Безымянный indd

Keywords
: 
Global language, English, Anglo-Saxon, Old-English, Middle English, Early Mod
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ern English, Tudors, Stuart, Lingua Franca, IELTS, TOEFL, globalization, Internet, Mass-media, 
UNO, Olympic Games
Introduction
Nowadays, it has become quite common to hear people talking about English as a Global Lan-
guage or Lingua Franca. English can be considered as a West Germanic language brought to Britain 
in the 5th to 7th centuries AD by Anglo-Saxon migrants. The Anglo-Saxon tribes started to settle in 
Britain from the mid-5th centuries after which they subdued the south Great Britain. In those times, 
the language used by settlers was known as “Old-English”, which is believed to have come from 
Anglo-Frisian dialects. According to Wikipedia in 1066, the duke of Normans Vilgelm conquested 
England, which gave way to the language of Anglo-Normans replacing “Old-English”. The majority 
of Historians claim that “Anglo-Norman” was seen as a language of “upper-classes”. This had been 
thought as the marking point for both “Old-English” and “Anglo-Saxon” era because at that times, 
English was severely affected by the Normans, which ,in turn paved way to a new era known as 
“Middle English”.
Middle English was spoken till the late 15th century.”Outography” as we know it today, was 
established exactly during the Middle English period and is still widely in use.
“Early Modern English” -or, in other words, the language used by William Shakespeare goes 
down to around the late of 15th century and coincides closely with the Tudor (1485-1603) and Stuart 
(1603-1714) dynasties. At the beginning of the period, English was quite often compared unfavorably 
as a literary language with Latin. It was also initially seen as not having any advantages over other 
European languages, as this dialogue shows:
‘What thinke you of this English, tel me I pray you.’ ‘It is a language that wyl do you good in 
England but passe Dover, it is woorth nothing.’ ‘Is it not used then in other countreyes?’ ‘No sir, with 
whom wyl you that they speake?’ ‘With English marchants.’ ‘English marchantes, when they are out 
of England, it liketh hem not, and they do not speake it.’ John Florio, Florio his firste fruites (1578), 
ch. 27.
The inferiority of English was often explained in terms of the mixed origin of its vocabulary. As 
you can see in the above mentioned sentences, one can find a number of mistakes in terms of gram
-
mar, spelling or word choice. That is basically because people are getting used to the Modern English 
as we have it now.
English we know today had been exported to the other parts of the world through British colo-
nization. Nowadays, a large number of countries use English in day-to day conversations, meetings, 
and other important events. Ireland, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zeeland, as well as 
India where English is dominant can serve as a good illustration of this. It is also essential to mention 
that due to the great influence of the USA in the world and its considerable efforts towards commerce 

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and technology, English acquired the status of Lingua franca in the second half of the 20th century. 
This is specifically true for the European countries where English is a dominant language used to 
conduct business, international relations, share nearly all Scientific and technological news.
English is the most widely spoken language around the globe. However, there is unusual fact that 
a great number of speakers are not “native”. Over 1.5 billion people speak English, of that figure, less 
than 400 million use it as a first language, this means the other 1 billion people speak it as a second 
language. As you can see the numbers vary greatly according to speakers.
The EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) which is a product of EF Education First an interna
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tional education company, is online survey dedicated to draw conclusions on English tests available 
free of charge.
According to appraisal investigated in 2020, the company studied nations with most proficiency 
levels of English, and it was found that Netherlands (1), Denmark (2) and Finland (3) were marked 
as the countries with the highest standards among others. As English plays a dominant role in nearly 
all areas in this present globalized world, there is a need to discuss its role as a global language: Why 
English is so popular and how it has become a global language?
As it was mentioned above it is mainly owing to the fact that The USA has always been one the 
most developed nations of the history and it is still playing a major role in the commercial field and 
the economy is boosting every year. Moreover, business, trade and commerce have become interna-
tional and most of the business organizations have their offices in many parts of the world. In order to 
maintain international relationship in science, technology, business, education, travel, tourism, and so 
on, English serves the purpose as a common language and a global language. With the development 
of informatization as well as globalization, this language is mostly used not only by the scientists, 
business organizations and the internet but also in higher education, and tourism sectors.
It is evident that a large number of people over the world are communicating with the people of 
other nations in only one internationally recognized language, which is English. Its convenience is 
also one of the contributing factors of its popularity. Mandarin used by nearly 1.5 billion people is 
however spoken in only China. And this is to some extent due to its complexity in terms of gram-
mar and alphabet. Whereas, English may be at times complicated for a learner, but it is still consid-
ered as the globally recognized language. 
Over decades scientists have questioned the importance of global language (Culpepper, 1997, 
Scott L. Montgomery, 2013, D.Crystal, 1997).
The answer has played a vital role though unrecognized in some way in human interaction for 
thousands of years. When ambassadors or monarchs met for the sake of their country’s benefit, each 
country used their own language, so why is this? It is not only because if the monarch uses the other 
side’s language that meant this was considered as a sign of inferiority, but also here is a hidden fact 
that there was a lack of polyglot people. This resulted in dependence on one individual who could 
even misrepresent the status of the country. Furthermore, this depicts the literacy level and advances 
in technology of any nation which can be understood in the following saying: “The more a communi-
ty is linguistically mixed, the less it can rely on individuals to ensure communication between differ-
ent groups” said David Crystal in his book called “English as a global language”.
The main language used throughout the internet is probably English, so we can inevitably say that 
the mother-tongue of the Web is English.
The significance of the internet has increased dramatically in the past few decades. It is not only 
important in doing research or education, but also marketing, trade between countries, along with 
entertainment. Indeed, this means that if a person wants to keep in touch with the modern world, he/
she has to learn how to use Internet and computer which, in turn means to practice English. In fact, 
some people might consider English as the official language of the Internet, however this concept 
ought not to be taken seriously. No language can be the official status of the Web, because so many 
countries use it and the number is rising day by day and not everyone is capable of speaking English 
all around the world. If this might happen, the whole universe should come to an agreement to select 
one universal language which I suppose is a very challenging task.

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The English language is defined as the official language of the UNO, and surely is in the list of 
six international languages of UNO. It is impossible to know all the languages of the nations you 
cooperate with, therefore English is mostly chosen to run such kind of conferences, summits and 
meeting of head states, signing different laws or rules related to humankind. Even Olympic Games 
which take place every 4 years chose English as its official language. And the reason is that, this game 
is organized in collaboration with large numbers of countries and choosing one language is important.
The state of this language is also pivotal in Mass Media since most box-office hits that are nomina-
ted for an award have been in Hollywood, whose main language is English. In order to enjoy, a person 
needs to have a good grasp of English.
One of the most significant reasons of learning English language is its global status. As a second 
language, the importance of English means, it can open a lot of opportunities either to study or to 
work. In today’s modern day world, it is no secret that most people learn English for job purposes 
basically business and trade. However, a number of people acquire English not only for the sake of 
job, but to study and show academic gains. Nowadays, in nearly all universities English has been 
accepted as a world recognized and a must know language. Especially this applies to those who want 
to study at top-tier institutions. As a matter of fact, one of prestigious universities in the world Oxford 
University has been named the world’s best for the fifth consecutive year. The second world-known 
university is Stanford and the list continues with Harvard University, all of which located in the 
United States of America and knowing English is offered as a required to be able to pass the entrance 
exams. Also, it is essential to pass IELTS GT/Academic for work and study purposes respectively, 
and TOEFL (American version of IELTS) so as to go abroad both to European and Asian countries. 
Certificates of these exams are accepted worldwide with more than 200 countries accepting IELTS. 
It is also a basic requirement for some employees to have IELTS or TOEFL certificate. Even though 
it is not a basic need, it would be more beneficial for people to sit these exams since this is going to 
upgrade people’s language skills and it will have a good look in CV or Resumes while applying for 
any job or university.
On the other hand, there are certain disadvantages of one-language superiority over others. It may 
result in the extinction of less commonly used languages. Although they are not used in quite a lot of 
places, there are still people who speak them as their first language. Besides, each language acts for 
its nation’s cultural heritage, history, and includes evolution and thus must not be left behind a ruling 
language.
At the end of the day, the strong points of English language having a leading position can cer-
tainly outweigh some minor drawbacks. English is important to know when traveling, establishing 
relations among nations, and it also gives access to entertainment, mass media, as well as the Internet 
world. Many scientific reports, articles and reports are published in English today. According to the 
source, 90% of Internet resources are in English. The bulk of the information in all areas will appear 
in English first. Hence, the number of people willing to learn English is growing every year.