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english as a Global Language Today, english is often referred to as a world language, dominating international communication. Many people would argue that english is the first global lingua franca, that is, a language that enables communication between people of different mother tongues. Thus the english language is today of vital importance ? in a number of different fields as well as on many different language levels. english is a West Germanic language originating in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England around 1500 years ago. Due to many reasons, the language has spread all over the globe. The number of english native speakers has been estimated to around 500 millions ? 1.8 billion people ? it is the third most natively spoken language in the world, after Mandarin chinese and spanish. However, english is the language most widely taught as a second language ? and the demand is merely increasing all over the world. In some fields and occupations, english knowledge has even become a requirement, such as in business, science, seafaring and diplomacy ? only mentioning a few. Besides this, english has spread tremendously through media and entertainment. In a vast number of countries, one can today find books and newspapers, as well as public signs or users manuals written in english. english as a world language has its advantages as well as disadvantages ? and what these constitute will most certainly vary between people of different opinions. A global lingua franca will bring efficiency to fields such as business where international communication is essential, or organizations such as the UN. english as a language allowing efficient communication across the country boarders, makes it possible to overcome obstacles that would otherwise be present due to linguistic limitations. However, some would argue that this language does not necessarily need to be english ? or that english is not even appropriate for this purpose. This is usually due to english primarily being a national language. And as such, it should not be used internationally ? as it may provide some countries with great political and cultural advantages. Additionally, many people would claim english to be more difficult to some nationalities, such as in the Asian part of the world ? thus linguistic supremacy would appear on an individual basis as well. However, one might claim that such problems will always emerge, independent of the language used as a global one. Though, there are other arguments against english as an appropriate international language. Since the language originated, evolved and finally left the British shores to spread worldwide, it has been influenced and modified by other languages, resulting in a variety of different accents and dialects spoken. Thus, english should not be referred to as an international language according to some, as huge language differences is to be found between countries ? as well as communicative difficulties between their inhabitants. Hence, english might only constitute a valid written lingua franca, not a spoken one. Some people would also argue that the increasing use of english worldwide has had too much impact on other languages - and that these have come to suffer from so called language shifts, where the original language has changed due to influences from english, and even language death, as the number of people speaking a certain language has decreased dramatically. Despite the above arguments that might be considered disadvantages of english as an international language, the fact remains that the advantages weigh heavily. english does provide efficient communication, with reduced risk of misunderstandings, between people of different mother tongues ? a reason which should not be overlooked, as it may for instance play a vital role for world peace. It provides students with a great opportunity to study and live abroad, as well as the ordinary family to visit an unknown country during vacation. The gains and losses of english as an international language may be weighed and compared to each other endlessly. Yet the fact remains ? english is a global language. One might claim that it could have been any language but english, due to coincidences rather than appropriateness. Still, despite all reasons against english as a worldwide language, there are advantages too - and there should be no reason not to utilize them as they are there.
