English as an international language

3 MORE REASONS FOR THE SPREAD OF ENGLISH – past and present

a) IN THE PAST

Colonialism, speaker migration, and new technology

• 19th and 20th century British and American coloialism and the migration of English-speaking individuals to other areas
• Briatin becoming the world’s leading industrial and trading nation (beginning of the 19th century)

b) CURRENT SPREAD AND THE MICROACQUISITION OF THE LANGUAGE WITHIN EXISTING SPEECH COMMUNITIES

The current uses of Englsih in various intellectual, economic, and cultural arenas:

• International organizations: of 12 500 international organizations listed in the Union of International Associations’ Yearbook, 85% make official use of E.
• Motion pictures: in the mid 1990s, the US controlled about 85% of the world film market.
• Popular music: of the pop groups listed in The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, 99% of the gropus work entirely or predominantly in E.
• Publications: more books are published in E than in any other language.
• Communications: about 80% of the world’s electronically stored information is in E.
• Education: in many countries E plays a significant role in higher education.