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  Tidbits on the English Language – No. 1: English as Lingua Franca

  Starting with this issue, we will introduce from different perspectives a variety of facts on the English language.
  
  
  

  English: a Language Used Throughout the World

  There is no room for doubt: English presently assumes the position of lingua franca. When in a place with people from various countries and unsure of which language they speak, most consider first trying to talk in English to be the safest bet. Be it for leisure or for work, the number of travelers who use English as a means of communication easily exceeds a billion every day.

  Numerous examples prove that English is the standard language worldwide, so let’s present a few.

  Even during the Cold War, the Soviet Union adopted a lot of English vocabulary as borrowed words.

  Examples:
  rock music -> рок-музыка
  disk jockey -> диск-жокей
  hooligan -> хулиган

  Despite the world being divided into two blocks (Western and Eastern), English knew no boarders: no other language since the dawn of history has ever had such an influence on other languages.

  In the aviation industry, pilots and controllers exclusively use English, the universal language of air-traffic control, to communicate. And there are no exceptions, so even when a Japanese pilot follows the instructions of a Japanese air-traffic controller to take off/land at a Japanese airport, they do so in English.

  Over 10,000 types of newspapers are issued in the world’s industrialized countries. Roughly half of them are in English, of which over 4,000 are published in India. English newspapers can be found anywhere, even in places where English isn’t the official language.
  Furthermore, from a global point of view, there is an overwhelming amount of TV news programs broadcast in English. This is why even in the Middle East or in Asia, we can often see people marching and waiving English placards when there is a demonstration. They are used in order to appear on television and for the media to give more visibility to their claims across the planet.

  
  
  The Abundant Vocabulary of English
  

  Concurrently with spreading throughout the world, English is also influenced by every language, which also explains why English possesses a vast vocabulary, unrivaled by any other national tongue. The Oxford English Dictionary compiles approximately 500,000 entries.

  This figure alone might not be a good indicator, so let’s compare this figure to the number of words counted in the main languages spoken in the United Kingdom’s direct vicinity: 185,000 for German and 100,000 for French. In this light, it is obvious that English has an extremely large vocabulary.
  
  
  

  English as an International Language
  
  English is the mother tongue to approximately 4 hundred million people. This may not match the Chinese-speaking population (all dialects included), but consider that Chinese speakers are mainly concentrated in China, as opposed to English users who are dispersed in every part of the world.

  Moreover, English is greatly used by people to whom it isn’t a mother tongue, accounting for another 3 to 4 hundred million speakers. English is the second language in multiethnic countries such as Nigeria, Singapore and India, and it is indispensable in administration, broadcasting and education. In addition, only a small minority of countries don’t teach English as a foreign language.

  In this manner, be it as a mother tongue, a foreign language, or a second language, English holds a firm position as an international language. It is meaningful to think about “what Standard English actually is”, but considering the amount of non-native English speakers who also use this language, it is equally significant to recognize the existence of the varieties of English.

  Be all as it may, we won’t go into details but I find it quite fascinating that in the United Kingdom, the homeland of the English language, there are regions where English isn’t the first language. In northern Scotland, there is a region where Gaelic is used and holds the top position over English. In Gaelic, like in other European languages, nouns have gender and declensions, yet the typical sentence pattern starts with a verb.
  Example:
  VSO (Verb + Subject + Object) in Gaelic
  vs.
  SVO (Subject + Verb + Object) in English

  
  
  Variety vs. Dialect

  Despite its unique appellation, “English” differs a lot depending on the country or region. It’s difficult to classify as “standard language” or “dialect” a language whose use extends over countries.

  The Standard English as per the English population isn’t the same as that of New Zealanders, Australians or Americans. Consequently, rather than calling a variation of English we aren’t familiar with a “dialect,” it should be considered a “variant.” And it is also rather interesting to think about how such speech communities were achieved.
  Instead of calling words used in a Standard Language “right” and those used outside of its scope “wrong,” we should acknowledge that every variant possesses its own linguistic system. All in all, a dialect is basically a variant used in an area that didn’t become a political or an economic center, therefore not reaching the status of “Standard Language.” This reasoning applies to about every language.

  Apparently, the idea that “this is proper English,” that there is a correct or proper way to speak is a relatively new concept in English-speaking countries. This idealized image of English is called the Queen’s English, BBC English, Oxford English or Public School English. But let’s set our focus on Public School English, and this notion was born more or less a century ago.

  
  
  Public School
  

  In the United Kingdom during the Victorian era (1837-1901), public boarding schools in the regions of Eton, Harrow, Winchester, and so on, were populated by youngsters from upper-class families of various backgrounds across the nation. These public schools were famous for their strict education policy, and taught a unique accent as a means to attain homogeneity amongst students.

  These students, the future leading and influential strata of society, spoke an English language whose characteristics differed from those of the general public, a speech form that people seemed to aspire for.

  In the United Kingdom, in addition to the regional dialectical differences, manners of speech tend to differ depending on one’s social class. If one wants to enter the higher society, he/she first has to adapt his/her way of speaking English. However, because of a lack of interaction between social classes, it was not the same as people from rural areas adapting to the Standard English when they moved to the capital.

  Now, let’s get back to public schools. When entering school, speaking with a different accent would lead new pupils to be coached by the school personnel and mocked by their fellow students. They had no choice but to live through this frustrating situation and acquire the coveted pronunciation.

  At the time, speaking Public School English conveyed an image of intelligence, trustworthiness and class.

  The situation changed altogether when radio broadcasting started in the United Kingdom, giving birth to a “dialect with no regional or social class affiliation” which instantly spread throughout the country. Some scholars refer to it as a “received standard” or a “super-dialect.”

  In the next issue, we will continue with this theme and talk about the state of English as it distances itself from the United Kingdom and reaches international shores.
  
  

  Written by Masanori Itoh, Translation/Localization Department

• Column

  Back Numbers

  • Tidbits on the English Language – No. 1: English as Lingua Franca
  • Tidbits on the Chinese Language – Final Issue: Word Order in Chinese (Summer Greeting 2014)
  • Tidbits on the Chinese Language No. 8: Phonetic Representation of Chinese Characters (Winter Greeting 2013)
  • Tidbits on the Chinese Language No. 7: Borrowed Words that Change in a Colloquial Context (Summer Greeting 2013)
  • Tidbits on the Chinese Language - No.6: Kanji Logograms Created in Japan (Winter Greeting 2012)
  • Tidbits on the Chinese Language - No.5: Kanji Logograms Created in Japan (Summer Greeting 2012)
  • Tidbits on the Chinese Language - No.4: The Difference between Japanese and Chinese Characters (Winter Greeting 2011)
  • Tidbits on the Chinese Language - No.3: The Difference between Written and Spoken Chinese (Summer Greeting 2011)
  • Tidbits on the Chinese Language - No.2: Two Styles of Chinese Characters (Spring Greeting 2011)
  • Tidbits on the Chinese Language - No.1: The Diversity of the Chinese Language (Winter Greeting 2010)

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