In her essay titled “What Global Language?” Barbara Wallraff says, “Whenever we turn on the news to find out what’s happening…anyplace, local people are being interviewed and telling us about it in English” (par. 2). Today when I was watching the news broadcast on the earthquake in Japan, a Japanese man visiting California was interviewed and spoke in perfect English. No one can deny that English is a global language. English is being learned and spoken by people from all over the world and this will have some effect on the development of English.
Language is constantly evolving. The common way to speak hundreds of years ago is demonstrated in Shakespeare plays and in the Old King James version of the Bible, but reading these now is difficult because the English language has evolved. People are often afraid of change but life is about change, if babies did not change by growing we would not be here today. In reading the different essays in chapter 3 of Exploring Language, many of the writers expressed concern (theirs or others) about the way that English is changing due to globalization.
In paragraph 38 of her essay, Wallraff says, “More and more people who speak English speak another language at least as well, and probably better…This is bound to affect the way the language is used locally.” Wallraff is referring to people who speak English as a second language. In countries where English is spoken as the business language, the locals still communicate with each other primarily in their native tongue. My friend went to Costa Rica for four months to learn Spanish. While she did succeed in learning Spanish fairly fluently, she mainly speaks English and only speaks Spanish when she must. Because English is still her main form of communication, she does not contribute to much change of the Spanish language. In a similar way, when English is only used for business, I do not think that it will evolve at an alarming rate. When English is used around the world for business communication, it must be basically the same for clear and proper communication. I think that the globalization of English will have less impact on the language than the regional evolution of English.
English is noticeably different in different regions of native English speakers. While living in Kauai I noticed that English was spoken differently. Pigeon is spoken by many of the locals and its phrases has joined with English (which is interesting since Pigeon is a combination of English and other languages spoken by earlier people). Not only are pigeon phrases spoken, but Hawaiian words are commonly used in the local language as well. When I visited Wales I noticed not only the obvious difference of spoken English by accents, but there were words and phrases used in England that I had never heard of before. A simple example is that when I wanted chips from a restaurant I received French fries.
English differs greatly from country to country and even from different areas in a country, but this gives each place more culture and gives a traveler one more cultural difference to appreciate. I do not think that the evolution of English is something to be worried about, the changing of our language is what makes it alive.
Language is constantly evolving. The common way to speak hundreds of years ago is demonstrated in Shakespeare plays and in the Old King James version of the Bible, but reading these now is difficult because the English language has evolved. People are often afraid of change but life is about change, if babies did not change by growing we would not be here today. In reading the different essays in chapter 3 of Exploring Language, many of the writers expressed concern (theirs or others) about the way that English is changing due to globalization.
In paragraph 38 of her essay, Wallraff says, “More and more people who speak English speak another language at least as well, and probably better…This is bound to affect the way the language is used locally.” Wallraff is referring to people who speak English as a second language. In countries where English is spoken as the business language, the locals still communicate with each other primarily in their native tongue. My friend went to Costa Rica for four months to learn Spanish. While she did succeed in learning Spanish fairly fluently, she mainly speaks English and only speaks Spanish when she must. Because English is still her main form of communication, she does not contribute to much change of the Spanish language. In a similar way, when English is only used for business, I do not think that it will evolve at an alarming rate. When English is used around the world for business communication, it must be basically the same for clear and proper communication. I think that the globalization of English will have less impact on the language than the regional evolution of English.
English is noticeably different in different regions of native English speakers. While living in Kauai I noticed that English was spoken differently. Pigeon is spoken by many of the locals and its phrases has joined with English (which is interesting since Pigeon is a combination of English and other languages spoken by earlier people). Not only are pigeon phrases spoken, but Hawaiian words are commonly used in the local language as well. When I visited Wales I noticed not only the obvious difference of spoken English by accents, but there were words and phrases used in England that I had never heard of before. A simple example is that when I wanted chips from a restaurant I received French fries.
English differs greatly from country to country and even from different areas in a country, but this gives each place more culture and gives a traveler one more cultural difference to appreciate. I do not think that the evolution of English is something to be worried about, the changing of our language is what makes it alive.
