“I have undertaken to write a grammar of English, because there is clearly a great demand for it from foreigners, who want to be able to understand the various important works which are written in our tongue… All kinds of literature are widely available in English editions, and without boasting, it can be said that there is scarcely any worthwhile body of knowledge which has not been recoded today, adequately at least, in the English language” (Grammatica Linguas Anglicanae, John Wallis).
Of course, this statement is something very familiar now. But this was stated by John Wallis around 240 years ago in his preface of his book Grammatica Linguas Anglicanae that was written in Latin, the language that was widely used on that time. The book was first written in 1765. 250 years after Wallis wrote down this statement, world was changed even beyond Wallis’ wildest dream about the language he spoke. English now is a language that dominates the way people speak and write.
How is it happened?
English was not a dominant language back in the 18th and 19th century. Some English 17th century explorer report how useful it is if you can speak Spanish or Dutch when you travel outside, especially in the New World (America) and Orient (Indonesia, Philippine and China). Expansion of British Empire promotes the language as an important language to be learned. But still, at the heights of her extent, British can’t helped the language that they speak to be the most important language, if compare with the French that was at that time consider as diplomatic language and widely used. The greatest change that benefited English occurred after World War II. Europe that was left in ruin after the Great War, prepare the pace for United States of America to her dominance. As a new super power,
US also brought English to their new status as the most accepted language when someone travels abroad. US economy affect the whole globe, make people perceive, to success in business, you have to speak English. Inventions from English speaking nations also help promote English. Since internet was developed in English speaking nations like US, Australia, Great Britain, so most of internet naming (.com, .net, .org, .edu) was suitable with English term. 80% of the content in Internet was written in English. Placement of the letters based on QWERTY system was design to conform typing in English. Look at your keyboard now, and look that position of ‘ are strategic to ease your access to that symbol, because that symbol are very essential in English, because you need to type words “Juan’s”, or “It’s”. If you learn German, you know the letter “β” was widely use, for example for the word “groβ” (great), but you will hardly to find it on your keyboard, because most of the keyboards are for English.
David Crystal in his book, “English as Global Language”, indicate various reasons why English become a dominant language today. From political perspective, the growing dominances of English speaking nations (US, Australia, United Kingdom, Canada, etc.) help English to replace France as language of diplomacy. English is a must for every diplomatic event. From Olympic opening ceremony to UN session, English is the mean of communication. English serve better as language if you want to access knowledge and information. Most of all literature is written in English. Library of Congress in Washington D.C. is a place for thousands of books, has largest collection of book in the world, and mostly are written in English. Many of the best universities in the world using English as their main language and best universities in the world (Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge, etc.) is located in English speaking nations. Many school also that located outside English speaking nations, offer English as their medium of communication. Take as an example, our school, MIS, also lots of school that make English their primary language.
How is the future of English? Some people said that other language might replace English as the global language. Mandarin is spoken by most of the people on earth, consider that China has the highest number of population. Paul Johnson in his article in Forbes Magazine predicts that “India will soon be the world’s most populous country. By 2050 India, with a population of 1.6 billion, will have overtaken China (1.4 billion). If India becomes a predominantly English-speaking country, as I expect will happen, China will have to follow suit or risk relegation. There are high stakes in the global language game. But there’s not much we can do about it. Events will take their course. Everyone should calm down–and learn English.” Even today, most of the students in China study English as their secondary language. So, if you want to be connected to the world, study English now!
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