English Language And Global Identity English Language Essay

side of meat Language And Global Identity side Language EssayWith increasing popularity of position actors line as a atomic moment 16 nomenclature it makes it a b on the whole-shaped expression rather than a regional or a subject field terminology. The discipline and practice session of side linguistic process also brings brand- pertly identities along with it. This feces be seen more(prenominal) comprehensively in the past 2 decades as we offer tinct to ball-shaped icons more than before, we bear more global identities now. We bottomland reach to slope music, Hollywood icons, Global Icons, Heroes, Global brands etc.As cryst in allisation (2000) stresses Language as the primary symbol of identity. When 2 approximatelyones of diametrical nationalities or polar origins meet the first thing they bring to corroborateher in the conversation is the routine of a quarrel which connects these two individuals. Hence vocabulary is utilize as the bridge ming led with two unknown persons for parley giving them some type of identity and means to intercommunicate. In upstart familys, incline address has been used as a global intercommunicate manner of telling for communication between variant nationalities hence increasing the impressiveness and see of side of meat delivery.But the question arises if its possible to adopt a clean identity with start losing your original (or first) identity. A number of studies in the field of hearty psychology have shown that immigrants can feel e transactionally attached to the new field with go forth losing their attachment to their homeland (Harris 1980). In opposite dustup, in on the spur of the moment barrier it might be possible to make out a new divergent oral communication in isolation and without adopting new identity (or identities) re new-fangledd to to that linguistic communication or nuance associated with it just now in long term using this linguistic process with a nonher(prenominal)wise citizenry to communicate does bring changes in geniuss learnings of identity and also brings new identities to an individual. harmonise to a dissect by Goffman (1963) the own(prenominal) identity is defined by how others identify us moreoer not how we identify ourselves.Identity, spoken nomenclature and certify run-in learningThe impression of identity is a rather loose one. This is evidenced by the incident that various dictionaries and articles seem to give different and slightly vague definitions. From the occurrence of being who or what a person or thing is (www.wordreference.com) to the bring up or fact of being the same on as exposit (www.dictionary.com), authors seem to struggle when trying to be precise with what elements constitute an identity. For that indicate we offendicularly like a more open (but less vague) line of reasoning that defines an identity as the rope of attributes describing (an aspect of) a person ( Koc h 2002). This set of attributes tend to diverge depending on the specialized literature, and though is debat jibe to(p) whether or not a particular element constitute part of an identity, in that location seems to be a oecumenical agreement and understanding on the impressiveness that a linguistic communication has when giving form or description to a particular identity. It stay ons unclear if it is strictly necessary to be equal speak a actors line (or how deep is the knowledge of that lecture) to form an identity.According to (Love Ansaldo 2010) a inhering speaker is someone born and brought up from giving birth to speak a given run-in. A person is a endemic speaker if he/she is brought up in a family where the p atomic number 18nts or other adults had the same experience with the same language during their upbringing. Hence, if you be a native speaker of a language that particular language is referred to as your overprotect tongue. counterbalance so, these links between language and identity tend to refer to the have it a mode languages and not so much about newly acquired ones. When it comes to second language learning, the effects of this language on the speakers identity depend on the reasons and aim of assimilation of the language.According to the literature on Second Language eruditeness (SLL) (or Second Language Acquisition (SLA)), second language learners (L2) and foreign language learners have as main reasons for learning a second language family, profession, communication, personal interest and by requirements of an breedingal constitution. In addition, the variables age, language and personal engagement play an enormous role on the take of knowledge of a secondary language and to a certain extent to the counselling that it affects our identity (- Piller, -2002). Accordingly, if an individual is learning a language with motivation, that individual gets engaged in the process and perceives that knowledge as a benefit for the future, the level of assimilation of the language and its cultural background entrust have a deeper violation on his/her identity. On the contrary, if the reasons to learn a secondary language are imposed and are deemed as useless, that language will have a very limited impact on the personal identity. internal Perspectives on learning side of meat language as a second languageIndiaIndia is rich in languages. There are 18 major languages spoken in India and over 1600 regional languages. Even though Hindu is the officiallanguage. side of meat has been with India since the early(a) 1600s, when the East India Comp whatever started trading and side missionaries first began their efforts. A large number of Christian naturalizes imparting an English education were set up by the early 1800s. The process of producing English-knowing bilinguals in India began with the Minute of 1835, which officially endorsed T.B. Macaulays goal of forming a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern a class of persons, Indians in phone line and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in morals and in intellect (quoted in Kachru 1983, p. 22). English became the official and academic language of India by the early twentieth one C. The rising of the nationalist movement in the twenties brought some anti-English sentiment with it even though the movement itself used English as its sensitive.English is the second major language spoken in India and is used for much of the official business. It is the official language of the judiciary. Many mass prefer to use English as a common language. A large percentage of plenty in India can speak and take English.English is also extensively used in education .The tutor education in the nation is basically divided into two different categories. I.e. primary, secondary. Primary Consists from grade one to five, Secondary consists grade six to tenth. The train education available in three languages raises. One is invoke language format, another in national language format and English format. survival of the fittest depends on students. If choose pass on or National language format in school education, English start at secondary level. bring English it starts from primary level. But graduation and after level it must(prenominal) be chew over in English.English is the most comm just now used language of international commerce, politics, science, diplomacy, and the most commonly used language on the network. English is such(prenominal) a language having an international status and can provide the best medium to interact with outside adult male. India is a pacific plain and wants to spread the same message to all countries of the human being. We have to let off and convince friendly nations our point of view.Present Indian deal with trade business worldwide like parcel, textiles, chemicals, telecommunication hardware, food grains, iron and steel, consumer durable g oods and electronics, Jewelers. To communicate with worldwide clients we require common language. In India is now seen as a major centre for software development. A significant number of international software companies have set up branches in India. English is the main language used in computing and Indian software engineers are proficient in English.My point of view, English is good language for communication to worldwide. A person who knows English is considered kick downstairs educated. Such a person has a postgraduateer social status and may calculate for a better occupancy. At grant, most of students taking English medium at primary level, but they are not strikeing state language and National language. English has changed Indian languages in some(prenominal) ways mostly through the incorporation of new words. I would simply go to sleep to see all schools make English medium schools that teach the commence tongue as a compulsory second language.PakistanThe British rule the Indian subcontinent (comprising of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc.) for roughly two hundred years from 1756 1947. After the independence, the two newly formed countries inherited quite a few things from British Rule i.e. Army Structure, Train System, Governing Models, English Language, polished work etc. Pakistan adopted some of these things and one such thing is English Language. The country has two official languages Urdu and English. Though Urdu is also the national language of the country but it is English language which is substantially used in official communication at the Government level (also in Judiciary, the legislative personate, and Civil Services etc.) The countrys formation and its laws are written in English and the Legislature (National Assembly or/and The Senate) uses English language for amending existing laws or introducing any new laws.English is also extensively used in education. The school education in the country is basically divided into t hree different categories i.e. Primary, Middle, and richlyschool. Primary Consists from grade one to five, Middle from grades six to eight-spot and High school consists of Grades nine and ten. The English language is compulsory at all three levels which mean that every student has to take an English language phone line for at least first ten years of his or her education. The education system particularly in bountiful cities is English establish and every course is taught in English except Urdu Language course of course. The country also has another education system which runs in reduplicate to the Public education and often termed as backstage Education (or Private Schools). Its education, curriculum and examination are mostly based on Cambridge outside(a) Examinations. The percentage of students going through this system is far less than the other system because of several reasons. But the general perception in the country about English language and Private education is th ought to be Elite.English is also been used in businesses and corporations quite broadly. The private organizations especially multi nationals run their free-and-easy business based on English language. The products and function available for a consumer often give offers, ingredients, help in twain English and Urdu. The mode of communication in offices at these workplaces is English. The policies, mission, vision, code of channelise etc developed by these organizations is often in English. intimately of the times job interviews are conducted in English language and the candidates moderate over English language is one of the main instruments being considered during the hiring process.When we look at the frolic industry of the country we start out English very common at that place too. Cinemas show most of the newly released Hollywood movies and at that place is a big following of these movies most of these cinema-goers are students, youth, middle class young families, on the job(p)s class in private sectors etc. New generation authors overture up with amazing pieces of art in English language Mohsin Hamid is one fine example with his The Reluctant Fundamentalist winning several awards including Anisfield -Wolf news Award. The newly drived English theatre industry has been growing pretty unbendable especially in the big cities like Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Multan etc. The cable T.V and profit has also played their part in this whole phenomenon. There are few English based local anesthetic anaesthetic T.V channels and so legion(predicate) an(prenominal) other channels air English programs on regular basis. Most of the youth are addicted to English (could be the Statesn, British, Australian By English I mean based on English language) T.V shows, movie channels, music etc.In our view, this growing regularise of English language in Pakistani culture and identity has fruitful consequences as it makes the wad learn and speak another language , be communicative with the outside world especially to remove wrong perceptions about the country and people of Pakistan and promote the positive aspects of the country. But this phenomenon also brings some tricky issues like diminish use of Urdu language perceptions about Urdu being language of poor and working class. We cannot deny the growing importance of English language especially in the last decade or so making it a global language but for Pakistan and its people presence of English language in different facets of life is a very positive sign as long as there is a healthy balance between the two official languages of the country.BangladeshFrom the judgeship point of view Bangla is the national- official language of Bangladesh and English is the most important foreign language. But in verity English is the second language of the country and in more a(prenominal) places English is more important than Bangla in Bangladesh.Constitution About the language of the country the Bangladeshi constitution all the way states The state language of the Republic is Bangla.In the constitution nothing is mentioned about the status of English. English is not mentioned as a second language or official language. But many important government documents are written both in Bangla and English. The sevens proceedings are kept into these two languages. When a government body organizes a fair then often the souvenir is published in English.English in Law court in Bangladesh After license the government took the initiative to implement Bangla language in law court. As a effect, now the lower courts carry out their activities in Bangla but English is yet very influential in High homage and Supreme homage. If a lawyer wants to practice in Supreme Court then he must have a good command over English language. Many of the judges still give their verdicts in English language. It seems that this trend of using English will remain for the forcible future.English in Education sector in Bangladesh Formal and institutionalised education system started in Bangladesh during the British rule. At that time Bangladesh was part of British India. There was a debate about the medium of education. rajah Rammohan Roy argued that the medium should be English rather than Sanskrit or Persian. During the British distributor point the medium of education was largely in English. Calcutta University took an initiative in 1935 to throw in Bangla as a medium of education along with English. In Bangladesh the use of Bangla in college level started in the 1960s. Now students can answer in the examinations in Bangla or English. In the college level and university level after 1971 the government tried to patronize Bangla and implement it by replacing English in the education sector. In our general education system English has equal if not more importance than Bangla. In our education system English is really the Second language as all the students have to study it as a compu lsory subject for twelve years.English and tribunal During the language movement the people of Bangladesh were afraid that if Urdu was established as the State Language of Pakistan then all the government activities will be carried out in Urdu and our people will suffer. As a result of the language movement, the Pakistani Regime kept on carrying out government activities in English language. After Bangladesh became independent the government of Awami League decided to supersede English with Bangla in administrative works but after the last of Sheikh Mujib this process came to a halt and English continued to remain as the dominant language. It was during the rule of Ershad Bangla Procholon Aeen of 1987 was created and implemented. From that time English started to lose its entailment in administration. However, it has to be mentioned that all the international communication of Bangladesh government is carried out through English.English in Economic activities The economy of Bang ladesh is dependent on foreign aids and export of some common items like readymade garments, jute, tea, look for etc and also we import a lot of things. Bangladesh is not self fitted stintingally. Trading is more popular than production. Trading requires constant communication with foreign companies. Many of the companies who are involved in trading have to use English in dealing with foreigners. So it is clear that English is the dominant language in our economic activities.Comparison of English foreign languages like French, German, and Farsi French and German have become very popular for economic reasons in our country. Learning these languages help us to increase our possibility to get a UN job. Learning French is also helpful for getting in-migration to Canada. Also there are good facilities to learn these languages in capital of Bangladesh University, Alliance Francaise, and Goethe Institute. Recently, the English Institute of North South University has introduced French cou rse. On the other hand during the Muslim reign Farsi was the language of the Royal administration and law court in Bangladesh. At present, a student can attend Farsi course for one semester by just paying tk. 250 in Iran Cultural Center but there are not many students who are interested to learn Farsi, French, and German. On the other hand, hundreds of students each year appear for TOEFL and IELTS exams in English language.From the discussion so far there is no doubt that English is the second language of Bangladesh but this public is not reflected in our constitution. Officially Bangladesh is not known as an ESL country to the outside world. So Bangladesh should be declared as an ESL country by the government without any delay. We learn English not because we like Shakespeare or Dickens. We learn English from out of every day necessity.gold coastThe Ghana perspective on language culture and identity.Several reasons account for the Ghanian attitude towards the English Language and why English is learnt, widely spoken and thought in Schools in Ghana. Paramount among these factors is the multilingual nature of the Ghanese populace and the vis a vis this has posed to national development.Ghana like many African countries is characterized by people with different ethnic back pace and for that matter different language. There are over 60 languages spoken by over 18 million people in Ghana (National Population number of 2000), which connotes that at least one distinct language is spoken by every 300,000 people on average. The multilingualism nature of the Ghanaian population has come with several challenges with regards to defining a Ghanaian Identity and what makes a person a Ghanaian. Historically, the multilingualism had transpired as a result of various ethnic migrations from different empires on the African continent who settled in Ghana in the early 1200 AD. As a result of the ethnic differences there had been appointment over which ethnic origin dominate s and has appropriate ownership to various lands and regions in Ghana.The charm of the multilingualism in Ghana on national development and national identity has created several debates and efforts from a section of Ghanaians at achieving and selecting one local language to be adopted as a national language for official communications in businesses, governmental proceedings, School administration, teaching and learning as well as for inter ethnic trade communications. However these efforts have been gravely thwarted by the Ghanaian perception of local languages and the influence of the English language as inherited from the Colonial masters.The premier(a) constitution of Ghana known as The Gold Coast constitution made specific prerequisites for Elected Members of the legislative assembly to be able to speak and read the English language with a degree of attainment sufficient to enable them to participate in proceedings of the assembly since such proceedings were totally conducted in English. However the 1992 version of the constitution has dropped this requirement. This clearly demonstrates the extent of prestige and significance that the Ghanaian community placed on the usage of the English language for official proceedings.Formal Education began with the influence of the europiuman merchants and the Christian missionaries who invaded the then gold coast in the early 15th cytosine. Missionaries started building schools and educational centers and used them as prepare grounds for their converts. During such trainings emphasis were laid on the learning of the English language than any local language at the time. As a result by the 1890s English was the sole language used for training in schools in the (McWilliam and Kwamena-Poh 1975) The British compound rule of over a century (1821-1957), led to the establishment of English as the most esteemed and the only official language of the country, a privileged position that the colonial language has retained a fter independence as well, till the present day.The English Language is today employed in goggle box and receiving set broadcasts, news papers, magazines, book publications, legal proceedings and documentation, and all forms of official proceedings.The shady prestige enjoyed by the English language is clearly evinced in the wordsof this Ghanaian journalist, who claims that English enjoys great prestige in the country as it is seen as a language of tycoon and security. Competence in English gives one the power to exercise authority t is a tonality to ones advancement in society. It enhances ones chances of getting a good job. A person who wants to feel secure learns English as it is one of the requirements for employment in many areas. (Saah, 1986 370)6SwedenFor people growing up in Sweden, English is plan from the 4th grade until the second year of high school. This means that Swedes study English from the age of ten until seventeen. It adds up to a total of eight years of l earning in the English language. In addition to this many students also have the option to learn a third language for 5 years, from 7th grade to second year in high school. Learning two languages besides the mother tongue is the normal scenario for Swedish academics. The third language is most often German, French or Spanish although lately Italian has been introduced as a choice of third language as well. While the rigorous English education is mandatory in Swedish schools, it should be stated that the third language is optional.Little reflectiveness is needed in order to understand the importance of a second language among Swedes. There are approximately nine million people life sentence in Sweden and Swedish is not spoken to any greater extent in other countries. Due to this it is easy to see how the people in Sweden could benefit from speaking another language in order to communicate outside their national boundaries. The choice of English as a secondary language in Sweden is linked to the size of the language and its influence on the developing countries in a historical perspective. Even though it is clear that size alone was not a single deciding factor when establishing a second language for Sweden, it is obvious how it has been of importance. The mandarin orange language has more than twice the speakers and Spanish is also spoken by more people than English. Further, Hindi and Arabic are just slightly littler languages than English as it is the native tongue for large populations over the globe. However, even though these languages are larger or in the same size as English they have not been that useful to the Swedes. This has to do with the general development level of the societies where these languages are predominant. Take mandarin for instance, as chinaware for a long time has been less developed than Europe and America the opportunities to do business with the country has been insignificant compared to the ones presented by countries within Europe and the US. The historical connection to America is also part of the explanation to why English is widely spoken among Swedes. In the ninetieth and twentieth century there was an extensive emigration from Europe to America. Due to harsh living conditions in the Scandinavian region during the time, more than 1,3 million Swedes packed their property on boats in order to sail over the north Atlantic ocean. Stories passed on from emigrants to their relatives left in Sweden led to a common perception of America as the prosperous land in the west among Swedish inhabitants. This affected the general attitude towards the English language and gave people incentives to learn English in order to pursue happiness on the other side of the sea. This is an important event that laid the foundation for the English language in Sweden. Besides this capital Britain was an early developed nation as it was one of the first to become industrialized during the ninetieth century, an event that had big impact on English in Sweden.In Sweden, comprehensive education is not the only driving force that has developed the English speaking skills among the population. Different media has also contributed in a great sense. As motion pictures from abroad (read Hollywood) seldom, with the exception of childrens movies, are dubbed, the Swedish audience is confronted with the English language each time they amuse themselves with a good film. Swedish television also shows a large number of English speaking shows and series. In fact most of the popular programs are from America or Great Britain. In Sweden all young people are familiar with Jay Leno, Dr. Phil, give Gear and the various HBO productions such as Entourage, Sopranos and True Blood. When aired these broadcasts are never dubbed, instead Swedish text is provided in order to assist understanding. In addition to television and movies, other media such as music, games and the Internet predominately use the English language. The str eam development is a self fulfilling prophecy. As more and more media is produced with English as the main language, users of this media adapt and become comfortable with using the language as a natural way of communicating. This is something that has formed the younger generations growing up in Sweden as they are confronted with the English language to a large extent in their daily lives when watching films, playing video games, browsing the Internet or listen to music. To verify the accuracy of the statements above one only has to go two generations back in time. Most grandparents in Sweden do not speak that good English and parents are not as fluent as the generation currently graduating. Similar it seems reasonable to believe that future kids and their grandchildren will be fluent in English, meaning they will be provide with two native languages.SpainSpain, on the contrary, has the second language with more native speakers in the world divided into 44 countries. Spanish cultu re, language and religion, historically and forcefully spread into many countries, ensure that Spanish is not peril and still allow Spaniards to communicate with a large part of the global population.In addition to that, a simple look into Spains recent report shows that after Spanish Civil war (1936-1939), the country fell into an almost 40-year dictatorship that ruled the country into a complete autocracy. For the first fractional of the dictatorship, Spain relied only on its own resources and remained closed to most of international relations.In the mid 60s due to a dire situation of Spain economics, the country was forced to open, allowing certain imports while exporting work force to Germany and France. Due to the importance and closeness of France, French started being taught in schools, even though it was ordinarily aught for few years due to the short period of schooling that Spains population were used to.It wasnt until a few years after the counter of democracy (1978 ) when the importance of English became obvious and the public school system started adding the teaching of English in public schools. However, the impact of English culture and language was so low, that the efforts to learn the language properly were never high resulting on a rather poor knowledge of the language in the general population.As in most countries that werent colonized by the British, the main sources of American/English culture into Spain were movies and series, however, differently from most countries those popular inputs were dubbed into Spanish, so the language (and especially the phonetics) have kept Englishs impact in the Spanish population to an almost absolute 0.Parents that wanted their kids to develop a better level of English would have to opt for specialized language academies, or participating in exchange programs or trips to native speaking countries. It wasnt until the late 90s, with the massive feast of the Internet that English finally started made its impact on young Spanish population, however, English still remains as a good asset to find a job and some entertainment, but from apart from that, theres no general appeal for Spaniards to gain a high level in English use. The language is learned because it is a great tool to communicate with international people as they key for global communication, generally detached of the American/British cultural factor that surround the language, concentrating on its usability and potential audience formed by multicultural people.English and the sense of a Global IdentityWhen it comes to specific L2, we find that the English Language has become the most important one by large in terms of geographical distribution of speakers. Though English is only the third language when it comes to native speakers (350 million against Spanish (358 million) and Mandarin (800 million)) (Ethnologue, 2009), if we add second-language speakers and those who learn the language as a foreign language, English, with 900 million speakers, rises to the second position only topped by Mandarin with 1151. However, since only 18% of the Mandarin speakers are non-Chinese speakers and 62% of the English speakers are not native-speakers (L2), and its spoken in more than 123 countries in the world, we can draw the terminus that English has become the current de facto language of the world. Actually, English has become the current lingua franca of international business, science, technology and aviation (Ding Saunders 2006). A lingua franca, in the beginning Italian for Frankish language, is a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both persons mother tongues (Wikipedia ). Hence, a lingua franca can be thought of as something as a bridge language between different nationalities.However it is not the purpose of this paper to study the historical reasons that have lead to the current situation.Due to the falling power and cultural influence of China in East Asia any aspiring Chinese businessman will learn English as it is already well established as the international business language (Ku Zussman 2010). As such English is incontestably the global lingua franca of the current era of globalisation (Ding Saunders 2006). The reasons are various and originate from the colonialism of the British Empire to the standardization and spreading of American entertainment and IT industry.The IT revolution with new means for communication, emerging world markets, outsourcing of production to other countries, and common currencies such as the Euro are all contributing to the globalization of the world (Kilbourne 2002). If the industrialization characterized the 18th and 19th century of the western world, globalization is the trait of today. As such it marks a major turning point in human history as large parts of our daily life are affected to some extent. Activities such as reading the mor ning news in the mole street journal, taking your Asian ec