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Michael Babcock Dr. Jan Rieman English 1101 April 4, 2013 Writing to Explore: Dont Insist on English Since Im on a TED streak and Im running out of topics, I thought I would write concerning the other TED talk about English, which is closely related to the previous ideas in English Mania. While Jay Walker mostly presented evidence that English is becoming a practical lingua franca, Patricia Ryan seems more concerned about the impacts this insistence on English has and will have on the spread of ideas between groups that dont share a language. In last weeks essay, I posited the question: Will English be relegated to a position of begrudged practicality and looked down upon by a world that only sees it as a secondary necessity or will it be raised up as the new universal standard and squash smaller languages out of existence? Patricia, a longtime English teacher in Arabic countries, cites statistics like a language dies every 14 days and wonders aloud whether the worlds fascination with English contributes to this epidemic. Despite acknowledging the practical benefits of a common language, she definitely seems to support the latter half of my question and warns against raising English up on a pedestal. She seemed especially concerned about this insistence on English in the world of academia. I thought she brought up a great point that different languages and cultures have different ways to express ideas and thoughts. These differing perspectives can be exactly what are needed to break through barriers to discovery and unleash creative new ideas into the world. I tend to agree with her assertion that we should be translating ideas and academic works into as many

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languages as we can so people have the chance to engage with the global dialogue in their own comfortable language; Still, I dont think its a bad thing for English to become a sort of lingua franca except in the exclusion of other languages as valuable. I would argue that a balance should be struck where native languages and their cultural significance are supported but, perhaps for practical reasons, English is allowed to operate as a common language between cultures. This wouldnt preclude the need for translation to assist in learning and understanding, but it might allow for faster more direct communication of ideas. Im probably hijacking this assignment in a sense but it ties so well into what weve been discussing about Students Right to Their Own Language that I had to comment. In general, my position on the SRTOL statement follows similar lines to my opinion about English on a global scale. There has to be a way for native dialects and expressions to be preserved and cherished while also allowing a sort of standard common dialect for ease of communication between vastly different cultural subgroups. Perhaps, this places too much responsibility on the shoulders of English teachers, but who better to teach students to value their heritage while learning a practical means to communicate in todays society. In this way the ominous Standard English isnt raised above a students own dialect but there would be an acceptance of the practical uses and aspects of a more standard form of English for writing and communicating in the business world. While English teachers obviously have a large impact in this area, parents and the students themselves should cling to the cultural quirks that make them unique and interesting and integrate them into more conventional forms of English to create their own inimitably personal and powerful voice in this world.