Globalization and Multilinguism

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We are living in a globalized era where the world has become a global village. Globalization has pervaded virtually every sphere of human life today. Increased flow of information owing to advances in information technology has made it possible for people from all over the world to interact and exchange ideas. Further, globalization has led to increased labor mobility as the number of multinational corporations rise with each passing day. This has led to people being deployed in different parts of the world away from their home countries. In such settings, one thing that has become increasingly pertinent is the need to know more than one language. Multilingualism is inevitable today. For one to fit in the contemporary society characterized by an unprecedented interconnectivity, knowledge of more than one language is not only an added advantage, but also almost a must. It enables one to interact with peers from all over the world effectively and with easy as shall be discussed in this paper.

While globalization may have increased the need to acquire more than one language, bilingualism or multilingualism is not a new phenomenon. Individuals and whole communities around the globe have been compelled to learn additional languages for a number of various. These reasons include colonization, trade and intermarriages. Further the promotion of second language acquisitions is also not a new concept because non-native education was common during certain eras such as during the Roman Empire (Tochon 107). During this era, education was available to colonies only through the medium of Latin, which was a non-indigenous language for many areas of the empire hence; the natives in such areas had to learn it. This practice continued int...

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Works Cited

Amalia, Sturza. Language in the era of globalization. Working Paper 2005. Pp 899-902.

Dor, Danny. From Englishization to Imposed Multilingualism: Globalization, the Internet and the Political Economic of the Linguistic Code. Public Culture 2004 16(1): 97-118.

Sasaki, Masamichi, Tatsuzo Suzuki, and Masato Yoneda. English as an International Language in Non-Native Settings in an Era of Globalization. Comparative Sociology 2006 5(4): 381- 404.

Tochon, Victor Francois. The Role of Language in Globalization: Language, Culture, Gender and Institutional Learning. International Journal of Educational Policies, 2009 3(2): 107- 124.

United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Globalization and Languages: Building On Our Rich Heritage. International Conference 27-28 August 2008. Web. 2 December 2013. Pp 1-273.

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