23
Secondary school named after Lenina
Research
« International language. Why English? »
Done by Baikeyeva Dana
Ongarbaevna
Taraz
2013
Plan
Introduction 3
I. World’s languages 5
II. English language 7
2.1. History of English language 7
2.2. Spread around the world 9
2.3. English as the universal international language 11
III. The results of my research 15
Conclusion 17
Appendix 19
List of literature 21
Introduction
About one hundred years ago many educated people learned and spoke French when they met people from other countries. Today most people speak English when they meet foreigners. It has become the new international language. There are more people who speak English as a second language than people who speak English as a first language. Why?
Is it good that English has spread to all parts of the world so quickly? I don't know. It's important to have a language that the people of the earth have in common. Our world has become very global and we need to communicate with one another. On the other hand, English is a fairly complicated language to learn and it brings its culture with it. Do we really need it?
The theme of my research is « International language. Why English? ».
I’ve chosen this theme because we can say that English is becoming more and more popular. However, there is a problem that words from no other language are borrowed and used more often than from English. If we pay attention to our native language (Russian), we can see that there are plenty of words from English. For example, words such as: soda, hotel, airport, jeans and football. Some people think that the use of English words is dangerous for the purity of their native ones, but in spite of that the popularity of the English language is growing.
Why English is an international language? What is its appeal to people? Science? Production? This question gives me great interest. I will try to answer these and many other questions during my research.
The object of my research is International language
The subject of my research is historical and human factors.
The aim of my research is investigate majesty of English and to find out whether English is international by right
Tasks:
1. To study, analyze and summarize the literature on this topic.
2. To find out reasons of becoming English international language.
3. To show the greatness of English.
4. To give a conception of international language.
I have been studying English for many years. But I can not understand why it is so popular around the world. English language goes after the native. Though there are other languages. In addition to English, I study German. I like it more. Words read as written. Moreover, it is more like Russian than English. All of the most famous scientists, doctors were from Germany. So why is not German international?
Why is not Chinese? The Chinese are the most numerous people in the world. China is the leading power of the world. Of course, the language is very complex and requires a long training, but the world is ruled by technology.
Why is not French? Even 100-200 years ago it was the language of the world. France ruled the world. People communicated in French. It was the language of the elite. France had a surprising number of colonies around the world. But at the end France lost everything.
In my work I want to understand and show the greatness of English.
I. World’s languages
People began to speak many centuries ago, and since then they have been speaking different languages. Every language reflects the soul, behavior and temperament of each nationality. Peoples created their own alphabets and rules, but they always wanted to communicate with each other, to understand and to know more about each other. Languages help people to understand each other better, they help them to solve different economic and political problems, which stand before them, and so people learn foreign languages.
Learning a foreign language isn’t an easy thing. Nowadays it’s especially important to know foreign languages. Some people learn languages because they need them for their work, others travel abroad, for the third studying foreign languages is a hobby. Everyone, who knows foreign languages can speak to people from other countries, read foreign authors in the original, which makes your outlook wider.
All languages are different. Some are very hard, some are easier, some are similar, but there are no identical languages in the whole world. There are more than 2,700 languages in the world. Most of them are "alive" because people use them, but there are "dead" languages, for example, Latin.
As far as you know, there are lots of languages in the world, and some of them fall into category of international languages or languages of wider communication, such as French, English, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Arabic. (Picture 1)
All these languages are the official languages of the UN. All of them fall into the category of the official languages of UNESCO. Mass media nowadays play an important role in everyone’s life. But, undoubtedly, most radio and TV programs are broadcast in such languages as English, Russian, French, German, Arabic and Chinese. Among all these languages only English and French are the official languages of the European international organizations.
Languages, which are considered international, have the following characteristics:
A large number of people consider it as their native language.
There is a large number of people who speak it as a foreign or second language.
The language is spoken in many countries on several continents and in different cultural circles.
In many countries it is taught at schools as a second language.
This language is used as the official language of international organizations and at international conferences and major international firms.
To find out whether English is international by right or not it is necessary to know the history of English and how it reached a special position in the world.
II. English language
2.1 The history of English language
The history of the language can be traced back to the arrival of three Germanic tribes to the British Isles during the 5th Century AD. Angles, Saxons and Jutes crossed the North Sea from what is the present day Denmark and northern Germany. The inhabitants of Britain previously spoke a Celtic language. This was quickly displaced. Most of the Celtic speakers were pushed into Wales, Cornwall and Scotland. One group migrated to the Brittany Coast of France where their descendants still speak the Celtic Language of Breton today. The Angles were named from Engle, their land of origin. Their language was called Englisc from which the word, English derives. [5]
An Anglo-Saxon inscription dated between 450 and 480AD is the oldest sample of the English language.
During the next few centuries four dialects of English developed:
Northumbrian in Northumbria, north of the Humber
Mercian in the Kingdom of Mercia
West Saxon in the Kingdom of Wessex
Kentish in Kent
During the 7th and 8th Centuries, Northumbria's culture and language dominated Britain. The Viking invasions of the 9th Century brought this domination to an end (along with the destruction of Mercia). Only Wessex remained as an independent kingdom. By the 10th Century, the West Saxon dialect became the official language of Britain. Written Old English is mainly known from this period. It was written in an alphabet called Runic, derived from the Scandinavian languages. The Latin Alphabet was brought over from Ireland by Christian missionaries. This has remained the writing system of English.
At this time, the vocabulary of Old English consisted of an Anglo Saxon base with borrowed words from the Scandinavian languages (Danish and Norse) and Latin. Latin gave English words like street, kitchen, kettle, cup, cheese, wine, angel, bishop, martyr, candle. The Vikings added many Norse words: sky, egg, cake, skin, leg, window (wind eye), husband, fellow, skill, anger, flat, odd, ugly, get, give, take, raise, call, die, they, their, them. Celtic words also survived mainly in place and river names (Devon, Dover, Kent, Trent, Severn, Avon, Thames).
In 1066 the Normans conquered Britain. French became the language of the Norman aristocracy and added more vocabulary to English.
Because the English underclass cooked for the Norman upper class, the words for most domestic animals are English (ox, cow, calf, sheep, swine, deer) while the words for the meats derived from them are French (beef, veal, mutton, pork, bacon, venison).
The Germanic form of plurals (house, housen; shoe, shoen) was eventually displaced by the French method of making plurals: adding an s (house, houses; shoe, shoes). Only a few words have retained their Germanic plurals: men, oxen, feet, teeth, children.
French also affected spelling so that the cw sound came to be written as qu (eg. cween became queen).
It wasn't till the 14th Century that English became dominant in Britain again. In 1399, King Henry IV became the first king of England since the Norman Conquest whose mother tongue was English. By the end of the 14th Century, the dialect of London had emerged as the standard dialect of what we now call Middle English.
Modern English began around the 16th Century and, like all languages, is still changing. One change occurred when the th of some verb forms became s (loveth, loves: hath, has). Auxillary verbs also changed (he is risen, he has risen).
Since the 16th Century, because of the contact that the British had with many peoples from around the world, and the Renaissance of Classical learning, many words have entered the language either directly or indirectly. New words were created at an increasing rate. Shakespare coined over 1600 words. This process has grown exponentially in the modern era.
Borrowed words include names of animals (giraffe, tiger, zebra), clothing (pyjama, turban, shawl), food (spinach, chocolate, orange), scientific and mathematical terms (algebra, geography, species), drinks (tea, coffee, cider), religious terms (Jesus, Islam, nirvana), sports (checkmate, golf, billiards), vehicles (chariot, car, coach), music and art (piano, theatre, easel), weapons (pistol, trigger, rifle), political and military terms (commando, admiral, parliament), and astronomical names (Saturn, Leo, Uranus).
Languages that have contributed words to English include Latin, Greek, French, German, Arabic, Hindi (from India), Italian, Malay, Dutch, Farsi (from Iran and Afganistan), Nahuatl (the Aztec language), Sanskrit (from ancient India), Portuguese, Spanish, Tupi (from South America) and Ewe (from Africa).
The list of borrowed words is enormous. The vocabulary of English is the largest of any language. [9]
Even with all these borrowings the heart of the language remains the Anglo-Saxon of Old English. Only about 5000 or so words from this period have remained unchanged but they include the basic building blocks of the language: household words, parts of the body, common animals, natural elements, most pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions and auxiliary verbs. Grafted onto this basic stock was a wealth of contributions to produce, what many people believe, is the richest of the world's languages. [4]
2.2 Spread around the world
How did English reach the special position in which it finds itself today?
The importance of American international corporations has made sure that English has remained the international language of business; and Hollywood and the music industry have made sure that it has become the principal language for the media and showbiz.
Mostly, the rise of English to its position as the world's main international language was a result of chance. Britain was the world's most active colonial nation in the 19th century, and British explorers and colonists took their language with them wherever they went. English became the official language of most of Britain's colonies. In the 20th century, America has been the world's most powerful nation - and Americans have brought the English language to other countries of the world.
The success story of English has been due partly to the nature of the language, but more to the fact that it had developed into a mature national language just when the countries of Europe were beginning to expand their influence and spread their culture all over the world. [2]
Over a thousand years ago, when the roots of modern Europe were being formed, western Europe was divided into three sections: in the East there were people who spoke Slavonic languages, in the middle there were people speaking Germanic languages (including Scandinavians), and in the south and west there were people speaking "Romance" languages, derived from Latin. In the far west of Europe, there were also people speaking Celtic languages, such as Gaelic.
In those days, England was a Germanic country; its people spoke a variety of Germanic languages including forms of Danish and Anglo Saxon, as well as some Celtic languages.
In 1066, England was conquered by the Normans, from France, who brought with them their own langage - Norman French - a Romance language.
In the years that followed, the nobility of England spoke French and read Latin, while the ordinary people spoke varieties of old English; but since they existed side by side, the two languages immediately began to influence each other. Norman French became Anglo-Norman, and Old English, picking up lots of vocabulary from Anglo-Normans, evolved into Middle English. Middle English was thus rather different from other European languages. It was partly Germanic (particularly the vocabulary of everyday life, the grammar and structures), and partly Romance (a lot of the more literary vocabulary). It was even influenced to a small degree by the Celtic languages which remained alive in Cornwall and other parts of the British Isles.
Eventually, since Middle English was spoken by far the largest part of the population, it became the dominant language in England; and by the 14th century, it was well on the way to becoming the national language, not just for everyday life, but for administration and literature too.
Finally, English also replaced Latin as the language of the church. The Bible had been translated into English in the 14th century; but it was not until the Protestant reformation of the 16th century, that English became the language of church services. From then on, its position as the national language of Britain, was firmly established. And it was just at the right moment.
English became the established national language just at the point in history when colonial expansion was beginning. It was the spoken and written language of the first men and women from Britain to settle in the Americas; and it was a language that went round the world with England's early traders and commercial adventurers.
By the year 1700 England had become the world's leading nation in terms of international trade, ensuring that the English language was taken all over the world as the principal language of international commerce. [6]
2.3 English as the universal international language
English has become an international language with global significance. For some an international language has the meaning of a language that has a large number of native speakers. In this sense, English, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic, the most widely spoken mother tongues in the world nowadays, might be considered as international languages. However, although these languages are spoken by a large number of native speakers of other civilizations, they cannot serve as a language of wider communication. It is in this sense that English is the international language. In many instances it is the language of wider communication both among individuals from different countries and between individuals from one country. In this way, English is an international language in both a global and a local sense. [3]
Today English is:
It is a native language of 500 million people in 12 countries. This is much less than 900 million speakers of Mandarin. But also 600 million speak English as a second language. And more several hundred million with some knowledge of English, which has an official or semi-official status in about 62 countries. (Picture 2)
Today there are about 1.5 billion people speak English. Being the most taught language, English doesn’t substitute other languages, but supplements them.
There are 300 million Chinese people worldwide who learn English and it is more than the entire population of the United States.
90 different countries have English as a second language.
In Hong Kong, nine out of ten students in high school study English language.
In France, state secondary schools provide a compulsory English - or German- language learning for 4 years, the majority of their students - at least 85%- choose English as their second foreign language.
In Japan, students must study English in the middle school for six years
In Russia, where the study of foreign languages is compulsory, the majority of children chose English.
In Norway, Sweden and Denmark learning English is compulsory.
Since Portugal joined the European Union, their people learn English more than French.
English is the official or semi-official language of the 20 African countries, including the Serra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia and South Africa. Students are taught in English at the University of Makerere in Uganda University of Nairobi in Kenya and the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. English is the official language of the World Council of Churches, the Olympic Games and "Miss Universe".
English replaces dominant for centuries European languages. English has replaced French as the language of Diplomacy; it is the official language of international organizations such as Oxfam and "Save the Children", UNESCO, NATO and the UN.
English is the language spoken in the countries where people speak different languages. In India, where they speak about 200 different languages only 30% speak the official language Hindi. When Rajiv Gandhi addressed to the country following the assassination of his mother, he spoke in English. European Free Trade Association is only in English language, despite the fact that for all member countries English is a second language.
English is the language of travel and communication in international airlines. Pilots and controllers speak English at all international airports.
The five largest television stations - CNN, BBC, ABC, BBC, BBC, BBC and-BBC (Canadian TV) - cover the potential audience approximately 500 million people with translations in English. It is also the language of the satellite.
English is the language of the information age. More than 80% of all information in more than 150 million computers around the world is in English. Eighty-five percent of all international calls are made in English. A lot of Instructions and computer programs are often only available in English language. Once the language of science was German, today 85% of all scientific papers first published in English. More than half of the world's technical and scientific periodicals are in English language, which is also the language of medicine, electronics and space technology. The Internet is unthinkable without the English language!
When the Japanese businessman deals anywhere in Europe, it is likely that negotiations are conducted in English. English language is indicated on industrial goods: "Made in Germany", instead of "Fabriziert in Deutschland". English language is also chosen by multinational corporations. "Datsan" and "Nissan" write memoranda in international English. In 1985, 80% of employees of Japanese "Mitsui & K" could speak, read and write in English.
English is the language of the global youth culture. Around the world young people singing the words of the songs group "The Beatles", "S-2" (U2), Michael Jackson and Madonna without fully understanding them. "Break-dance", "rap music", Bodybuilding", "vindsefing" and "computer heking" - these words are invading jargon of youth all over the world. [1]
There are numerous arguments for and against English as a global language. On the one hand, there are global language aids in communication and in pooling information (for example, in the scientific community). On the other hand, it leaves out those who, for one reason or another, are not fluent in the global language. It can also lead to a cultural hegemony of the populations speaking the global language as a first language. A secondary concern with respect to the spread of global languages (including major languages other than English such as Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, etc.) is the resulting disappearance of minority languages, often along with the cultures and religions that are primarily transmitted in those languages. Language death caused by English has been particularly pronounced in areas such as Australia and North America where speakers of indigenous languages have been displaced or absorbed by speakers of English in the process of colonization. The expansiveness of the British and the Americans has spread English throughout the globe. [7]
III. The results of my research
According to my aim I have studied a lot of literature and statistics. I have collected statistics about different languages people speak: English, Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, and French. Besides I conducted a questionnaire “Languages” among students of the age from 14 to 18 (Picture 3). The questionnaire was attended by 90 people. I compared statistics about different languages with the results of the Lyceum.
| № | Questions | Results |
| English | Chinese | Spanish | Arabic | French | Other | Interesting
| For future work
| To communicate during trips, correspondence | Other
|
-
| What foreign language should children study at school? |
33 |
11 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
20 |
|
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|
-
| What language is the main language of communication between people around the world? |
77 |
|
|
|
|
13 |
|
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|
-
| Can any language replace English to become international? What language? |
72 |
5 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
4 |
|
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|
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| Why do you study English? |
|
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| 12 | 29 | 30 | 19 |
From the summary table we can see that students of our lyceum believe that there is no alternative to the English (77 per cent think that English is the main language of communication between people around the world and 72 per cent think that there is no languages to replace English to become international).
Summing up I can tell that pupils of our lyceum confirm that English held a firm place in modern life. Today our students think about their future career and study English to become professionals in business.
Conclusion
Among all worlds’ languages English is rightly considered to be the international language of the world. Because English is so widely spoken, it has been referred to as a «global language». While English is not an official language in many countries, it is the language most often taught as a second language around the world. [10]
The future of English as a global language will depend on the political, economical, demographic and cultural trends in the world. The beginning of the 21st century is a time of global transition. According to some experts, faster economic globalization is going hand in hand with the growing use of English. More and more people are being encouraged to use English rather than their own language.
To my mind English is worth studying. There is a proverb: "A new language is a new world". "Knowledge is a power" one great man said. Speaking a foreign language one can not only read the papers, magazines and original books by outstanding writers, but as well watch satellite programs, use the Internet, travel easily to different parts of the world. Besides, understanding and speaking a foreign language became necessary while applying for a good and well-paid job.
As for me, English plays an important role in my life. I have been studying English for 10 years and each year my knowledge of English becomes wider and more profound. Though I’m not sure in choosing my future career, I think that it may be easier to get a job with some knowledge of English, ’cause English is an international language and so many firms, even in our country conduct their entire operations throughout the world in English. [2]
Now English is spoken practically all over the world, it has become the world's most important language in politics, science, trade and cultural relations. It is spoken as a mother tongue in Great Britain, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Besides, a lot of people speak English in Japan, India, China, Africa and many other countries. English is one of the official languages of the United Nation Organization. Half of the world's scientific literature is in English. It is the language of computer technology.
Scientists have already tried to create an artificial language that isn't too difficult and doesn't include any one group's culture. It is called Esperanto. But it hasn't become popular. But maybe the popularity of English won't last that long either. Who knows? There are more people in the world who speak Chinese than any other language. Maybe someday Chinese will be the new international language.
Appendix
Picture 1
«Modern international languages»
|
| Language | Native | Second | Total number of carriers |
| 1 | English | 410 million | to 1 billion | to 1,4 billion |
| 2 | Spanish | 420 million | to 80 million | to 500 million |
| 3 | Russian | 170 million | to 125 million | to 295 million |
| 4 | Arabic | 240 million | to 40 million | to 280 million |
| 5 | Portuguese | 178 million | to 10 million | to 188 million |
| 6 | French | 80 million | to 120 million | to 200 million |
| 7 | German | 90 million | to 20 million | to 110 million |
|
| Total: | 1 588 000 000 | 1 395 000 000 | 2 991 000 000 |
Picture 2
«The spread of English»
Picture 3
Questionnaire for students “Languages”
| № | Questions | Results |
| English | Chinese | Spanish | Arabic | French | Other | Interesting
| For future work
| To communicate during trips, correspondence | Other
|
-
| What foreign language should children study at school? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-
| What language is the main language of communication between people around the world? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
-
| Can any language replace English to become international? What language? |
|
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|
|
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|
|
|
-
| Why do you study English? |
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|
List of literature
Ch`ien, Evelyn Nien-Ming, Weird English Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2004. PR888.L35 C47 2004
Crystal, David. English as a Global Language. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997. PE 2751 .C79 1997
Crystal, David. The Stories of English. Woodstock: Overlook, 2005.
Dovring, Karen. English as a Lingua Franca. Westport CN: Praeger, 1997. PE2751 .D68 1997
Hendrickson, Robert. World English: From Aloha to Zed. New York: John Wiley, 2001. [a vocabulary dictionary] PE 2751 .H46 2001
Leech, Geoffrey N. and Jan Svartvik. English : One Tongue, Many Voices. New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
McArthur, Tom. The English Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998.
McArthur, Tom. The Oxford Guide to World English. Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 2002.
Parakrama, Arjuna. De-Hegemonizing Language Standards: Learning From (Post-) Colonial Englishes About "English". New York: St. Martin's, 1995. PE 2751 .P37 1995
Pennycook, Alistair. The Cultural Politics of English as an International Language. London and New York: Longman, 1994.
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