Essay about the history and future of English

Abstract or Introduction

This essay is about the development of english in the worldwide context.
In our highly technological, modern and above all fast paced world, instant communication is not only an auxiliary but also a necessity. To be successful and to compete in a global economy, one has to be seen and heard by as many different parties as possible, as quickly as possible. However, in in a worldwide context, the content is not the only thing that is important. What causes more difficulty is the question of understanding. It is very likely that the addresser and the addressee do not come from the same country or even the same continent. In order to enable communication despite the language barrier, there has to be a language that can serve as a medium of connection between two parties. This language nowadays is English, spoken all over the world by almost 1 Billion people, 600 Million of which are non-native, or second language, speakers. Even though it may not be the ‘biggest’ language in the world when it comes to the total number of speakers, Mandarin Chinese heads the table with 1.1 Billion speakers, there are other aspects that make English the ‘biggest’ language globally. Lu (2008) identifies some of them as ease of learning and use, broad acceptance of culture that the language represents, widely scattered users and the possibility to avail of audio-visual and literary publications in order to use the language actively.