Logged out
Access All our Essays in an Instant
Swap your work for FREE access, or pay £4.99 for instant access
English as a world language
Member rating:
(10 votes)
| Words:
| Submitted: Thu Aug 14 2003
Page Preview
On the left is an image preview of every page of this document, and below are the first 150 words with formatting removed:
English as a world language: The first significant step in the progress of English towards its status as a world language took place in the last decade of the 16^th century and now, "322,000,000 people speak the English language." Information obtained from the 13th Edition of the Ethnologue (1996). It is strange that a language that started on a small island 1500 years ago as the result of the invasion of a few Germanic tribes is the international language it is today. English is widely regarded as having become the global language but will it retain its pre-eminence in the 21st century? The world in which it is used is in the early stages of major social, economic and demographic transition. Although English is unlikely to be displaced as the world's most important language, the future is more complex and less certain than some assume. The reason for the...
To see the full version of this document, and 144,904 others
