English is widely used. More than 380 million people worldwide speak it as their first language, and it is estimated that about two-thirds of all people speak it as a second language. A third of the world's population is exposed to it in some manner thanks to the large number of people learning it. By 2050, it is anticipated that half of the world's people will be more skilled in it. International trade, diplomatic relations, and even international politics now all use this as the vocabulary of globalization. Computers and the internet both speak this language. It can be seen on many posters and also in music. This shows that this tongue that was being spoken only by a few people in England back in the 1300s has come a long way. It is now being used globally as per Mufwene, (2002).
With the rise in the use of this language English, it is important to evaluate the influence it has on the lives of people and also the society. English has featured for a long time in the politics of communities which are around the world, and its roots can be traced from the post-colonial periods after the 1960s. During this period there was the recognition of unique linguistic phenomenon and mostly in the changing context of the post-1940s. People during the olden times and before they had a common language, they used to practice an old type of governance but since they were able to communicate borrowing of ideas has become so famous, and people are changing their mode of governance.
It is often said that English happens to be the most widely used language for intercultural and international communication. Many reports on the spread of English globally indicates the dominant status of this language as one of the most prevalent languages currently. In the political arena, English tend to have affected so many communities, thus making them adopt new modes of politics and revolutionizing their governance. The fact that the English language is common to almost everyone in the world, it is true to say that there is a common understanding between different states all over the world. The English language is being used by many social media which means that people can easily communicate and share ideas.
Since the wake of the 20th century, the linguistic hegemony and the dominance in certain languages as a subject has always been taken up in many studies since the beginning of the 20th century. The main focus of many of these studies seems to be the linguistic hegemony of the English language versus the survival of other languages used in the world. The English language has proved to be dominant in the whole world thus endangering other local languages. The use of local languages in many countries is now becoming unpopular for English has even been made a national language to many. Many international meetings and conferences tend to use English as a means of communication. Its preference in many international activities gives it an upper hand as many people tend to have more interest in knowing the language.
There are various problems which are associated with the hegemony and the dominance of the English language in that it tend to create communicative and linguistic inequality. When it comes to a situation where English tend to dominate communication, people who do not speak English tend to be inevitably disadvantaged. They are forced not to participate in the communication. The dominance of this language also leads to linguistic discrimination and also social inequality. It creates stereotypes and prejudice which ends up creating discrimination against the people who cannot speak English. There is also the problem of colonization of the consciousness which is the mental control of those who are colonized by their colonizers. Mind colonization will tend to occur due to the dominance of the language of the colonizer over that one of the colonized. Despite that dominance of English language has many negative effects, it can be said that there are some advantages. Looking at many African states, they tend to have many community languages which hinder them from communication. These communities use this language to harmonize their communication, and through it, they can communicate by themselves and also in the international arenas as substantiated by Phillipson et al, (1996).
English as a positive resource
There is an association between being competent in English and the ability for one to access various resources and this makes this language key to full participation in the global society currently. To understand why this language has high status around the world is to analyze the motivating factors of people learning it. The reason for this is because English may not be essential in everyday life of certain society, but a great number of people from those societies tend to have a high urge of knowing this language. English is important for various economic advantages and in improving the various prospects in employment, and this is a widespread ideology in many countries of the world.
According to English et al, (2007), the usage of English in education, creative economy and IT, many industries have benefited and also the economies in various part of the world. The skills from the English language give life changing opportunities and also promote security and prosperity around the world. This is to the extent that development efforts are now becoming linked in governmental and the circles in academics as well as the media with the education in the English language.
Looking the positivity at an individual level, there is the relationship between the proficiency and gross national income per head is becoming a vicious cycle. Improvement in the skills in English has been seen driving up salaries enhancing the government and individuals more money that can be used in English training. There is a perception from various individuals that education is a way to enable one to escape poverty and they believe that learning English, in particular, offers great opportunities for advancement in one's career. Most of the people who happen to learn this language does not learn it as a means of enriching the second language, but they all do this afford access. It tends to allow people across continents to communicate and they can understand each other.
Looking for the economic advantage of knowing this language is that most of the industries tend to have an advantage of selling more of its products and also the services simply because it can speak English to people. This is because English tend to be an international trade language with many countries that speak English. This language tends to promote the exportation of goods and service thus creating markets and also more sales to home countries. Then cohesiveness can be created among people from various regions as substantiated by Cook et al, (1998).
English language in the 21st century
According to Blommaert, (2006), there is the probability that the English language will continue changing as time goes by. This is due to the highly technological society which is making English continue evolving more and more. The language itself is changing more and more because people want to make new words which will capture what they intend to say. English is becoming important in many countries in the world as it is providing a strong competitive advantage in commerce, diplomacy, media IT and academia thus enhancing growth and international development. The impact seen from the English language is resulting to many governments in the world investing a lot in it. Most of the governments want to continue investing in it so that they can be able to continue responding to the high demand globally.
By this language being internationalized, it has expanded its function into every part of life globally. It has gone beyond the use of a language which to communicate within native speaking countries. It is the fact that this language is also spoken by non-native speakers speak English has made a major contribution to the varieties of the language. The emergence of the different types of languages, many of the learners is now overwhelmed and confused by the questions of ownership of the language. And the question affecting many is the type of English that they should learn. British people tend to cling the property of this language, and they tend to protect it from abuse.
The main problem in the 21st century is on the standardized English which mainly focuses on the grammatical abuse. But this cannot be applicable in all areas because people want it to act as a means of communication, express the sense of the community and also represent the stability of the culture. So standardization English only applies to the institutions as substantiated by Blommaert et al, (1998).
Reference list
As , J. and Verschueren, J., 1998. Debating diversity: Analysing the discourse of tolerance. Psychology Press.
Blommaert, J., 2006. Language policy and national identity. An introduction to language policy: Theory and method, pp.238-254.
Cook, I., Crang, P. and Thorpe, M., 1999. Eating into Britishness: multicultural imaginaries and the identity politics of food. In Practising Identities (pp. 223-248). Palgrave Macmillan UK.
English, D.E., Manton, E.J. and Walker, J., 2007. Human resource managers' perception of selected communication competencies. Education, 127(3), pp.410-419.
Phillipson, R., 1996. Linguistic imperialism: African perspectives. ELT journal, 50(2), pp.160-167.
Mufwene, S.S., 2002. Colonization, globalization and the plight of ‘weak’languages. Journal of Linguistics, 38(02), pp.375-395.
