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English as a global language

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English as a global language
English is a language spoken by almost every country; therefore, kids are learning this language in preschool. Because there is a rapid increase in globalization, there is a need for having one language around the world in order to make things easier. Business between different nations with a common language will improve social relationships and will promote mutual understanding. In addition, studies have shown that there is an exponential growth in the number of people who speak English, so researchers have set English as a global language. Although many people think that English will become a global language in the near future, its global status is not assured.

Researchers claim that there is a great necessity for a common language in our world because of the changes that have happened in the last 20 years. Despite the fact that English has introduced new words into different idioms, language shifting is becoming an issue. Language shifting is a process where people of a certain community in which many languages are spoken abandon their native language for another. This has happened throughout history. For example, people that were conquered shifted to their conquerors’ language. Therefore, it is reasonable that some languages have died in this shifting process; however, the rate of dying languages has increased dramatically since the last century (Trudgill, 2000; Kandler, 2010).

Politicians affirm that having English as a global language will promote peace and mutual understanding. Nevertheless, this will lead to a linguistic complacency. Complacency is being satisfied with how things are and not trying to make them better (Merriam-Webster). The common issue in linguistic complacency is assuming that everyone knows a specific language – English –, and that is an invalid argument. American tourists think that in every place they travel to people should know English. Because the language itself is globalized, English speaking people find it unnecessary to

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