English as a Global Language I. English is a global language It’s widely used in economic, political, and scientific fields

English as a Global Language
    Good morning everyone. Today we are going to examine English as a global language. English has played the role as a global language for quite some time. Some theorists mention some characteristics of English as a global language i.e. the use of English has spread across the world and it has become the most preferable foreign language teaching.  English has also been used widely in economic, political, and scientific fields as well as the main tool of communication in media such as ratio, television, newspaper, and even internet. This is not good news to all.  For example, some argue that the global dominance of the English language is bad news for world literature. Why? Because if the English language dominates world publishing, very few translations will be commercially viable, except those from English to other languages. As a result, virtually only those writing in English will have a chance of reaching a world audience and achieving “classic status”.  The outcome is clear: just as in the sciences, those who wish to reach a world audience will write in English. World literature will be an English literature and will be the poorer for it—as if all music were written only for the cello.
    Having said that, we must understand that the spread of globalization all over the world is unstoppable nowadays. Although the definition of globalization itself really depends on what perspectives someone may look at, its impact has infiltrated in some aspects of our life. Similarly, the spread of English as a global language has been an interesting issue on whether it will bring bad or good impact to the society. Like god has created everything in this world in pairs, for instance, men and women, night and day, badness and goodness, life and death, and so on. The impacts of English as a global language also come up with such nature, the positive and negative. In the next few minutes I am going to give a snapshot of both sides.
    First of all, the positive impacts of English as a global language. The existence of English as a global language has contributed positive impacts on some areas.  In trade or business area, English is a medium of communication among businessmen throughout the world. Indonesian exporters, for example, who want to export their local products to another country, must negotiate with prospective importers by using common language, in this case, English. In academic communities, the use of English in lecture-rooms or lecture-conferences has commonly happened in international leveled-universities. A lecturer in Indonesia can deliver his/her lecture to students in Thailand by using English-teleconference. It might happen because of a global language and global technology. In addition, in English Language Teaching (ELT), as a global language, English gives great opportunities to many English-speaking countries to promote ELT all over the world. As some experts point out, the spread of English use in most parts of the world contributes more benefits for English speaking countries. British council, Indonesia Australia Language Foundation (IALF) are examples of institutions that carry out programs on English language teaching in Indonesia. These language institutions are considerably gaining profit by providing language training for Indonesians. They can make a lot of money from Language teaching materials, such as TOEFL/IELTS preparation and any other English course.
    Now, let’s turn to the negative impacts of English as a global language. The question whether the spread of English leads globalization or the globalization has led English appears to be on-going debate. Obviously, the impact of English spread is undeniable. The negative impact is particularly for those who cannot use English as the tool of their communication. It is noted that a global language can cause “linguistic and communicative inequality”. We can see a good example of this inequality in the classroom.  When we are teaching speaking skill to our students, we often find students who cannot speak English fluently tend to be quiet when we have them in discussion or other speaking activities. On the contrary, students who can speak English fluently tend to dominate the discussion. In a broader sense, for example, in international conference, the English speaker delegation often take advantages of being able to speak English to impose their opinion on other delegation. For some level, a crucial decision for international purpose sometimes was made based on this dominant opinion.  If so, the impact of a global English is not only in linguistic and communicative inequality but also social inequality because a decision made in international conference is for the whole society’s purpose in the world. But practically, it is made by some people who own a dominant language. Furthermore, one linguistics expert notes that the impact of English as a global language encompasses “linguistic power, linguistic complacency, and linguistic death”.  Linguistic power refers to those who have English as their first language will hold more power than those who speak English as their second or foreign language. He further gives an example that being English native speaker is a ticket to have a good career in English language companies. / Next, linguistic complacency refers to less intention of English speakers to learn another language as well as its culture because they think that English as a global language has been spoken by all people in the world. So, there is no use to learn other languages. Finally, linguistic death refers to the existence of a global language that may lead to the death of other languages. The massive spread of English in every aspect of our life cannot be caught up by other languages such as French, Arabic, and Spanish.  Experts also point out the dominance of English that causes monolingualism may ignore the use of other languages.
    OK. I have outlined the positive and negative impacts of English as the global language. But like it or not, English is quite dominant in the world. The best attitude towards it could be summarized in two words: “necessary evil”. With that, we conclude our discussion for today.