Teach English in Jiuting Zhen [incl. Jiǔlǐting Jiedao] - Shanghai Shi

english as a global languageEnglish is not the most common native language (that would be Mandarin chinese) but it is widely recognized as the ?lingua franca? in the world of business and politics. This status of ?world language? goes back to the British colonial Empire. Even though this Empire is history now (the last remnant being the Commonwealth of Nations and a few territories such as the Falkland Islands), it is common knowledge that Great Britain was the big winner in terms of colonial influence. The impressive size of the British Empire gave birth to a very catchy nickname ?The Empire on which the sun never sets?. This was achieved thanks to the British navy, but also through a very effective colonial management which a relatively durable influence over British colonies. This influence helped Britain install english as the language in their colonies, then as the language in international relations and finally that of global world communication. The increasing use of the english language worldwide has a large impact on many other languages, leading to language shift (french Canadian) and even language death. This influence leads to claims of linguistic imperialism as well as some defiance vis à vis english, which can be felt mainly in European countries such as France and Spain. Historically, Great Britain has been the sworn enemy of France. french people do not like the British which are referred to as ?roast beef? and the British do not like the french who have been nicknamed ?frogs?. This rivalry goes back to the colonial era, when the french and British Empire were in competition for world domination. As a french citizen, I have frequently witnessed some very bad english speaking in my home country. This comes from our bad education system and from the limited number of sounds in the french language but I believe the french people are mostly responsible for their super low language level. Since I was born from an english mother in a cosmopolitan family, I do not approve of such an attitude , which proves to be a big handicap for both France as a country and for its citizens. I remember reading a question written in German on a mostly english speaking forum. The question was answered with a rather extreme statement ?Speak english or die!? That may be a little excessive, but I cannot imagine surviving in Asia without speaking any english. But the internationalization of english is also a threat to the language itself. Many native english speakers do not speak ?good english? any longer and the language is becoming very different from the original British english. How did this happen? Like American english, english in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa has evolved and is now distinct from British english. However, cultural ties have meant that until relatively recently British english was considered as Standard english. But the traditional historical links have been weakened by the worldwide political and economic influence of the united states and American english is now favored internationally. But the American english situation may not last indefinitely. The increasing commercial and economic power of the BRIC countries, for instance, might mean that indian english will one day begin to have an impact beyond its own borders. And who knows, it maybe that english will not retain its current international position and will eventually lose to Mandarin chinese. But that?s a big maybe.