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EITW End of Unit Assessment-1

The document discusses how the dominance of English as a global language can divide cultures and create barriers. It argues that expecting everyone to learn English enforces barriers for most of the world. While English promotes communication, it requires a large investment of time, money and effort for many. Instead of promoting only English, other languages should also be supported in areas like academia and business.

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Ndanji Siame
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98 views1 page

EITW End of Unit Assessment-1

The document discusses how the dominance of English as a global language can divide cultures and create barriers. It argues that expecting everyone to learn English enforces barriers for most of the world. While English promotes communication, it requires a large investment of time, money and effort for many. Instead of promoting only English, other languages should also be supported in areas like academia and business.

Uploaded by

Ndanji Siame
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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4

2 English as a global language

The following text is taken from a 2017 article which was published online in the University of
Maryland’s student newspaper.

Discuss what you feel are the most important issues raised here relating to the changing
use of English as a global language. You should refer to specific details from the text as well as
to ideas and examples from your wider study.

The English language plays a role in dividing cultures

Last summer, my family went back to the Philippines after eight years away. My cousins
– my absolute best friends when I was younger – continuously pointed out the stark
differences that being ‘Americanized’ afforded me, especially noting my visible affinity for
speaking English to them, rather than Tagalog. Speaking English changed from being a 5
communal joke to creating a divide in my family because I could speak it.

Not knowing the English language can create massive chasms among groups. Because
it is the primary language of academia, as well as a requirement for many universities
and businesses, English is an inherent privilege and not speaking it would be a major
demerit, writes blogger Robert Nielsen. This creates a divide between those who are – 10
by chance or by wealth and time – privileged enough to learn English and those who
are simply unable to. Nielsen further explains that expecting everyone to speak English
‘enforces barriers to three quarters of the world.’

While having English as the universal language seems to be the easiest way to promote
communication between groups of people that would otherwise not be connected, it isn’t 15
to those who feel pressured to spend an extreme amount of time, money and effort to
learn the naturally complicated language.

It may seem convenient, but only to those of us who are lucky enough to either have
parents who passed down the language or put us in an environment conducive to
learning it. Instead of promoting English as the primary language worldwide, people 20
should promote the use of other languages. Nielsen suggests science journals can
accept other languages with or without translation and business conferences need not
be in English.

My vacation back in the Philippines was the trip of a lifetime, the best moments coming
from the conversations I had in Tagalog and laughing with my cousins at my awkward 25
and incorrect grammar. My effort was well returned; at the end of the trip, they learned as
much from me as I did from them. Language communication throughout the world needs
to be just that: a cultural exchange, not a divisive privilege.

© UCLES 2020 9093/42/M/J/20

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