- Reason: 23
- In time, English will not be the sole lingua franca and those who are monolingual will be ill equipped for this new world
- Reference:
- Willis, J. (2003) Foreign Language Learning and Technology in England from the 17th to 21st Centuries (a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the examination for PhD in the Department of Education at the University of Surrey)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Multilingualism
- Reason: 24
- The ultimate consequences for a monolingual England will be linguistic disenfranchisement, the nation being unable to initiate communication with non-English speakers.
- Reference:
- Willis, J. (2003) Foreign Language Learning and Technology in England from the 17th to 21st Centuries (a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the examination for PhD in the Department of Education at the University of Surrey)
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Equality (equal opportunities), Global English, UK
- Reason: 26
- England’s monolingualism symbolises an expectation that others reach out to the nation via the medium of English. This ultimately implies a difference in the relationship of power: it is perceived as a remnant of colonial attitudes
- Reference:
- Willis, J. (2003) Foreign Language Learning and Technology in England from the 17th to 21st Centuries (a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the examination for PhD in the Department of Education at the University of Surrey)
- Related Keywords:
- Equality (equal opportunities), Global English, Multilingualism, Values
- Reason: 27
- Those who speak only English may, in the future, be unable to communicate with the newly empowered and potentially rising communities where English is not the mother tongue. This is politically disempowering to monolingual English speakers
- Reference:
- Willis, J. (2003) Foreign Language Learning and Technology in England from the 17th to 21st Centuries (a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the examination for PhD in the Department of Education at the University of Surrey)
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Equality (equal opportunities), Global English, Globalisation, Multilingualism
- Reason: 31
- Intercultural communication is not an activity which occurs predominantly through the use of English as a lingua franca, nor can it be adequately carried out monolingually
- Reference:
- Kelly, M., Elliott, I., Fant, L. (eds) (2001) Third Level, Third Space: Intercultural Communication and Language in European Higher Education (Bern: Peter Lang)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Intercultural competence, Multilingualism
- Reason: 67
- Knowledge in non-European languages will become an important economic and political asset. We need to be plurilingual and have English as only one of the languages
- Reference:
- Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2002) Why should linguistic diversity be maintained and supported in Europe? Some arguments (Strasbourg: Council of Europe)
- Related Keywords:
- Diversity, Economic, social and political dimension, Global English, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Multilingualism
- Reason: 78
- The impact of dominant languages on minority languages is a matter of universal concern, and the role of English is especially implicated
- Reference:
- Crystal, D. (2003) 'Taking account of the linguistic revolution' in Head, D., Jones, E., Kelly, M., Tinsley, T. (eds) Setting the Agenda for Languages in Higher Education (London: CILT), pp. 9-23
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Values
- Reason: 176
- In international converse through the medium of English, native speakers tend to talk too much and listen too little, so that quite frequently an international free discussion turns into one among the native-speaking English participants, in which little account is taken of the demands made on the comprehension skills of the non-natives present. Monolinguals are tempted to confuse the skill with which an argument is formulated and the fluency with which it is expressed with the force and validity of the case itself, and are painfully surprised when, having had by far the best of the debate, they are outvoted or when they have contracts left unsigned because clients have felt unable to express fully their questions, doubts, and hesitations, which therefore remain unresolved
- Reference:
- Trim, J. (1999) ‘Language education policies for the twenty-first century’ in Tosi, A., Leung, C. (eds) Rethinking Language Education: From a Monolingual to a Multilingual Perspective (London: CILT)
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Global English, Understanding
- Reason: 177
- For the English-speaking countries themselves, the emergence of English as an international lingua franca is not an unmixed blessing. For Britain especially, it masks the effects of the loss of imperial dominance, encourages complacency and perpetuates a sense of superiority as a result of a position in unequal international communication based simply on linguistic advantage but no longer corresponding to the realities of political and economic relations
- Reference:
- Trim, J. (1999) ‘Language education policies for the twenty-first century’ in Tosi, A., Leung, C. (eds) Rethinking Language Education: From a Monolingual to a Multilingual Perspective (London: CILT)
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Economic, social and political dimension, Equality (equal opportunities), Global English, International relations, Values
- Reason: 178
- There is little awareness among British or American people of the dangerous resentments which can be built up by unequal communication
- Reference:
- Trim, J. (1999) ‘Language education policies for the twenty-first century’ in Tosi, A., Leung, C. (eds) Rethinking Language Education: From a Monolingual to a Multilingual Perspective (London: CILT)
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Equality (equal opportunities), Global English, International relations, National security
- Reason: 190
- When you learn another language, you start to have access to another culture, to another way of thinking, for languages articulate reality in different ways. If you never learn another language, you never know how vast the gap can be between peoples, so you never see the need to start bridging the gap. What September 11 showed the world was the terrifying complacency of native English speakers who assumed that everyone thought as they did. It also showed how skilfully international terrorist networkers can exploit their knowledge of languages and cultures to blend invisibly around the world
- Reference:
- Bassnet, S. (2002) 'A failure to communicate' in the Education Guardian, Tuesday March 12, 2002 (http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,,665508,00.html)
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Global English, Intercultural competence, International relations, National security, Understanding
- Reason: 257
- The world faces a future of people speaking more than one language, with English no longer seen as likely to become dominant
- Reference:
- Graddol, D., cited by Schmid, R. (2004) 'Sun may set on English Language, experts say' in Los Angeles Daily News, Friday February 27, 2004
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Multilingualism
- Reason: 258
- Monolingual speakers of any variety of English - American or British - will experience increasing difficulty in employment and political life
- Reference:
- Graddol, D., cited by Schmid, R. (2004) 'Sun may set on English Language, experts say' in Los Angeles Daily News, Friday February 27, 2004
- Related Keywords:
- Economic, social and political dimension, Employability, Global English, Multilingualism
- Reason: 259
- The share of the world's population that speaks English as a native language is falling
- Reference:
- Graddol, D., cited by Schmid, R. (2004) 'Sun may set on English Language, experts say' in Los Angeles Daily News, Friday February 27, 2004
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Multilingualism
- Reason: 261
- As of 1995, English was the second most common native language in the world, trailing only Chinese. By 2050, Chinese will continue its predominance, with Hindi-Urdu of India and Arabic climbing past English, and Spanish nearly equal to it
- Reference:
- Graddol, D., cited by Schmid, R. (2004) 'Sun may set on English Language, experts say' in Los Angeles Daily News, Friday February 27, 2004
- Related Keywords:
- Global English
- Reason: 262
- There is a distinct consciousness in many countries, both developed and developing, about this dominance of English. There is some evidence of resistance to it, a desire to change it
- Reference:
- Montgomery, S. cited by Schmid, R. (2004) 'Sun may set on English Language, experts say' in Los Angeles Daily News, Friday February 27, 2004
- Related Keywords:
- Global English
- Reason: 290
- It is known that less than 50% of Internet users worldwide speak English
- Reference:
- Connell, T. (2002) Languages and Employability: A Question of Careers (www.cilt.org.uk/careers/pdf/reports/employability.pdf)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Technology
- Reason: 299
- Perhaps a global language will cultivate an elite monolingual linguistic class, more complacent and dismissive in their attitudes to other languages
- Reference:
- Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Values
- Reason: 300
- Perhaps those who have such a [global] language at their disposal - and especially those who have it as a mother tongue - will be more able to think and work quickly in it, and to manipulate it to their own advantage, at the expense of those who do not have it, thus maintaining in a linguistic guise the chasm between rich and poor
- Reference:
- Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
- Related Keywords:
- Equality (equal opportunities), Global English, Social cohesion, Values
- Reason: 301
- Perhaps a global language will hasten the disappearance of minority languages, or - the ultimate threat - make all other languages unnecessary... Linked with this is the unpalatable face of linguistic triumphalism - the danger that some people will celebrate one language's success at the expense of others
- Reference:
- Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
- Related Keywords:
- Diversity, Global English, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Values
- Reason: 305
- Clear signs of linguistic complacency, common observation suggests, are already present in the archetypal British or American tourist who travels the world assuming that everyone speaks English, and that it is somehow the fault of the local people if they do not
- Reference:
- Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Mobility, Values
- Reason: 306
- Several studies have shown that English-monolingual companies are increasingly encountering language difficulties as they try to expand in those areas of the world thought to have greatest prospects of growth, such as East Asia, South America , and Eastern Europe - areas where English has traditionally had a relatively low presence
- Reference:
- Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
- Related Keywords:
- Business, Communication, Global English, Multilingualism
- Reason: 307
- Some two thirds of the world’s population do not use English. In certain parts of the world (most of the states of the former Soviet Union, for example), English still has a very limited presence
- Reference:
- Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
- Related Keywords:
- Business, Global English
- Reason: 308
- It is inevitable that, in a post-colonial era, there should be a strong reaction against continuing to use the language of the former colonial power, and in favour of promoting the indigenous languages
- Reference:
- Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
- Related Keywords:
- Diversity, Global English, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Values
- Reason: 309
- People have a natural wish to use their own mother-tongue, to see it survive and grow, and they do not take kindly when the language of another culture is imposed on them. Despite the acknowledged values which the language of that culture can bring, the fact remains that English has an unhappy colonial resonance in the minds of many, and a history where local languages could easily be treated with contempt
- Reference:
- Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
- Related Keywords:
- Diversity, Equality (equal opportunities), Global English, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Values
- Reason: 331
- As Internet use increases, so does the use of languages other than English and the opportunities for English speakers to access information in other languages
- Reference:
- The Nuffield Languages Inquiry (2000) Languages: the next generation (London: The Nuffield Foundation)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Information acquisition, Multilingualism, Technology
- Reason: 333
- English alone is not enough. In the face of such widespread acceptance and use of English the UK's complacent view of its limited capability in languages is understandable. It is also dangerous. In a world where bilingualism and plurilingualism are commonplace, monolingualism implies inflexibility, insensitivity and arrogance. Much that is essential to our society, its health and interests - including effective choice in policy, realisation of citizenship, effective overseas links and openness to the inventions of other cultures - will not be achieved in one language alone
- Reference:
- The Nuffield Languages Inquiry (2000) Languages: the next generation (London: The Nuffield Foundation)
- Related Keywords:
- Citizenship, Economic, social and political dimension, Global English, Inclusion, Intercultural competence, International relations, Multilingualism, UK, Values
- Reason: 334
- Early learning of languages is giving other countries key advantages- While we have English, others have English, their national language and a head start in learning new languages
- Reference:
- The Nuffield Languages Inquiry (2000) Languages: the next generation (London: The Nuffield Foundation)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Language awareness, UK
- Reason: 335
- Other countries are not learning English for our benefit
- Reference:
- The Nuffield Languages Inquiry (2000) Languages: the next generation (London: The Nuffield Foundation)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, UK
- Reason: 337
- Our relationship with Europe needs more than English. Europe is emerging not only as a single market but also as a social and political forum in which English serves as a second language. There is a danger that European monolinguals will find themselves marginalised - unable to take a full part in the new institutions and opportunities in the economic, cultural and educational fields. For English monolinguals there is no single other language which will suffice: we need to explore the means of creating diversity of provision and language expertise in both the major and minor European languages
- Reference:
- The Nuffield Languages Inquiry (2000) Languages: the next generation (London: The Nuffield Foundation)
- Related Keywords:
- Culture, Diversity, Economic, social and political dimension, Education Studies, Equality (equal opportunities), European Union (EU), Global English, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Multilingualism, UK
- Reason: 338
- The UK needs an international cadre of professionals. The pressure towards creating a more internationalised corpus of professionals is becoming more evident in many areas of activity, including medicine, law and accountancy. A knowledge of English alone will take them a long way, but not far enough to be able to work as effectively as their peers from other countries in an international environment. The dominance of English has been a powerful disincentive to learn other languages but the situation must be addressed if the UK is to maintain a cadre of professionals able to work worldwide and to ensure that mobility of expertise is a two-way process
- Reference:
- The Nuffield Languages Inquiry (2000) Languages: the next generation (London: The Nuffield Foundation)
- Related Keywords:
- Business, Careers, Employability, Global English, Mobility, UK
- Reason: 340
- English alone will not sustain word-class excellence - operating successfully in a highly competitive world economy and maintaining world-class standards involve more than muddling through in the short term and include as a minimum the acquisition of the range of skills which our competitors offer. Given that so many people all over the world now speak, or are learning English, knowledge of English no longer confers an automatic advantage on the British workforce
- Reference:
- The Nuffield Languages Inquiry (2000) Languages: the next generation (London: The Nuffield Foundation)
- Related Keywords:
- Business, Economic, social and political dimension, Employability, Global English, UK
- Reason: 363
- It is arrogant to assume that we can get by in English or that everyone else will speak our language. Learning a foreign language is polite, demonstrates commitment and in today’s world is absolutely necessary
- Reference:
- Sir Trevor McDonald, Chair, Nuffield Languages Inquiry cited in DFEE, QCA (1999) Modern Foreign Languages: The National Curriculum for England (London: HMSO)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Values
- Reason: 386
- We survive by international partnerships and alliances. We need to be able to understand where others are coming from , what makes them tick - first-hand, in their own words, not translated by them into English for our benefit
- Reference:
- Sir Trevor McDonald (record of the symposium, 'Why languages matter', held on 6 March 2002 (The English-Speaking Union, The Nuffield Foundation)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, International relations, Translating, UK, Understanding
- Reason: 400
- Global English can take people .. all over the world, thereby enabling contacts to be established that otherwise might not have occurred and from which opportunities and needs for modern languages may arise
- Reference:
- Scottish Executive, Ministerial Action Group on Languages (2000) Citizens of a Multilingual World: Key Issues (www.scotland.gov.uk-library3-education-mwki-07.asp)
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Mobility, Networking
- Reason: 401
- Those who are monolingual in English may run the risk of being perceived by others as having a limited and possibly arrogant outlook on life
- Reference:
- Scottish Executive, Ministerial Action Group on Languages (2000) Citizens of a Multilingual World: Key Issues (www.scotland.gov.uk-library3-education-mwki-07.asp)
- Related Keywords:
- Equality (equal opportunities), Global English, Multilingualism, Values
- Reason: 404
- It cannot be stated with confidence how the 'languages game' will be played in European and international society of the future. The rise of English as global language means that students, businesspersons and others will increasingly find themselves in fluid and changing rather than predictable and fixed situations of language use. In particular, they may find themselves increasingly in situations abroad where more than one language is used within the one event. This is potentially encouraging for English-speaking learners of other modern languages. It means they need not aspire to reach the inaccessible pinnacle of the native speaker (which has been an implicit though unattainable aim of traditional language teaching to an elite minority) but instead may require new and more pragmatic types of competence in communication in which they draw on such languages as they possess, ensuring that these work together in order to achieve a desired effect. If so, this will have important consequences for the education system which will seek to develop in students the following pragmatic sorts of competence: to communicate entirely in international English in certain contexts; to communicate entirely in their modern language in other contexts; to communicate in 'mixed mode' in other contexts, using both English and one or more other modern languages. We should add that communication in international English is not straightforward and to be taken for granted as something that native speakers of English are automatically able to achieve
- Reference:
- Scottish Executive, Ministerial Action Group on Languages (2000) Citizens of a Multilingual World: Key Issues (www.scotland.gov.uk-library3-education-mwki-07.asp)
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Global English, Multilingualism
- Reason: 413
- In a few years time, when Europe, the USA and Canada are lesser and lesser economic players globally, as seems likely, even native-like English will not be a guarantee of advantage as there will be too many people who possess that qualification
- Reference:
- Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2002) Why should linguistic diversity be maintained and supported in Europe? Some arguments (Strasbourg: Council of Europe)
- Related Keywords:
- Economic, social and political dimension, Global English, Globalisation
- Reason: 416
- The fatal flaw is that English works effectively for us in one direction only, that is in transmit-mode. If you speak only English you can be sure that plenty of people out there will understand what you are saying. But in receive-mode, if you are only tuned to English, you will only hear what others choose to let you know.
- Reference:
- Kelly, M. (2002) ‘Excusez-moi, êtes-vous un terroriste?’ in the Times Higher Educational Supplement, March 29 2002, pp. 22-23
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Global English
- Reason: 418
- One of the cultural shocks of September 11 is, overwhelmingly that English is simply not enough. We cannot understand the world in English, much less search out intelligence, build ever larger coalitions of friends, and heal some of the long-standing wounds of the past. We need to be aware as never before of foreign languages and of the ways in which languages identify and represent their cultures
- Reference:
- Footitt, H. (2001) 'Lost for words' in the Guardian, Tuesday October 23 2001
- Related Keywords:
- Culture, Global English, Identity, International relations, National security, Understanding
- Reason: 419
- It is clear from our televison screens and radios that the world we inhabit is in practice multilingual, that people communicate with each other - and often with us - in languages that are not English. And tellingly, we realise that what may be acceptable to us in English - a military operation called "Infinite Justice", for example - may cause grave concern to other cultures when translated into their languages
- Reference:
- Footitt, H. (2001) 'Lost for words' in the Guardian, Tuesday October 23 2001
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Global English, International relations, Translating
- Reason: 438
- In any communicative interaction where one person is speaking his or her native language, and the other is using that language as a second or additional language (fairly typical of the linguistic encounters of native speakers of English with speakers of other languages), the former have a huge advantage over the latter. This fundamental inequity in the linguistic interactions between native speakers and non-native speakers is both powerful and problematic..this type of linguistic inequity is by no means eliminated by language study, but the process of language study may at least make the former speaker more aware of and sensitive to his or her dominance of the communicative interaction
- Reference:
- Reagan, T. (2004) 'Don't know much about the French I took' in Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, Volume 3 (2), pp. 229-239
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Equality (equal opportunities), Global English, Values
- Reason: 461
- A language enables you to communicate with others without seeming arrogant enough to expect them to speak English
- Reference:
- Sixth Former
- Related Keywords:
- Communication, Global English, Values
- Reason: 505
- Another language helps you to overcome the stereotype of English not making any effort to speak foreign languages on holiday etc.
- Reference:
- Sixth Former
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, Mobility, UK, Values
- Reason: 516
- England and the UK in general tend to be very insular because we speak the world language which can isolate us from other European countries. Speaking a foreign language could improve international relations
- Reference:
- Sixth Former
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, International relations, UK, Values
- Reason: 545
- It's polite to learn languages. We shouldn't expect other people to speak English
- Reference:
- Sixth Former
- Related Keywords:
- Global English, UK, Values
- Reason: 719
- If everyone else is learning English, then monoglot English speakers are disadvantaged in employment
- Reference:
- Higher Education Advisory Panel
- Related Keywords:
- Employability, Global English, Multilingualism
700 Reasons to study languages...
