The Privileged and Entitled Language

 

 

The English language is out for world domination. There's absolutely no denying the fact that English has slowly wedged itself into global conversations by means of communication, value, and ease. 

Two videos, "The Expansion of English in China" and "Global English Usage in the European Union," demonstrate the costly effect English has in the world. 

Communication

From the time we are babbling babies to know-it-all teenagers to full-grown adults, we learn how to communicate through forms of speech, listening, writing, reading, and understanding social cues from those around us. Language plays an important role in our development along with what we learn to attribute to society. To understand and comprehend what our words mean to convey those words in the accurate meaning for the response we are looking for surrounds our daily lives. 

English has become crucial in order for communication because, in its eyes, it is number one. 

The Chinese people did not see a use for English until the last fifty years or so simply due to the isolation and the connection to Imperialism English had. However, in today's world English is essential to the Chinese in order to find meaningful, successful work. The English language has become a privilege in a country where it was nearly nonexistent. Not only has the language itself raised in status, but it allows citizens who efficiently learn the language a better chance due to the authority English has claimed.

In China, it has become an expectation to learn English by parents and by educators. In their eyes, English is the golden ticket to the western world. Parents wish for their children to have a good education, but also a global one. Meaning if their child learns English, they have a greater chance of being accepted to Cambridge or Yale. Here lies a problem with English collecting its world domination –– the expectation for a minority language to learn the majority one.

Back to High School

Here in America, we have opportunities to learn a foreign language. Whether it's Spanish, French, or German depends on what your school offers and what you choose to take. I took French for four years in high school. 

I loved learning the language, the culture, and what the daily life of an average French individual looked like. I most definitely convinced myself that I would fit better in France than in America. However, at the end of a school day, it was a credit to graduate. For me, personally, there were no greater stakes involved. I could leave my French lessons at school because I didn't have a reliance or expectation on the language to communicate outside of those classroom walls. 

I don't have to learn a second language in order to get my dream job or to be able to confidently speak on the telephone when the air conditioner goes out. My mother tongue already sits at the top of the food chain, eating and consuming every language below it. I can learn any language as a hobby, not as a necessity. The even larger problem associated with the entitlement the English language has is the confidence I can have with traveling to a foreign country and expecting English to be spoken, but not for me to learn the language of that country. 

 

Value 

As for the European Union, they as a collective have chosen twenty-three official languages to be used at their meetings. With the assistants of translators, each language has a chance to shine while communicating a topic. However, some individuals choose to use English due to its value. 

Whether someone can't trust their translator or feels they will not be heard if they speak in their individual, mother tongue language, determines what language they speak to the Union. One prominent example the film spoke of is the laziness listeners have when a speech has to be translated, and those listeners simply don't want to listen or wait around for the speech to be translated. Out of laziness, minority languages are cast to the side. The greater effect of this is the fact that those issues, problems, ideas, and/or thoughts those individuals have who speak a minority language may never be properly heard let alone solved or considered. 

The value of the English language has become incredibly strong that minority languages are being cast to the side and we could be misses valuable interactions because of it. 

The article, "The English language dominates global conservation science," explains how about a third of non-English documents based around conservation become ignored in the greater fields of science simply because those documents are not written in English. A third of research is lost or not even read to be considered due to English being more valuable. In an area as important as restoring and protecting the life on earth, as in with the European Union, it's disappointing that potential ground-breaking research may never be discovered or read because it's not recorded in English. 

Ease

There is no doubt with the sense of ease speaking English holds. As previously stated, it is a privilege to speak English. Native English speakers can go about in a world where speaking and communicating does not take a second thought. There's an ease to being an English speaker. It then becomes an expectation for those who speak foreign languages to conform to English speakers because in some countries, like the U.S. there's no emphasis on learning a second language. 

For the most part, those who have learned English, use it as a first language, or are currently learning it can quickly observe that English has become a default language due to its need for world domination. 

I personally can take into account the number of times sitting in a foreign language class and holding the expectation that we were learning it for fun, not for use. This is a problem all on its own because we expect out of ease for ourselves that the rest of the world if we would visit Germany, France, or even Mexico, that there would be someone who spoke English therefore we, as American students, never worried about implementing said language. 

This mindset as a whole causes ignorance among Americans. We prefer for those who are foreign or speak any other language aside from English, to learn English because it allows us to be comfortable. 

Despite studies showing those who speak multiple languages are overall better students, American foreign language classes continue to be cut down as explained in the article, "Foreign language classes becoming more scarce."

For the Love of English 

The world is full of diversity and English is a prominent force in destroying it. 

Language is attached to our cultures, our backgrounds, and who we identify with. As the English language expands across the globe out of necessity or desire, it forces inside jokes to be lost or generational differences in one household which may have never occurred if English wasn't insistent on wearing its golden crown. 

English is versatile for business, education, and world prospect, however, it's detrimental for culture and heritage that's tied to the language being replaced.  

Photo Citations:

Arnold, Karen. Paris, France, Travel Poster. Photograph. Public Domain Pictures. Accessed October 15, 2021. https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=316027&picture=paris-france-travel-poster.

Communication . January 19, 2017. Photograph. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/communication-head-balloons-man-1991849/.

Justice Silhouette Scales. October 7, 2013. Photograph. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/vectors/justice-silhouette-scales-law-147214/.

Multilingual Language. September 23, 2014. Photograph. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/vectors/multilingual-languages-speak-talk-456774/.

Stockel, Andrea. Crown Gold King Vintage. Photograph. Public Domain Pictures. Accessed October 15, 2021. https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=355233&picture=crown-gold-king-vintage.