English Globalization Is an Invisible War

王加宇

The world is westernizing while it is globalizing, so in some way, English as a lingua franca is a result of globalization. In recent years, a research from Peking University have showed that majorities regard English globalization as a threat to cultural and linguistic diversities. Besides, linguists think that the growth of needs for international communications results in the development of English hegemony, which is a great challenge for multiculturalism and multilingualism. Some scholars, however, advocate that English hegemony is an inevitable phenomenon which is influenced by economic globalization, and a dominant position of English might maintain the stability of the whole language world. Although some professors oppose multilingualism, there is still some evidence that linguistic diversity shows more positive outcomes.

Opponents of multilingualism claim that English, as a lingua franca, has an overwhelming superiority among international affairs economically and politically. According to hegemonic stability theory, Charles P Kindleberger indicates that the international system is more stable when a nation predominates the world pattern and the world power. This also reasonably occurs in the linguistic area, which means that English globalization might stabilize the language world. However, the English globalization destroys the balance of the world language system. For example, Maori people have been forced to speak English in the past few decades in Australia because of colonization, so nowadays most Maori citizens can not speak their mother tongue. Because of English spreading, Maori language fades away among generations to generations. In addition, English globalization is an essential factor which might cause racial discrimination. For example, non-English native speakers could be discriminated by English native speakers in an exclusive English language environment or system. Besides, it is impossible that eastern visitors can not speak a fluent English when they are in the western countries, and otherwise they may have lots of worries and troubles. Language is also a symbol of one ethnic group and its culture, so it is unfair to force one group to speak another language. It is a human nature that every separate ethnic group thinks that their own language is the best and the most beautiful one in the world.

Opponents also maintain that English as a global language is an inevitable and irresistible trend as a result of the catalysis of globalization. They say that it is an outcome that can not be resisted by government and what the public only need to do is to follow the world trend. Instead, English globalization would be restricted by officials and discouraged by individuals. With strong actions to protect language diversity, government could increase the usage of less popular languages, such as establishing official language by legislation, supporting bilingual education, improving and perfecting native language system. Individuals, too, studying mother tongue and traditional culture with strong interest could help to solve the problem. For example, American government took several positive measures to put Yuchi (an aboriginal language) in protection by using picture recording and video recording. Beyond that, some volunteers in social organizations gave away leaflets with content about Yuchi studying and protection to numerous children and young adults. They hoped that it was a good way with high efficiency to popularize Yuchi language. Take an Australian native language-Amurdag as another example, in which Amurdag had two new speakers with the subsidies of some local and private foundations in 2012, in order to attract much more attention from public to learn Amurdag language. Also, the official language in Saarland and Luxembourg are German, French and Luxembourgish, German, and French respectively. Admittedly, it is an active way to protect mother tongue while meeting the needs for diplomatic affairs (learning English). More importantly, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization adopted a resolution by regarding February 21th of each year as the “International Mother Language Day”. Its aim was to protect mother languages of the whole world and promote sustainable development of linguistic diversity. Clearly, English globalization is not an unalterable wave. With adequate government legislation and plenty of voluntary activities, less popular languages would gain its popularity.

It may be true that English-centered language world could be convenient to international communication, exchange, business, and trade. There are thousands of languages existing in the world, and that might be a reason for misunderstanding among nations because of language differences and culture conflicts. Language is a carrier of a nations culture. If a nation lose their language, and they lose their culture accordingly. For example, Indian aborigines in North America lost their language and culture gradually for lack of protection. It was the reason why North American government introduced a series of policies to support aboriginal peoples lives and protect their languages, cultures, and civilizations. Take Quebecois in Canada as another example, in which the citizens would rather speak French than speak English. Because these French-Canadians share a strong sense of national identity, and they deeply believe that French language is a reflection of their culture. If they use French as little as possible, their culture might also be on the decline. Today there are more than 5000 languages existing in the world, of which about 1500 are endangered. These are the results that can not be reversed by officials but that will help more and more people realize the seriousness of language disappearing and encourage individuals to protect them. In order to guarantee the diversity of language and culture, we should break the current situation in which English dominates the language world.

Many think that English as a lingua franca connects the world as a globe, which gives people an effective and efficient way to understand different nations. Admittedly, by learning English, Chinese people know much more about western customs and traditions comparing to the previous years. But on the contrary, western people know relatively little about eastern customs or traditions. For example, Chinese students started to learn English compulsively since they were only in primary school, and they were taught dramas of William Shakespeare by teachers when they were in senior high school. However, in most western schools, there are no compulsory modules about eastern customs or traditions for their students. And in China, knowing English well is a symbol of being highly educated. It is possible that some western people think there is no need to know eastern cultures because it is a more westernized world. For instance, an interview from Kandongsee (a Chinese TV show), which randomly interviewed some passengers from different age groups in Britain, America, and Australia respectively, revealed that approximately two thirds of participants did not know anything about Chinese language, traditions, or culture. From a great deal of interviews to surveys, better understanding suggested by opponents is an unrealistic assumption which is due to English-centered situation. Furthermore, English-centered language system allows non-English citizens to be adjustable to adapt themselves to the environment where English is in a leading position. On the other hand, non-English speakers have to learn English because they are minorities compared to English native speakers. For example, those eastern people who tend to travel in western countries undoubtedly can speak fluent English otherwise they would have many difficulties. In contrast, when western travelers are in China, those people who can not speak Chinese would not suffer the same consequences.

The final argument advocated by some scholars is that English-centered system increases employment opportunities in terms of rapidly growing work for international affairs. Many people say that it is a great chance for English related majors, however, such an argument completely ignore the fact that more and more people can speak fluent English. There is a trend that more than 20% of Chinese people show their tendency in studying abroad, 15% of whom are non-English related majors. It demonstrates that English related majors are not in a dominant position of international affairs, such as translation and interpretation. Those non-English related students who study abroad not only are experts in English but also acquire knowledge of many other fields, which is a great challenge for English majors in particular. It is possible that the trend could intensify the competition of job searching. For example, a survey from New York University illustrated that 40% English majors find it difficult in hunting a job. Obviously, the English graduates have the worse employment prospects and more pessimistic employment situation compared to the previous years. There are two main reasons: 1) As government now put more emphasis on cultivating linguistic competence in less popular languages teaching and encouraging high school students to learn several less popular languages for resisting English globalization wave, English is gradually losing its overwhelming superiority in mastering the language world. In other words, English related majors fail to meet the needs of changeable multilingual environment. 2) It is noticeable that there are increasing numbers of overseas students, which raises unemployment rate of English majors extremely and .intensifies employment competition of English majors invisibly. Therefore, English globalization impedes the development of less popular languages and makes English majors in a dilemma.

Overall, languages can be different, but there is no language is superior to others. It is vital to protect the lingual diversity, which makes language world vigorous and energetic. Also, government and individuals should treat it as important as biodiversity protection. In addition, language diversity generates various of different ideologies, and it is the world that we are looking forward to. We share diverse structures of languages, special literary allusions, and different economic systems. Therefore, the English globalization is a great threat to multilingualism in Europe and elsewhere.

References:

[1]Charles,P.Kindleberger(2009).The world in depression, 1929-1939.London:Allen Lane.

[2]John,Miller Ph.D.(1958).Early victorian New Zealand.London: Oxford Press.