The importance of English in Global Village
· Today we are living in a “Global Village”. As the Internet explosively cultivates, ever more people are becoming conscious of this “Global Village” on a personal level. People relate with others from around the globe on a regular basis, merchandises are bought and sold with increasing ease from all over the word and “real time” handling of major news events is taken for established.
· Which is the world’s most widely spoken language?
· The answer to the question— English has served as a window to the world.
· English plays a vital role in this “globalization” and it has become the de facto language of choice for communication between the countless peoples of the Earth.
· If one takes a close observe at the statistics of world languages, one would catch the Chinese and English competing ‘neck to neck’ as the Planet’s two most spoken languages, breaking the arriver of one billion speakers each, at the turn of the new Millennium.
· In terms of topographical blowout, English already subjugates an undoubted position in the world,
· The importance of English can be considered under ten major heads:
a) English as an world language
b) English as a language of international politics
c) English as a window on the world
d) English as an literature- language
e) English as a Library language
f) English as link language
g) English as a language of the global technology culture
h) English language and the global culture
i) Global technology tools in language classroom
j) The domination of the English language in the global village
A. English as a world language:
· The importance of English as an international language can be judged from the fact that there is no country in the world where a speaker of English can’t be understood.
· Rightly has F G French said “By accidents of history and by the rapid spread of industrial development, science, technology and international trade.
· English has become a world language.
· English is the language which is spoken by most of the people in the world next to Chines.
· But there is vital difference.
· The speaker of English is spread all over the world, but the speakers of Chines language are confirmed to the Chines Subcontinent only.
· Even in China now the people are taking to the study of English in the big way.
B. English as a language of international politics:
· It is one of the six official languages of the U.N. O.
· It is also link language of the commonwealth countries.
· Political correspondence among various nations of the world in conducted in English.
C. English as a window on the world:
· English is our major window on the world. This means English gives us glimpses of the various developments taking place in the world. English provides us distilled essence of modern knowledge in all fields of human activity. F G French says: ‘Anyone who can read English can keep in touch with the whole world without leaving his own house”.
D. English as a literature- language:
· English is a language which is rich in literature—humanistic, scientific and technical.
· If under sentimental urges we would give up English, we cut our self-off from the living stream of ever growing knowledge.
· Unable to have access to this knowledge, our standards of scholarship would fast deteriorate and our participation in the world movements of thought would become negligible.
· It effects would be disastrous for our national life because living nations must move with the time and must respond quickly to the challenges of their surroundings.
· English is the only means of preventing our isolation from the world and we shall act unwisely if we allow ourselves to be enveloped in the folds of a dark curtain of ignorance.
E. English as a Library language:
· English is a rich store-house of knowledge.
· There is hardly anything important in the world that has not been translated in to English.
· Whatever the future of English may be in Pakistan, one thing is certain in Pakistan as in other countries.
· English will maintain its immense usefulness as a library language.
· While the goal is to adopt the national and regional language as media of education.
· I should like to stress again that it should not involve elimination of English.
· English as an important library language plays a vital role in higher education.
F. English as link language:
· English is doing a useful service as a link language.
· It is responsible for our contacts with the outside world.
· As a link with the west.
· English is bound to retain a significant place.
· No country can live a bound to retain a significant place.
· There is a dire need of political, economic and cultural link with the rest of the world.
· We shall, therefore, have to depend on English for international business and politics and mainly on English for contact with western thought and culture.
G. English as a language of the global technology culture:
· Today new technologies are changing the sorts of texts we and our students generate and infer even as they are prompting the social, political, and cultural contexts in which our texts are composed and shared. As English is a language of the global technology culture.
H. English language and the global culture:
· Technology has now shaped the possibility and even the probability of a global culture. The Internet, fax machines, satellites, and cable TV are far-reaching away cultural boundaries. Global entertainment corporations outline the insights and dreams of ordinary citizens, wherever they live. This spread of values, norms, and culture inclines to promote Western ideals of cultures.
I. Global technology tools in language classroom:
· Innovations in learning technologies for English language teaching.
· So you can see how technology can be efficiently used to backing the language development process.
J. The domination of the English language in the global village:
· The spread of English as an international language and the appearance of the Internets a fast communication channel that has no boundaries, are mutually enforcing trends in an age of globalization.
· English language on internet becomes a form of cultural and linguistic imperialism in which western values dominate.
