Is English An Universal Language (Lingua Franca)? (Essay Sample)

Is English a Universal Language (Lingua Franca)?
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Is English a Universal Language (Lingua Franca)?
Language is a tool through which people in the society to communicate and understand each other without creating any mixed reactions. Throughout history of mankind there have been several languages such as Spanish, Greek, French, German, English, Chinese and many more that are spoken all over the world. Despite the existence of these languages, there are also more than a thousand dialects in the spoken languages and are different and unique from each other. All through the human history and his communications attempts there have never been a universal language but the current position of the English language has become closest to it. Universality is gained by a country conquering other countries and teaching it its own culture. For communication to be smooth among the different cultures there is a need for a universal language that will be understood by all. Among the many languages, English is the one language that is widely spoken and used in the world. Over the years for the need of a universal language, English has become a universal language in the world.
In its struggle to gaining language supremacy, English underwent through a series of events to gaining the supremacy of being a universal language. Some of these struggles were governmental, legal and official events that necessitated the use of language. The push for English to be a universal language started during the thirteenth century in London. The first use of English was in the Courts that extended to Parliaments few years later. People have been communicating with each other either for war, business, hunting or education for a long time as history can tell. Since the civilization of human beings, English has always been used. During the civilization period, Latin language was pushed by the Roman Empire, French expanded through the efforts of Napoleon conquests, and English was expanded by the British Empire and the emergency of USA as the world super power and through the commerce, religion, technology and education. Since then English has been used in different platforms that have supported that English is a universal language.
English can be understood everywhere among different cultures, scholars since it is a media language. It is the language music, TV shows, films and the computer world. Globally, a lot of people many English words and how they are being used. An example that illustrates the universality of English is the current trend of India and China producing their films in English. The following have impacted the rise of English to being a universal language in the world. It is the easiest and simplest language in the world. It is easy to learn and understand than other languages (Crystal, 2012). The concept of easiness and simplicity is completely undeniable in the rise of English being a universal language.
The following makes it simple and easy to learn than other complex languages like Hungarian. First, its alphabet is that of Latin which is universal, simple and short. The alphabet has only twenty six letters with no diacritics (Baruah, 2004). Secondly, its verb conjugation is simple and easy. They do not have any variations and they take the following forms: Present Participle, Past Tense + Past Participle, Infinitive + Present and 3rd person singular Present Indicative. Lastly, it does not have many inflections. There are no gender inflections for adverbs, adjectives and articles. There are only superlatives and comparatives for adjectives, and only numbers for the nouns (Harmer, 1998).
One area where English has dominated is the Internet web contents are mostly written using the language. Since the internet has become the effective way of communicating over long distances, many cultures have found it necessary to learn English. In the modern world many people will be speechless if they find themselves in a country that does not speak English. If you want to communicate overseas you will have to know English or have somebody who will interpret your messages. Most companies that have e-commerce have written their websites using English making it easy for potential clients to understand what they are using. Most Japanese and Chinese firms use English to advertise their products through the web despite the fact that they have their own language that they use.
In the business world, countries are crossing boundaries to strike deals with other countries that uses a different language. During their negotiation process, English is the language that is commonly used (Nickerson, 2005). An example is the recent and ongoing efforts of China to invest in Africa. During the visits of Chinese officials to Africa, there is an interpreter who interprets when both languages are being used. Also, due to technology, there are devices that are being used to interpret from one language to the other. These devices may lose their significance since most people want to clearly get what the other means, be it expressional or facial. Therefore, English has emerged to be language of business in the world. No deal will be signed if both parties do not understand each other.
Globalization also led to the universality of English. The globalization of education, business, politics, culture, research and many of the daily life aspects is an inevitable reality (Charlton and Andras, 2006). English is widely used in almost every aspect of education. Every country now has English in their education syste...