Advantages and Challenges Facing English as a Lingua Franca

English Lingua Franca
Students Name
Institutional Affiliation
Lingua franca English is a case whereby English is used as a means of communication by members of a nation whose first language is not English. There have been many factors that led to the spread of English among different nations across the world. During the ruling of Queen Elizabeth 1 and that of Queen Elizabeth two, English because one of the most commonly used languages in the world whereby its users rose from approximately seven million to two billion. In the mid-sixteenth century, English was being spoken as a first language by a few of the individuals that were raised in British and the shores of its Isles (Jenkins, 2014). Currently, the language is spoken in many parts of the world, and it is not the first language to most of the speakers. Therefore, this essay will focus on lingua franca English and the manner in which it has become widespread in different parts across the world.
In addition to the widespread of English in the world, the Caribbeans and Asians came to know of the language in the 17th century as a result of the slave trade. Slave trade took place on the American coast whereby the slaves from West Africa were exchanged for rum and sugar. This led to the development of English as a pidgin language between the slaves and the captors. All that they needed to know was the basic contact vocabularies. It did not take much communication for them to understand one another (Jenkins, 2014). The next generation was more fluent, and they developed creoles. This was the beginning of the spread of the English language as their communication kept on becoming better. However, over the years, the English language in West Africa has some dialect mixing as a result of the different native aboriginal languages. There are still individuals who do not understand the English language and consider to use their indigenous language. In addition, the spread of English in England was as a result of the European traders, but it faces a dialect mixing due to the influence of the Maori vocabularies. However, such influence has reduced and currently, most of the people in New Zealand can speak fluent English. The country has been able to engage in trade activities with different European languages because they have a common language which makes it easy for them to carry out business transactions.
Most countries have made English their national language hence bringing out the need for its citizens to understand the language. This explains the reason as to why it is widely spread across the world. Once a nation has made English as part of the official languages, then most of the documents are written in English hence calling for the citizens to learn it. This has been made possible by making it a subject in the school curriculum. Learning English in such countries is essential because the law and the government use the language to address important matters which affect the country as a whole. Being a second language to most of the speakers, this has possed a great challenge because most of them are not able to speak fluent English. Some speakers combine it with their first language during communication hence coming up with a slug language. Such language includes specific and correct English words, and therefore, it makes them a part of the world’s total population that speak English. The dispersal of English is divided into two faces whereby it began in Europe and was later spread in Asian and African countries during the colonization era. The second dispersal of English took place during the eighteenth century whereby the English in West Africa is linked to the slave trade while that of East Africa is linked to colonization (Jenkins, 2014).
In addition, lingua franca English is being used across the world as a result of trade and other activities that require people to interact with citizens of other countries. Most companies opt to outsource labor and other resources from different trade partners across the world (Seidlhofer, 2005). For the outsourced laborers to fit in the new job market, they need to understand a common language that would make it easy for them to communicate in foreign countries. Given the widespread of English, many people choose English as the official trade language. This does not mean that the speaker should be a fluent speaker because the language will only be required in the communication of important business information. The need for knowing English among different people in the world has resulted in the creation of platforms whereby a person can learn basic English words from. As well, the platforms provide an opportunity of translating different native languages into English. The need for understanding the language has led to various colleges across the world offering an eLearning opportunity to the individuals who wish to learn the language. The language is best understood when taught an early age as compared to teaching it to adults. Children have a less occupied mind and do not have much influence from their native languages as compared to adults. However, this is not a discouragement because, through the right commitment, an individual can still learn English despite their age. The need for exportation and importation of goods have pushed a lot of people into learning English so that they can be able to effectively communicate with their trade partners. As well, foreign students have to learn English so that they can be able to fit in the...