subject: The Advancement of English as the World's Most Predominant Language [print this page] The Advancement of English as the World's Most Predominant Language
The ability to communicate in English will assist you in most countries. Based on researchers, English is the language that has been spoken and learnt more than any other languages across the globe. You can find various aspects that contributed to the spreading of English language beyond the limits of British Isles and becoming an critical tool in global communication.
The origin of English language may be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon dialects. During the Middle Ages, the language that is now known as English, became the chief language of Great Britain.
The expansion of British Empire throughout the 18th and 19th century, led to colonization on every continent. In countries like New Zealand and Australia, the indigenous men and women were outnumbered by the British and hence, English became the dominant language. However, in countries like South Africa and India which had a large population, English was established as an administrative language. By the end of 19th century, English language became global like the influence of British Empire. Later, the knowledge of English language became a necessity for the majority of the world's population.
The transformation of United States to a global superpower, right after World War II, extended the significance of English to a greater global level. The fact that America developed into an important economic country, encouraged the growth of English language too. America, once a colony of British Isles developed a distinct kind of English. Apart from inventing new words, the older form of the language was retained in some instances and pronunciations began to differ. The differences between the two language entities are distinctly found inside the spelling conventions.
Immigration plays an crucial role in adding diversity and variety to English dialects and accents. Immigrants, specially the Caribbean and Asian people have blended the English dialects with the speech pattern of their mother tongues, thereby resulting in new variations of English. For instance, Indian words like "desi" and "guru" employed by Indian communities have found its way into the English language influencing it in a particular manner.
Educational programs of numerous countries incorporates English as an important international language in their curriculum. The fascinating fact is that English language has been adopted by numerous countries and molded its use for their convenience. Like American English is distinct from British English, the usage of English in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa is different from British English too. It is used as an official language in many countries although they are no longer under the rule of the British. For a multilingual country like India, English acts as a great medium of communication between the individuals speaking diverse languages.
Innumerable industries including computing, banking, diplomacy, business and entertainment consider English to be the standard medium of communication. To make communication easier, English was made the official language of maritime and aviation activities by an International Treaty. English is also regarded as the official language of numerous International organizations like United Nations, International Olympic Committee, European Union and countless other.
English language plays an integral part in the world of technology as several technological devices are marketed heavily in America or the targeted consumers are the English-speaking users. Majority of the sites found in the World Wide Web are either in English or have an English translation and also the computer keyboards also comprises of the letters of English alphabet. Apart from technology, English is also the language of science. It is also used as an unifying language by the medical community to find out about the latest medical breakthroughs occurring in different parts of the world.
