改Global+language2.docx

改Global+language2.docx

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改Global+language2

Unit3EnglishasaGlobalLanguage

Withinlittlemorethanageneration,wehavemovedfromasituationwhereaworldlanguagewasatheoreticalpossibilitytoonewhereitisanevidentreality.～DavidCrystal

ThereisnoretreatfromEnglishastheworldlanguage;noretreatfromanEnglish-speakingworld.～ScridathRamphal

UnitGoals

●Todevelopthebasicskillsofreadinglinguistics-relatedpassages

●TounderstandthatEnglishhasbecomeagloballamguage

●ToknowwhyEnglishhasbecomeaninternationallanguage

●Tolearnhowtodoasimplelinguistics-relatedproject

BeforeYouRead

1.Consideringthefollowingquesitons.

1）Whatisyournativelanguage?

2）Whatlanguage（s）haveyoubeenlearningas（a）foreignlanguage（s）?

3）Whatifyouhavetocommunicatewithapersonwhosenativelanguageisneitheryoursnortheforeignlanguage（s）youarefamiliarwith?

2.Lookatthepicure,whatissuedoyouthinktheyaretalkingabout?

Andwhatarethetwosittingbehinddoing?

Wouldyouliketodothesimilarjob?

Andhow?

3.Lookatthepictureandanswerthefollowingquestions.

1）Whataretheydoing?

Whatcouldthetopicbe?

2）Whatdoyouthinktheirnativelanguagesareandwhatlanguagedoyouthinktheyarespeakingatthemoment?

Why？

StarttoRead

TextAWhydoweneedagloballanguage?

[1]Translationhasplayedacentral（thoughoftenunrecognized）roleinhumaninteractionforthousandsofyears.Whenmonarchsorambassadorsmetontheinternationalstage,therewouldinvariablybeinterpreterspresent.Buttherearelimitstowhatcanbedoneinthisway.Themoreacommunityislinguisticallymixed,thelessitcanrelyonindividualstoensurecommunicationbetweendifferentgroups.Incommunitieswhereonlytwoorthreelanguagesareincontact,bilingualism（ortrilingualism）isapossiblesolution,formostyoungchildrencanacquiremorethanonelanguagewithunselfconsciousease.Butincommunitieswheretherearemanylanguagesincontact,asinmuchofAfricaandSouth-eastAsia,suchanaturalsolutiondoesnotreadilyapply.

[2]Theproblemhastraditionallybeensolvedbyfindingalanguagetoactasalinguafranca,or‘commonlanguage’.Sometimes,whencommunitiesbegintotradewitheachother,theycommunicatebyadoptingasimplifiedlanguage,knownasapidgin,whichcombineselementsoftheirdifferentlanguages.ManysuchpidginlanguagessurvivetodayinterritorieswhichformerlybelongedtotheEuropeancolonialnations,andactaslinguafrancas;forexample,WestAfricanPidginEnglishisusedextensivelybetweenseveralethnicgroupsalongtheWestAfricancoast.Sometimesanindigenouslanguageemergesasalinguafranca–usuallythelanguageofthemostpowerfulethnicgroupinthearea,asinthecaseofMandarinChinese.Theothergroupsthenlearnthislanguagewithvaryingsuccess,andthusbecometosomedegreebilingual.Butmostoften,alanguageisacceptedfromoutsidethecommunity,suchasEnglishorFrench,becauseofthepolitical,economic,orreligiousinfluenceofaforeignpower.

[3]Thegeographicalextenttowhichalinguafrancacanbeusedisentirelygovernedbypoliticalfactors.Manylinguafrancasextendoverquitesmalldomains–betweenafewethnicgroupsinonepartofasinglecountry,orlinkingthetradingpopulationsofjustafewcountries,asintheWestAfricancase.Bycontrast,LatinwasalinguafrancathroughoutthewholeoftheRomanEmpire–atleast,atthelevelofgovernment（veryfew‘ordinary’peopleinthesubjugateddomainswouldhavespokenmuchLatin）.AndinmoderntimesSwahili,Arabic,Spanish,French,English,Hindi,Portugueseandseveralotherlanguageshavedevelopedamajorinternationalroleasalinguafranca,inlimitedareasoftheworld.

[4]Theprospectthatalinguafrancamightbeneededforthewholeworldissomethingwhichhasemergedstronglyonlyinthetwentiethcentury,andsincethe1950sinparticular.Thechiefinternationalforumforpoliticalcommunication–theUnitedNations–datesonlyfrom1945.Sincethen,manyinternationalbodieshavecomeintobeing,suchastheWorldBank（also1945）,UNESCOandUNICEF（both1946）,theWorldHealthOrganization（1948）andtheInternationalAtomicEnergyAgency（1957）.Neverbeforehavesomanycountries（around190,inthecaseofsomeUNbodies）beenrepresentedinsinglemeeting-places.Atamorerestrictedlevel,multinationalregionalorpoliticalgroupingshavecomeintobeing,suchastheCommonwealthandtheEuropeanUnion.Thepressuretoadoptasinglelinguafranca,tofacilitatecommunicationinsuchcontexts,isconsiderable,thealternativebeingexpensiveandimpracticablemulti-waytranslationfacilities.

[5]Usuallyasmallnumberoflanguageshavebeendesignatedofficiallanguagesforanorganization’sactivities:

forexample,theUNwasestablishedwithfiveofficiallanguages–English,French,Spanish,RussianandChinese.Thereisnowawidespreadviewthatitmakessensetotrytoreducethenumbersoflanguagesinvolvedinworldbodies,ifonlytocutdownonthevastamountofinterpretation/translationandclericalworkrequired.Halfthebudgetofaninternationalorganizationcaneasilygetswallowedupintranslationcosts.Buttrimmingatranslationbudgetisnevereasy,asobviouslynocountrylikesthethoughtofitslanguagebeinggivenareducedinternationalstanding.Languagechoiceisalwaysoneofthemostsensitiveissuesfacingaplanningcommittee.Thecommonsituationisonewhereacommitteedoesnothavetobeinvolved–wherealltheparticipantsataninternationalmeetingautomaticallyuseasinglelanguage,asautilitarianmeasure（a‘workinglanguage’）,becauseitisonewhichtheyhaveallcometolearnforseparatereasons.Thissituationseemstobeslowlybecomingarealityinmeetingsaroundtheworld,asgeneralcompetenceinEnglishgrows.

[6]Theneedforagloballanguageisparticularlyappreciatedbytheinternationalacademicandbusinesscommunities,anditisherethattheadoptionofasinglelinguafrancaismostinevidence,bothinlecture-roomsandboard-rooms,aswellasinthousandsofindividualcontactsbeingmadedailyallovertheglobe.AconversationovertheInternetbetweenacademicphysicistsinSweden,Italy,andIndiaisatpresentpracticableonlyifacommonlanguageisavailable.AsituationwhereaJapanesecompanydirectorarrangestomeetGermanandSaudiArabiancontactsinaSingaporehoteltoplanamulti-nationaldealwouldnotbeimpossible,ifeachpluggedintoa3-waytranslationsupportsystem,butitwouldbefarmorecomplicatedthanthealternative,whichisforeachtomakeuseofthesamelanguage.

[7]Astheseexamplessuggest,thegrowthininternationalcontactshasbeenlargelytheresultoftwoseparatedevelopments.Thephysicistswouldnotbetalkingsoconvenientlytoeachotheratallwithoutthetechnologyofmoderncommunication.AndthebusinesscontactswouldbeunabletomeetsoeasilyinSingaporewithoutthetechnologyofairtransportation.Theavailabilityofboththesefacilitiesinthetwentiethcentury,morethananythingelse,providedthecircumstancesneededforagloballanguagetogrow.

[8]Peoplehave,inshort,becomemoremobile,bothphysicallyandelectronically.Annualairlinestatisticsshowthatsteadilyincreasingnumbersarefindingthemotivationaswellasthemeanstotransportthemselvesphysicallyaroundtheglobe,andsalesoffaxes,modems,andpersonalcomputersshowanevengreaterincreaseinthosepreparedtosendtheirideasinwordsandimageselectronically.Itisnowpossible,usingelectronicmail,tocopyamessagetohundredsoflocationsallovertheworldvirtuallysimultaneously.ItisjustaseasyformetosendamessagefrommyhouseinthesmalltownofHolyhead,NorthWales,toafriendinWashingtonasitistogetthesamemessagetosomeonelivingjustafewstreetsawayfromme.Infact,itisprobablyeasier.Thatiswhypeoplesooftentalk,thesedays,ofthe‘globalvillage’.

[9]Thesetrendswouldbetakingplace,presumably,ifonlyahandfulofcountriesweretalkingtoeachother.Whathasbeensoimpressiveaboutthedevelopmentswhichhavetakenplacesincethe1950sisthattheyhaveaffected,toagreaterorlesserextent,everycountryintheworld,andthatsomanycountrieshavecometobeinvolved.Thereisnonationnowwhichdoesnothavesomelevelofaccessibilityusingtelephone,radio,television,andairtransport,thoughfacilitiessuchasfax,electronicmailandtheInternetaremuchlesswidelyavailable.

[10]Thescaleandrecencyofthedevelopmenthastobeappreciated.In1945,theUnitedNationsbeganlifewith51memberstates.By1956thishadrisento80members.Buttheindependencemovementswhichbeganatthattimeledtoamassiveincreaseinthenumberofnewnationsduringthenextdecade,andthisprocesscontinuedsteadilyintothe1990s,followingthecollapseoftheUSSR.Therewere190memberstatesin2002--nearlyfourtimesasmanyastherewerefiftyyearsago.Andthetrendmaynotyetbeover,giventhegrowthofsomanyregionalnationalisticmovementsworldwide.

[11]Therearenoprecedentsinhumanhistoryforwhathappenstolanguages,insuchcircumstancesofrapidchange.Therehasneverbeenatimewhensomanynationswereneedingtotalktoeachothersomuch.Therehasneverbeenatimewhensomanypeoplewishedtotraveltosomanyplaces.Therehasneverbeensuchastrainplacedontheconventionalresourcesoftranslatingandinterpreting.Neverhastheneedformorewidespreadbilingualismbeengreater,toeasetheburdenplacedontheprofessionalfew.Andneverhastherebeenamoreurgentneedforagloballanguage.

TextBCouldanythingstopag