Globalisation Of The English Language

Essay by boberUniversity, Master'sA-, March 2006

download word file, 7 pages 4.0

Contents

Introduction

Globalisation defined

Main body

- Globosity of the English language

- Why it is so widespread

- Advantages and disadvantages

Conclusion

The future of the English language

Bibliography

Introduction

Every day people are surrounded by this term, when they hear it on the news, read it in the papers or talk about it themselves.

"Globalisation" is a term which may be defined in different ways. According to the website www.globalization.com "the political and economical views describe globalisation as the process of denationalization of markets, politics and legal systems, i.e. the rise of the so-called global economy. At a business level, globalisation is about companies deciding to take part in the emerging global economy and establishing themselves in foreign markets.

Beyond that, globalisation is a reality that touches our lives in ways most us never stop to think about. International trade has made us wealthier; the internet has brought a revolution to global communications, while McDonald's has managed to spread more than 25,000 outlets across 120 countries.

In my essay I am going to concentrate mainly on cultural globalisation, which partly refers to the complex of forces that trend toward a single world society. Among these forces are mass communications, commerce, increased ease of travel, the internet, popular culture, and the increasingly widespread use of English as an international language. To be more precise, I would like to focus on the English language.

It is predicted by David Graddol, author of The Future of English: English will be spoken by half of the world's population within 10 years. By the year 2015, two billion people are expected to start learning English and three billion will already speak it, says a British Council estimate. The report also showed that English was not the only language that is spreading, Mr Graddol...