WORLD ENGLISH

The English language  began to sow its first seeds throughout the world since  the last decade of the 16^th century. In the period between 1603 to 1952 the number of English-speaking people increased nearly fiftyfold and English was spoken not only within but outside the borders of  the British Isles  with the majority of Americans.

The increase was caused due to the migration of the English in different parts of the world for different reasons : started with the religious concerns(when a group of puritans inhabited in Plymouth to found a purified religious kingdom),the Anne’s war(1702-13)and French and Indian war when the French surrendered and the English came to inhabit in Canada, the trade of slaves  resulting in the creation of Black English, the aim to relieve British prisons resulted in transporting the prisoners to Sydney etc.It is the feature of diversity that makes the English language a “melting pot”and as  a future instructor of the ESL I have always been concerned with the problem “Which English is better?”

I’ve always thought of the choice between US English and British English not to mention the others which really differ from one another and sometimes can create misunderstanding.I myself experienced such problems a lot when thinking that I have the necessary command of English to understand the conversation, was frustrated to find our that the US English shows disappointing results.

David Crystal clarifies the situation explaining that  instructors should prepare their  students to become aware that alternative ways of expressions are natural and that they “should give their students general sense of what’s happening to English as a global language”.

And what will happen to English in Future?Will  it  enjoy its glory and globality forever or will it  just generate antagonism for impeding the  Local languages to function or taking the advantage of the native English speakers? All these questions demand further discussions.