book

The Language Which Defines Us

21 Pages 654 Words 1557 Views

Since the late 20th century, English has been able to reach all corners of the world. This has granted English a global status. Two authors, David Crystal and David Graddol, analyze this phenomenon in order to understand the factors behind the rise of English and the impact it has had in the world. Crystal in English as a Global Language explains what a global language is and what it means for a language to be global. On the other hand, Graddol in English Next observes the bigger picture and concludes that English’s global status is merely temporary. Nevertheless, despite these differences in perspectives, it is evident that both authors agree upon the factors that make a language receive a global status and the effect a global language has in a community. Hence, from both texts the reader can further understand the course the English language has gone through to reach its status and what repercussions this status has had in the world. Both Crystal and Graddol would probably agree with the idea that one should consider the past in order to understand the present and future, as both authors researched the factors that give a language its global status. Crystal believes that “a language has traditionally become an international language for one chief reason: the power of its people – especially their political and military power.” Similarly, Graddol supports the idea that English is the global language with the fact that the United States has the highest GDP, with a total of 28.8%. Both pieces of evidence allow the audience to understand the clear correlation between the economic wealth and military power of a country and the influence the country’s native language has around the world. Understanding the past and future of a language is important, but sometimes analyzing the present might be even more so. Both authors would agree with this statement as they have analyzed the impact that English has had in world. Obviously, E

Read Full Essay