Why learn English?

I've noticed that countries like Vietnam, Taiwan, Sweden, and India are trying to step up their level of English proficiency. Also, I've watched certain youtube videos and documentaries that show Swedes and the Dutch speak excellent English.

But why? I've heard that Mandarin and Spanish are spoken more than English, but many countries prefer to learn English instead. Is there a particular reason for it (other than posting on this forum of course)?

 

Although other languages are more spoken by population, English is probably one of the most known as a second language and possibly surpasses spoken in that regard (don't quote me on that though).

Also, English is the international language of commerce, aviation and freight. This is probably a result of british colonial times as well as the USA being historically one of the wealthiest countries in the world. As an international language it can be used as a middle ground for communication as it is good to have a single basic language that everyone can use.

Having worked previously in airfreight for a good few years, I dealt with customers in many countries across the world directly, and it was useful as it endured we were all on the same understanding of business helping to avoid miscommunication and therefore problems.

Happy days

 

It is the modern day lingua franca. It's very unlikely you could talk to a chinese person in spanish, or a spanish person in mandarin, but you could possibly talk to both in english.

 

In addition to what the above have said, I believe just about all PhDs are in english.

 

What do you mean by that?

 

I may be wrong about this, so someone please correct me, but I think most PhDs are taken in english, rather than other languages.

 

Along with what has been said above, English is the most descriptive language. Most believe it to be the language of literature because of this. So, many people who love literature may choose to learn it for that reason.

 

Well, Sweden and the Netherlands I can see, since they're close neighbors and with languages not too far apart from modern day English. That, combined with their economic and political ties, Hollywood exposure, and educational system make it so they start from an early age and become proficient later on.

As others have pointed out, numbers alone don't make a language global. Hindi is mostly confined to South Asia, Spanish to Latin America, and Mandarin Chinese to East Asia, while English is the official language of several countries across the globe. You could say English and its widespread use is the result of colonialism, but I also see it as an extension of the Greek and Latin legacies.

I've heard people get hysterical about the Chinese becoming our new "overlords" and that the language will replace English in the near future, but I doubt it. So far, the interest seems to be going one way, although there are plenty of westerners who are interested in the language, culture, nation, relocating to China for jobs and whatnot, though they seem to be in the minority.

 

Sorry dude, I have to quote ya.

I just wanted to emphasize his first statement: other languages are more spoken by population. There are simply more people who know how to speak it, and you can bet a lot of them know English. That and the fact that a lot of "world powers" have English as one of their languages.

 

Among other reasons it is an international language for many organizations. All air traffic control worldwide is in English. Also the European Space agency uses English in all it's facilities.

 

No probs. I only said not to quote as I didn't have definite facts on it and would happily withdraw such a statement if it was demonstrated untrue. I don't like to make assumptions, I guess it was more of an educated opinion based on personal experience. I agree with your point here...

Happy days

 

Only in Switzerland, a very advanced/wealthy country, can you find people not knowing how to speak English; thanks to the education system (public schools that start teaching English in Secondary School (Middle School).

 

I'm going to have to say no there. It has an extensive vocabulary, but that's not the reason it's a global language.

English is a relic of colonialism, and its importance has its thanks to the supremacy of England and the US over the world for the past two centuries, not its own merits. It has its predecessors (French, Latin, Mandarin, Spanish) as the lingua franca of the world or regions prior to globalisation, and I have no doubt it will be succeeded by a language like French (growing rapidly), Spanish, Mandarin, or perhaps a new language will take its place, but I don't think that's happening soon.

However, a fortunate thing about English is that it's an easy language; conjugation and tenses are very, very easy to learn compared to Spanish or French, and it's relatively easy compared to non-phonetic languages like Mandarin, which needs to use Pinyin for phonetic transcriptions in the Latin alphabet. Other aspects of grammar may be a little more difficult, but it's not alone in those respects. You don't have to be linguistically brilliant to learn English.

 

This is my opinion. I don't feel it's wrong to use it just because colonialism was morally wrong*, but when you have all the "official" trade happen in that language, it tends to ingrain itself. It works out well for me because I'm a native speaker and I'm only about 20% fluent in Spanish.

*The forcible takeover of native populations is what I'm talking about. The simple spread of people also applies, but isn't the objectionable part.

 

1. Lingua franca.
2. Lots of resources and internet is in English.
3. English is basically the new Latin for scientists. The scientific articles and book with the highest quality are almost always published in English (too). If you want to be a scientist and have access to the highest quantity and quality of information you NEED English.
4. English has the biggest potential to stay the lingua franca for a long time.

There is a huge difference between English as the lingua franca and the predecessors. Previous lingua francas:
-Weren't spoken across the globe.
-Were only spoken by a tiny (compared with the total population) community of aristocracy, traders, clergy or scientists.

Almost all languages are relics of colonialism, wars, ethnic cleansing, assimilation and other nasty factors. It's not a reason to stop using a certain language.

 

I never said it was a reason to stop. I merely pointed out that English is not an inherently better language for its purpose.

The previous languages weren't spoken to the extent English is now, but they do share common characteristics. The more deeply-ingrained, the longer it'll take to be replaced, that's all. I did mention that they were regional as well as some being global (as French became and still is, though not as wide-spread as English).

 

English is the generally accept universal language of business, too . . . and where there's money . . . need I say more

 

Because it's a nice language! All kidding aside, I guess because it's simple. Try to learn italian or french verbs...

 

Well, that makes sense. Britain did colonize almost everything :lol: I think since Australia is in such close proximity to Asia, I think that prompts Asians to learn English.

 

I think that a lot of economically powerful countries primarily speak English. I suppose it would be better if everyone just learned Esperanto, but that never really caught on, so I think English has been decided on as a language to learn to communicate with other countries.