"English: A Global Language?"

1. "English: A Global Language?" By: Jeff Leiper Presented by: SoniSarin English 393

2. Introduction • The impact English is having on foreign students of today • A brief history of the English language and how it is spreading • The importance of English in the world • Closing remarks

3. The Students • This article basically discusses the importance of English and essentially asks why English became the Global Language. • It begins with a scene of 3 Foreign-exchange students (Korean, Japanese, and French) trying to unscramble the words: “father-Was-your-angry?” into a sentence that makes sense. • The students are attending the "Living Languages Institute" in Ottawa, during their summer vacation.

4. The Author • The author, Jeff Leiper, is a reporter for an Ottawa IT community. He writes about his thoughts on how English is affecting the way the world communicates. • He tries connecting to the students just to realize that they’re using: “words to communicate, but not a language.” • He notices this barrier in conversation between him and the students. He does not understand their languages, and they are having trouble with English.

5. How English spread…and Where It’s Headed • Mr. Leiper briefly delves into the history of English, how it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon languages. • The British colonies greatly influenced the language's use. • Now, it is used as communication in all fields: • Pop culture – English affects music, icons, spread of trends throughout the world • Job market – English essentially determines who is skilled enough to obtain a job • Sciences – A surprising figure of 2/3 of the world's scientists write their papers in English • Technology – 80% of the information stored electronically around the world is in English. Even though countries have tried to make expensive changes in technology, the simple html codes such as:<BOLD> <TITLE> are still in English.

6. Interviewing Members of the Institute • Leiper interviews Gonzalo Peralta, the director of the Living Languages Institute to understand his views on English • Peralta states that English is the “bread” humans now need in order to survive. • Peralta believes that English is the language of technology. • Leiper then interviews some foreign students to ask their reasons for attending the Institute. They admit they’re learning to speak and write in English properly because: • They’ll find more job opportunities • It’ll ensure a good job • It’s essential for business • They need it for the digital age. • As Peralta's summarizes: English leads to more freedom.

7. If not English….? • Mr. Peralta then tries to share his views on how other ages had different dominating languages used. • Some examples include—Roman, French, Latin, Sanskrit. • However, the major difference is that these languages were reserved for the elite. Not everyone knew how to speak, read, or write in them. • English just seemed to work for this era. Linguists are still curious as to why that may be.

8. Closing remarks • This article was a fascinating read. I really learned a lot from it. • Often times, I've wondered myself over the demand of the English language and what impact it has on others as well. • Approximately one billion people speak English as their second language! • An interesting thought: Even though the Mr. Peralta reveals that learning English leads to the idea of freedom in today’s world, it seems double-edged---without English, there would be no jobs for many people. Thus, in order to gain that “freedom”, you first need to resort to learning the language. • This article causes readers to question: why English?

9. Questions??