Importance Of English Language

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English is widely recognized as a global ‘Lingua Franca’. It holds the unique position of being, the most important world language. The cultural, economic, military, scientific and technological importance of the United Kingdom and United States of America has given English special status as a language of international communication. English is the first language in the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and West Indies. In India English has got the status of second language as it is wrongly associated with the history of colonization. English was introduced as a tool of imperialism. It is a legacy from the British who ruled the country and since then the language is gradually filtered through some of the most important parts of the society: the government, the mass media, the academics, the judiciary and the social sector. Today it is not seen as a language of the colonial masters but as a medium of international discourse. It is true that its introduction in India by Macaulay was done with an ulterior motive. But it came as a blessing in disguise. It is through the medium of English that Indians came to study the liberal thought of England, which in large measure induced them to raise their demand to freedom. Hence, English Language with its great literary heritage played a constructive role in building up free India.In the nineteenth century Raja Ram Mohan Roy lead a group of Indians in demanding English education for Indians. This group was convinced that English would be more useful for Indians than Indian languages for academic, social, economic, scientific and international purposes. Since independence, several committees and commission have on different occasion stressed the need to learn English. A stage has now been... ... middle of paper ... ...r to the Indian soil. Indian writers writing in English have introduced a new trend of writing to provide us Indian flavour by using Indian words in English, making it Indianised and it has attained wide popularity. Works Cited Agnihotri, R.K. and A.L. Khanna, ed. Second Language Acquisition, Social and Linguistic Aspects of English in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1994.Print. Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1997.Print. Gupta, R.S. and Kapil Kapoor,ed. English in India:Issues and Problems. Delhi: Academic Foundation, 1991. Print. Hawkins, R.E. Common Indian Words in English. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1984. Print. Kachru, Braj B. The Indianisation of English. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993. Print. Whitworth, George C. An Anglo Indian Dictionary. London: Kegan Paul, 1885. Print.

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