Teach English in YangwAn Zhen - Anqing Shi

english as a Global LanguageEnglish is probably going to remain one of the world?s most important languages for a long time into the future, but I feel like that we can?t say that english is ?THE? global language. After studying abroad in Costa Rica and thailand, and living with a host family and learning a new language I am against the push to have english be the global language. I think mandating english as the global worldwide language disrespects many other nationalities and cultures. english is not currently the predominant language across the world. While many other cultures teach english in school systems, it is not the first language learned by many. Numerous countries and cultures are bilingual, and I think it is a little arrogant to say that all humans should speak english, when many native english speakers do not care enough to learn another language. Mandating english demeans the culture and practices of other nations. Now even though there are many positive aspects of having a global language, there are negative aspects as well. How would it be possible to carry through a global language? Are there any dangers with having a global language? A global language might cultivate an elite class with native speakers, who take advantage of the possibility to think and work quickly in their native language. If this was the case they might manipulate it to their advantage at the expense of those who have another language as their mother-tongue and in this way create a linguistic gap between people. english has a history, sometimes cruel and violent with colonialism and war, and introducing english as the global language might be seen as a threat of future dominance. A global language may make people unwilling or unable to learn other languages and make other languages unnecessary. english is the native language for millions of people in different parts of the world. If english were to become a global language, which standard of the language would be the global standard? And would the standards possibly become even looser. This is another factor that has to be considered in the push to have english as a global language. Standard english is the english that is usually used in print. It is also the english which is normally taught in school and to non-native speakers learning english. Standard english has a widely accepted grammar, and an accent that comes with this standard, the British english accent, also known as the "Oxford english", is the accent that is taught in schools. When I was studying in Chiang Mai, thailand I helped a professor at a Buddhist University teach monks as an english teaching assistant. Most of the monks in the class had never heard an American accent before, as most of the teachers at the university were english or Thai and they were all very fascinated with knowing the differences between American english and British english. I was also surprised as throughout my time their english was taught as British english with the occasional question to me? ?Morgan how would you say this in American english?? If english were accepted as a global language we would also have this problem of is their also a global form of english that must be accepted. Should we only accept ?Oxford english? over American english or australian english over South African english? Even though all the different types of english are based on British english, they have developed grammatical and vocabulary differences because of influence and "loanwords" from other languages. So who is to say there is a superior one, and I doubt the native speakers of whatever form of ?english? they speak would like to hear that. For example say for english in the workplace, they would like employees to only speak one type of english now. ?Sorry you may no longer speak South African english as we are making the jump back to British english.? So I am against english as a global language though I do believe it is a very important language for all to learn as it is very important if you want to be intertwined with the rest of the world. But I think cultural identity is very important, and the jump to english as a world language would cause more communicative problems then solve them.