencies and programs from the World Bank, World Health Organization and UNICEF to more obscure arms like the Universal Postal Union - as well as collective organizations such as the Commonwealth and the European Union, the pressure to establish a worldwide lingua franca has never been greater. As just one example of why a lingua franca is useful, consider that up to one-third of the administration costs of the European Community are taken up by translations into the various member languages. Now it is time to clear the vagueness of backdated thinking and obviously after the certain period of time, to take the challenges and to meet the current demands English has to be considered as the global language for its uniqueness.
At present, people all over world are enjoying the benefits of using English as a global language. So, learning English is very important for the development in all spheres of life. We cannot expose our talent, quality, and efficiency in international sector if we do not know English. Higher education is a nightmarish desire for those who do not have good command over English as all the important books for higher education are written in English. Moreover, today more than 80% of all information in the world's computers and internet is in English. In today's world learning English is playing a significant role as a gateway to higher education. Most of the renowned magazines and newspapers of the world are written in English. If we want to keep in touch with the current international affairs, we must learn English. Besides, English helps us to get good jobs and handsome salaries.
With the progress of globalization one certain fact has become a common phenomenon in the world that most of the well established organizations seek employees who can speak and write in a standard form of English. English is essential for trade, commerce and industrial development of a country. Thus, English has achieved the status of an international language. It is good news for us that most of the developing countries of the world are now putting emphasis on teaching English in schools and colleges. But if we cannot nurture our talent from the very beginning of the harvesting time, all our efforts will be nipped in the bud.
Now, in the 21st century we live in a truly global society, where communication with almost every part of the world is possible. In today's global world, the importance of English cannot be denied and ignored since English is the most common language spoken everywhere. With the help of developing technology, English has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, and education, which, we think is the most important arena where English is needed. The spread of English as the language of international business has made it more important than ever before for people working with colleagues, clients and partners from other countries to understand each other, so that they can form effective and productive working relationships.
To fulfil the demands of modern employers, everyone from university graduates to senior managers must be able to use English for work. Effective internal and external communication is essential to the success of any business, but professionals who need to communicate with each other as non-native English speakers can greatly benefit from learning Business English.
According to the linguists' opinion there are almost 6,800 languages spoken in the world today. Here we can refer the interesting fact of China. Interestingly among the population in China, Mandarin is considered to be the most widely spoken language. Thus, Mandarin stands first as a language used by the largest number of population in China, but it is never a language of international communication. This language is useless outside the world of China for international communication. Considering the position of Mandarin English becomes the second most widely spoken and used language in the world, but because of its pivotal role in global communication, English stands first. It goes without saying that English is, indeed, the "lingua franca" of the modern time with the largest vocabulary of any language. Half of all business deals are conducted in English. Two-thirds of all scientific papers are written in English. We write and address over 70% of all mails or e-mails in English. We use English almost in all international tourism and aviation industries. We can hardly think of our world without English. We've to use English right from our academic field to our professional field for our better survival and better lifestyle.
Now-a-days, English is no more the possession of the English people. It has become the global language for its universal appeal and belonging to the people of the world. Here, Bangladesh is one of the members of the global village though its progress is a little bit slow but more progressive than before. We are trying to achieve the prestigious status of a middle-income country at present but we are highly optimistic of becoming a member of the developed country in the days to come. Without good command over English, both in oral and written, we can never expect a good job and handsome salary to branding our professional career even to contribute to country's development.
As English is not our mother tongue, we have to have an effortless attempt to represent ourselves to the people of the universe as well as to encourage the world people to think about Bangladesh taking the chance of using English as a global language. It is the only language of modern communication to keep in touch with the people of rest of the world. However, for all these reasons, we must learn English well and to learn English well especially in third world countries like Bangladesh we have to learn some basic skills of English language such as by reading, writing, listening and speaking. To develop these skills we have to learn vocabulary, basic rules of grammar, sentence patterns and also to build up the habit of good practicing as we know that practice makes a man perfect.
To get the real taste of English as a global language, we have to ensure a progressive learning method of English language throughout the educational life not for the specific level but for the whole curricular system. If we cannot sow the seeds of ideal learning method from the very beginning, we will become parasites and will be repenting in the long run.
English is now dominating the world and it appears to be in an unassailable position in the modern world, nevertheless, its future as a global language is not necessarily assured. Here, we can evoke the world history of English. In the Middle Ages, Latin seemed forever set as the language of education and culture, as did French in the 18th century. But circumstances change, and there are several factors which might precipitate such a change once again. In this connection there are two challenging aspects to take into account: the pressure for international intelligibility, and the pressure to preserve national identity. It is possible that a natural balance may be achieved between the two, but it should also be recognized that the historical loyalties of British ex-colonies have been largely replaced by pragmatic utilitarian reasoning.
But, we can now conclude the debate either English is a global language or not by justifying Crystal definition of the global language. English as a global language, Crystal (1997) asserts, "A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country". From this point of view, it is obvious that English has achieved all the required qualities to be a global language and is now dominating the world from one corner to the rest of the corners in every sphere of global communication to every modern needs and developments. Therefore, it is imperative for all of us to go with English as a global language, use it in every possibility and keep in touch with the advanced world respecting individuals' mother tongue. And then the real taste of global language can be signified.
The writer is Trainer, ADB under the Skills for Employment Investment Program (SEIP) Project at iART, BKMEA. E-mail: ranaduttatrainerseip@gmail.com
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