In the last twenty years the process of globalization, with concepts about "global community" and "global citizens", have been searching for communication and interdependence between different countries, thus generating social, economic and cultural transformations. This transformation together with networks of international alliances begins to show an unprecedented need for a lingua franca.
In this context, English is presented as the global language or lingua franca necessary for global intercommunication. Colombia like many other countries, is identified as the passive recipient of English as a primary means for entry and subsequent stay in this global village. Although this is seen in some circles as a gate to competition is important to recognize that any language, linked to a national culture and recognized as the lingua franca of globalization generates linguistic imperialism, which establish linguistic ghettos where culture and knowledge are affected.
It can be argued that a lingua franca should by no means be considered as a homogenizing factor, which causes cultural differences to disappear. Is this true, that the ever-increasing use of a lingua franca throughout the world offers a medium to express and explain these differences. However the different languages around the world come together with a national culture, i.e. present cultural symbolic elements of different societies to which they belong. That means that accepting a language in a society produces linguistic imperialism where the language is not seen as a structured semiotic code but as a language that carry on economic, political and social components.
Furthermore, linguistic imperialism means the extinction of the linguistic diversity, because there are st...
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...ural cultures is inevitable that the languages don’t bring with them components that generate many disadvantages. On the other hand, although the idea of a lingua franca is probably a good opportunity for a global communication; the real problem is when this idea becomes an obstacle for many people. Now for instance the teaching English has become a massive international business, leaded from USA and UK. But nowadays with the technology and its great progress is inevitable that research and studies cannot build a project of truly effective simultaneous translator. Google Translate for example, has shown that it is possible to obtain a pretty close translation of the original message and this can be improved, meaning that the future generations will come to see English as something like calligraphy or Latin: prestigious and traditional, but increasingly dispensable.
Language is a mean of communication in any given society. It represents the ability to evolve and progress through the ongoing process of living with other human beings. Many can perceive this instrument as tool of liberation and transformation but others as an instrument to enslave, manipulate or oppress a group of people. Whichever the case one need to acknowledge that it is necessary and not a waste of time the many different discussions about this ongoing topic regardless of the time period or social context any country might have. In Puerto Rico, there has been an ongoing dilemma about languages; Dr. Alicia Pousada examines on her essay what many might define “the language madness on the island”. Throughout this paper some of her most interesting ideas will be shared and discussed so that this already extended topic might find another page to take place.
Even though the dominance of a language can allow for the loss of a culture, it can also bring awareness. In schools, local community centers and other various places, foreign languages are taught, not only do non-native speakers take on these languages but native speakers do as well to keep their culture. By doing so it “revitalizes cultures and cultural artifacts through foreign influences, technologies, and markets.” (Gerdes
(Brandt, 1998) I then ask, what values have even she couldn’t have foreseen that mold influences the worth of our progress as a species? How will new, pertinent language have an eventful impact in the years to come, even if English itself vanishes? I want to convey forth the Spirit of Communications as my idea in the coming years of the world. Should the core language of calligraphy, that which we call English among other dialects, I want the very idea of communications of all aspects to carry on and learn new, brilliant ideas as it proceeds with its continuation. Not only will these new concepts go through shaping during history, they will also continue to shape the very foundation that we call literacy. (Brandt,
Linguistic imperialism is a concept used by scholar Robert Phillipson, he mostly spoke about the imperialism of the English language, although this concept can be applied to all the world’s major international languages with imperialistic origins, when the original population had to adopt the invader’s language because of the benefits that accrue to the speakers of the languages when the dominant language has been imposed (Phillipson 31). Linguistic imperialism in Latin America started with the ‘discovery’ and the occupation of the New World by the European powers. Spanish and Portuguese language were imposed on the local populations and therefore many indigenous languages vanished. This essay will especially focus on Brazil and the linguistic imperialism of Portuguese in that country. Although many former European colonies, including Portugal, have gained political independence, there is still a kind of cultural colonisation present. Specifically linguistic practise are strongly associated with the colonial rule (Migge 1). Portuguese became only the official language during the 18th century, when a new wave of Portuguese immigrants came to Brazil due to the discoveries of gold and diamond (Rajagopalan 81). Since 1988 the rights of the indigenous people in Brazil were recognized and until that moment there was a forced deprivation of their identity and language. Portuguese is the official and most widely spoken language in Brazil (CIA World Factbook). The Brazilians defined their language as ‘Brazilian Portuguese’ in order to distinguish it from the original language of the Portuguese conquerors. This essay will mainly focus of the language uses, values and functions of Portuguese in Brazil.
Language is usually defined as the ability of humans to use complex systems of communication and is often considered as an important part of the nationality and/or ethnicity as it depicts ones group identity. Ethnic groups consider that a language is the best medium to express their cultures and traditions and may attempt to make themselves distinct on such dimensions. Therefore the survival of a language is often correlated with the continued existence of a nation or an ethnic group (Hoffman, 1991). Therefore it is clear that there is a strong relationship between language, ethnicity and nationality.
...xpressing her Chinese culture. Mastering a second language allows her to articulate her and her mother’s thoughts; it is a foundation for her pride and a foundation to express herself. For Gloria Anzaldua, instead of choosing one language over the other, she chose a mix of the two and fights for it. She realized the value of her language when she lost it and now treasures it. The kind of Spanish she speaks is neither English nor Spanish, but both. It is overflowing with culture from Medieval Spain, France, Germany, etc., just from the origins of the words. It is her pride and a representation of herself, fighting and living. In conclusion, in addition to Lera Boroditsky’s article proving that the structure of language affects how we think, the articles by Eric Liu, Amy Tan, and Gloria Anzaldua show how language is a foundation for a person’s culture, pride, and self.
Language?is the most common aspect among human beings, and the most complex and interesting cultural inheritance in any given ideological reality. It is the instrument for communication through which humans express their existence, identity, culture, philosophy, etc. Humans are social beings; every act of social conduction involves communication with others. we build communities, societies, and nations via the use of language. It is even the case with learning a foreign language; the learners acquire the language for different reasons, but mainly for communicative purposes. Teaching a foreign language has become a necessity nowadays; it is a mandatory
A global language, is a language spoken internationally, which is learned by many people as a second language, the most popular one being English. A wide range of the lexical units in the English language were taken from German, Latin, French and other European countries. A large portion of the word borrowing uses as main source the French language justifying English language affinity for foreign words as well as mixed vocabulary. Crystal D. (2003: 7-10) argues that Languages have a strong relation between dominance and cultural power. The main reason that the languages exist is because of a strong power-base, political and military or economic.
‘The need for intelligibility and the need for identity often pull people – and countries – in opposing directions. The former motivates the learning of an international language, with English as the first choice in most cases; the latter motivates the promotion of ethnic language and culture’ (David Crystal, 1997).
Being unique and different from one to each other is exclusive. For instance, there are a number of countries in the world with more than million human populations with their own traits, tradition, cultures, and perspectives. However, these aspects of exclusiveness may lead to a problem. For instance, there are upcoming issues regarding to the gap between numerous countries to be solved in the age of globalization, an age of massive emergence of invention and information. Hence, they also struggle to live and survive in the world that continually improves. With a wide variation of human population, something is needed to sync with the rapid pace of world’s development as well as to connect each other; a language.
Translation was founded a hundred of years ago because the importance of communicating and understanding other people with different languages. Translation is a bridge that fills the gaps between two languages and cultures. Moreover, “it is a communicative process which transfers the message of a source language text to a target language” (algaz, 2015, p.183). It is not only conveying the meaning from the one language to another language, but also transferring the culture and tradition of the community. Lefevere (2003, p.2) describe the translation as "channel opened" and it can influence on the target culture by the foreign culture. It cannot be denied that translation has a pivotal role in communicating and sharing culture. Ideology and
‘Language death’ does not always entail ‘language murder’. ‘Language death ' is when a community no longer speaks a language that they used to speak regularly. This may occur for many reasons such as social, economic, political and demographic factors. Along with the attitudes of the individuals within a community. ‘Language murder’ is when a community has happily left their language to die out and this can also be referred to as a shift in a language, which has the linguistic term, language shift. This is when a country will shift from using one language to another. This essay will look further into the reasons as to why some languages die.
It has been adopted by different sectors making it one of the most used languages in the globe. This has been attributed to its effective nature, easy learning and rich history. However, conservative groups exist who argues that there should be global language since it may cause the emergence of superior cultures. Nevertheless, it is evident that different cultures ranging from the early polish immigrants, the African American community, the advertising and media will greatly benefit from the globalization of the English language. This will prove in the end that English is indeed a global
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language that goes to his heart.” ‒ Nelson Mandela. Since the 1960’s learning a second language has decreased by 30 percent in today’s society. People who wish to learn an additional language often do so to communicate with people who reside in different countries. With an increase in today’s globalization, it is forcing companies throughout the world to break the language barrier. However, with the advancement of technology, numerous citizens find it unnecessary to learn another language, as a translation is at the tip of their fingers. The methods of learning a foreign language can differentiate between people. Nevertheless it has been
In order to visualize the “global” as an adjective in the collocation “global language”, a study has shown the numbers of people speaking the language. According to them, there are about 6000 languages in the world and not surprisingly English is at the top of the list of most dominant. In the world there are 375 million first-language speakers, approximately the same number of second-language speakers and about 750 million foreign-language speakers (David Graddol, The Future of English? A Guide to Forecasting the Popularity of the English Language in the 21st Century. British Council, 1997). According to magazine Economist, more than one billion people speak some form of English. These numbers could make people think that English is really conquering the world which can be both positive and negative.