English as the International Language: The Rise of English

Period

Colonialism

English was taken around the world by the sailors, soldiers, pilgrims, traders, and missionaries of the British Empire, which at one point stretched cross almost a quarter of the world’s surface, not including the United States. 

 

English was not the first language of European colonialism; Portuguese and Dutch had left the continent earlier. As recently as the 19th Century, English was not the world’s major means of communication.

 

French had been the number one language of international communication, and German was the language of science.

What caused the spread?

So, something must have happened more to give English its unique international status.

Industrial Revolution 

Britain was the leader of the Industrial Revolution, and large-scale manufacturing and production machinery were just some of the major technological advancements being pioneered there. Countries that needed this new industrial knowledge accessed them via English, which made English powerful as an international language.

 

The spread of English went side by side with the development of technology. For instance, English was the language in which the system of the telegraph was developed, and English became the international language of all telegraph operators. 

The Emergence of American Economic Superiority and Political Leadership

Although Britain had been the greatest political, economic, and industrial power in the world in the 18th Century, by the end of the 19th and the early 20th Centuries the United States had emerged as an economic and political superpower.

While Europe was rebuilding in the years after 1945, the United States boomed. 

The influence of American business, combined with the tradition of English left around the world by the British Empire, has made English the number one language of international trade in the 21st Century. 

All the world’s top business schools now teach in English. English is now the most spoken foreign language in 19 of the 25 EU Member States. 

The Rise of International Organizations

As the world began to come together in international organizations, they needed to communicate. 

Running multilingual operations was costly, so English became the language used in their international interactions. 

The League of Nations was created after World War I, but then it was replaced by the United Nations, which ends up in New York. 

Thus, the world´s focus shifted to the United States.

Cultural Events Advertising

During the 19th Century, the use of advertisements in publications increased, especially in more industrialized countries. 

As the international market grew, the media spread to all parts of the world and became one of the most noticeable global manifestations of English language use. 

Broadcasting

The invention and use of the telegraph spurred the spread of the English language. 

Britain was the pioneer in the use of the telegraph, and all communications were made in English, and all telegraph operators spoke English.

Telegraph lines were mostly owned by British and American companies.

Motion Pictures

New technologies altered the way of public entertainment and helped to advance the usage of serves the English language. 

The development of the cinema was made initially by France and England, but after World War I, American began to dominate the industry.  

Moreover, when the sound was added to the films, it was spoken English that first came to the movies.

Popular Music

The other important entertainment technology was the recording industry, and here the English language was dominant. 

All the major recording companies in popular music had English-language origins, and when popular music arrived, it was in English scene mostly. 

No other single source has spread English around the world so rapidly.

International Travel

The medium in transportation and accommodation is English. 

Instructions about safety on international flights and sailings and indications about emergency procedures are in English. 

English has become the language of international aircraft control.

And many major airports use dual language signage with English.

Education

Internationally, areas as science and technology used the medium of English language to spread over the world their ideas. 

This is the main reason why many countries have adopted English as the chief foreign languages in schools. 

People all over the world must know English if they are students, as most of the essential words in science and technology are written in English. 

Computer Revolution

The computer revolution was due to American technology and the American know-how. So, it is logical that the language of computers is English. 

 

The global power of the United States coincided with the birth of popular computing, and English is the language of the technological revolution and the Internet. 

Consider a keyboard, for example; most are designed for Latin characters, so speakers of Asian languages (mainly) must use complicated techniques to enter words.

 

What happens inside the devices is also dominated by English. More than Thus, over a third of all programming languages have been developed in countries where English is the primary language.

Origins of the Internet

The origins of today’s Internet spring from the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) that the United States military developed in 1969. 

English engineer and computer scientist Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. He wrote the first web browser in 1990 while employed at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland.

Most undersea fiber optic networks are owned by American companies.

US companies own most of the communications satellites.

Percentages of Web Content

1. English (55.5%)2. Russian (5.9%)3. German (5.8%)4. Japanese (5%)5. Spanish (4.6%)6. French (4%)7. Chinese (2.8%)8. Portuguese (2.5%)9. Italian (2%)10. Polish (1.7%)

Who uses English?

International sectors use English, and local sectors do not.

If you work in travel and tourism, for an international consulting firm, or in telecom, then there is a good chance that you need to speak English. 

For instance, the Finnish telecom concern Nokia and the German business software company SAP both use English as their official language.

European countries speak excellent English, Asian countries are in the middle, and everyone else lags. .

 

Scandinavians and the Dutch are the English-as-a-Second-Language superstars; as you move south through Europe, rates of proficiency decline but are still reasonable. 

Asian countries, led by Singapore and Malaysia, scored solidly in the middle rung. 

Arabic speaking countries are on the bottom rung.

English in Journals

A journal published in a language other than English must at the very least include English abstracts in qualifying for inclusion in SCOPUS. 

Of the more than 21,000 articles from 239 countries currently in the SCOPUS database, that 80 per cent are entirely in English.

 

On SCImago Journal Rank, ranks scientific journals by prestige, based on the citations their articles receive elsewhere. In this system, all the top 50 journals are published in English and originate from either the United States or the United Kingdom.

What the future holds?

What will happen?

 

Will another language like Mandarin become the preferred language of business? 

Not anytime soon, says a newly released study. 

 

Instead, English will maintain and grow its dominance, moving from “a marker of the elite” in years past to “a basic skill needed for the entire workforce.”

 

To date, about 1.2 billion of the world’s population speak English, and 2 billion of the world’s population are currently studying English. That means that more than 40% of the world’s population is involved with the English language.

Jobs prospects

What type of careers does English help with?

 

Banks and insurance companies

Healthcare

International embassies

International non-profit organizations

Local, state and federal government

Media (journalism) and film industry

Publishing companies

Representatives of foreign companies

Tourism and travel services industry including airlines and hotels

What should you do?

1. Find a program that uses interactions in real-life scenarios.

2. Learn the vocabulary of your profession.

3. Practice the four basic skills a little every day.

4. Use conversations.

5. Learn the idioms.

Timothy Walters, Ph.D. Professor at Texas A& M University, USA, 18 May 2020.

I nternational Seminar English For Employment Prospects

State College of Islamic Studies (STAIN) Mandailing Natal