The advantages brought by the spread of English as a “global language” will outweigh the disadvantages. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this view?
ESSAY NUMBER 58 FROM OUR BOOK
There is no doubt that more and more people across the world are speaking English and it is becoming a common language. While I agree that there would be few drawbacks of the increasing use of English as a global language, its advantages would certainly outweigh the drawbacks.
There would be several advantages of people resorting to English for communication across the world. First, it would be accepted by so many people who already know this language. More non-natives than natives already speak English and thus, it would be an easily accepted transition. Secondly, English is easier to learn than any other language. Unlike other languages, for example, English has only 26 alphabets, which are combined to make words and sentences. In my opinion, it is one of the few languages which can be learned by all age groups.
Finally, its spread would bring about many economic benefits as it would lead to increased trade and commerce across the world. A major hindrance to the spreading of business and trade is the language barrier and universalization of English would be a major impetus to the world economy. Its transition to a global language would also be the least expensive. For example, most websites are in English, and governments across the world would save huge amounts needed to translate them. Even the automatic translators available online work best for English.
However, the spread of the English language would not come without its problems. To begin with, many people see the spread of English as nothing but the increasing domination of the western world. It could be opposed by those who want another language to be the global language. Esperanto is a language whose supporters want it to be an international language. They say that it is an invented language and not based on any culture. They say that if governments promote the use of English as a global language, it might speed up the death of many cultures. Language and culture are interrelated and thus the death of a language is ultimately the end of the culture.
To conclude, the transition of English into an international language would certainly result in loss of diversity, but I still consider it to be a positive development for its advantages.
