Is English really global?

David Nunan

HANDS up everyone who believes that English is the global language!

Do you believe that English is a global language? Of course you do. Everybody does, right?

"English'' and "global'' are paired together in practically every publication that you care to pick up these days.

Let's look at the facts. On a major engineering project in Southern China, the Japanese consulting engineers communicated with their Chinese peers in English.

Domestic airlines in most countries make public announcements in English as well as their home language.

Most world leaders, when interviewed by the international media, use English if they do not use their first language.

Then, of course, there is the media. English is the language of the entertainment industry. It is also the language of the Internet. Most estimates say more than 80 per cent of all Internet sites are in English (although this percentage is beginning to drop as other languages play catch-up).

This dominance by English is a major stimulus for many people, particularly younger individuals, to learn English.

There is no end to the impressive list of statistics that we can cite to support the notion that English has become the language of choice to the world. It is a fact of life. Those who don't like it had better get used to it. English is here to stay.

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