Developing intercultural communicative skills

Handout 5

Cultural factors of spreading English across the Globe

Advertising: During the 19^th century the use of advertisements in publication increased, especially in more industrialized countries, due to the fact that there was more money and also more people interesting on them. In USA, however, they realized that if they put advertisements in their magazines, they could put lower the price of their magazines, something which led them to sell more and more of them. And 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. American English ruled.

- Broadcasting: As it has been already mentioned, the invention and use of telegraph supposed a very great impulse to English language. Britain was the pioneer in the use of telegraph, and all communications were made in English, having being necessary that all telegraph operators spoke English. So, it was one of the most important fact in the spread of English though the world.

- Motion pictures: The new technologies altered the way of public entertainment, and it also serves as a thrust of the English language. The development of the cinema was made initially by France and England, but the years during the World War I supposed a kind of blockage of cinema, and then American began to dominate it. Moreover, when the sound was added to the films, it was the spoken English which came to the movies. And although the film industry was developed also in other countries, it is still English language the dominant medium, maybe because the main studio, Hollywood, is in an English-spoken area.

- Popular music: The other important entertainment technology was the recording industry, and also here the English language had the dominance. All the major recording companies in popular music had English-language origins, and when popular music arrived, it was in English scene mostly. The pop groups of English-speaking nations dominated the recording world: Elvis Presley in USA or the Beatles and the Rolling Stones in UK. No other single source has spread English around the world so rapidly.

- International travel and safety: The medium in transportation and accommodation is English. Equally, English instructions about safety on international flights and sailings and indications about emergency procedures are in English. English then has become the international language. “Airspeak”, the language of international aircraft control, emerged after the Second War World, and it was decided that English would be the international language of aviation.

- Education: Internationally, areas as science and technology have the medium of English language to spread over the world their ideas. It is the main reason why many countries have adopted English as the chief foreign languages in schools. It is obvious that people all over the world have to know English if they are students, as most of the important words in the field of education are written in English.