Chapter 1 summary
In why a Global Language, author David Crystal explains what a global language is, how English has become the global language of today, and also why it is important for the world to have a global language.
The article begins with David Crystal going explaining how English is the global language today. He explains how English is everywhere, it can be found all around the world, even headlines in other countries are written in English. From here David switches views and shows the reader that not everyone understands English, others all around the world, view English differently. English is not everyone’s first language and some even may feel threatened that because English is growing so quickly, it makes their first language seem powerless. David ends this first section saying that it is natural for people to feel overwhelmed or threatened by English, but as English grows, everyone is able to benefit more from one global language.
In the next section of the text, David Crystal Explains what a global language is. He explains that for a language to be a global language when it has developed a “special role” in other countries. This “special role” basically means that a certain amount of people needs to understand this language. It is because of second languages that the use of a global language has become inevitable. English is becoming the global language today because in over 100 countries English is taught to students as a second language.
The next section talked about by David is “what makes a global language?” He goes on to explain that the number of people who speak the language is important but it isn’t quite as important as how powerful the group of people who speak the language is. He talks about historic Europe and how Latin spread across Europe very fast but not because a lot of people spoke English, but because Latin was used by the Roman Empire who were