GLOBALISATION

Essay: Globalisation has brought countries closer together. How far do you agree?

Globalisation is a wide term that could be defined differently depending on the issue in which it focuses. In terms of the English language, “Globalization may be thought of initially as the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary English as a lingua franca and globalization social life” (Held et al. 1999: 2). This ‘widening, deepening and speeding up interconnectedness’ may have a very influential repercussion regarding languages, as people will use this lingua franca more to communicate instead of their first language or mother tongue. Moreover, it can also be related to a way of doing business, an exchange of different views, ideas or culture between countries
This phenomenon is seen as something beneficial because it has brought the world closer together, but also as something negative when it comes to countries just seeking to maximize the profits and taking advantage of the less developed countries. Therefore, it may have many advantages and disadvantages, but what it is true is that it affects everyone and has changed many people lives. This can be related to the help of technology and media present in our daily lives, and how it has changed from before. This paper will focus on globalization regarding economy, culture and politics and how they influenced in English as a global language, and how it has consequently brought countries closer together.
On the one hand, there are positive sides in relation to economy as it leads to high employment since developed countries give work to the less developed ones. In addition, there is a wide range of products at reasonable prices accessible around the world. On the cultural side, it is worth mentioning how a variety of cultures can be acknowledged on global level. Countries that before had nothing in common are now sharing similar thoughts and are more interested in their believes. Lastly, political globalization refers to human associations which grow in power and this influences the world. There are rules which deal with fundamental issues, like human rights. Furthermore, the drastic changes in technology should also be considered, especially in transport and communication where there has been an enormous transformation (planes, computers, etc.) as it can be related to political power.
On the other hand, negative aspects in economy are also present as the richer countries are even more rich and the poor poorer. The developed countries have more opportunities to gain more money as they have more jobs than the less developed. In culture, the dominant ones are impacting the cultural develop of other countries since media plays a great role. This has also an influence in the spreading of epidemics as travelling is accessible to many people. The political disadvantage is using this power wrongly as it may affect the world. As a result, these three types of globalization also helped in the growth of English as a global language; economically English was very developed, the culture spread around the world, and they were politically strong.
In conclusion, it is true that globalization has brought countries closer together but there have been negative consequences and positive consequences as previously explained. In terms of the English language, we can define it as global and it has united countries because it has spread throughout the world and spoken as a second or foreign language by millions of people. It is used in many fields: business, technology, internet, science, education, art; and the negative aspect about it is that other languages are not used as much as English. Therefore, it may be also very controversial issue as some people may be offended by this but we require this international and global language as we use it in many important domains to be able to communicate with other non-native or native individuals.