Why English is Important: The Lingua Franca of the Modern Era

History
English is a West Germanic language that developed from Old English, the language of the Anglo-Saxons. English, having its major roots in Germanic languages, derives most of its grammar from Old English. As a result of the Norman Conquest, it has been heavily influenced by French and Latin. From England it spread to the other countries such as United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others, particularly those in the Anglophone Caribbean. As a result of these historical developments, English is the official language in many countries such as Pakistan, Ghana, India, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, and the Philippines. Mandarin Chinese and Hindi have more native speakers than does English; however, the geographic distribution of Mandarin and Hindi is more limited than that of English. English also is the most widely spoken Germanic language. English spread to many parts of the world through the expansion of the British Empire, but did not acquire lingua franca status in the world until the late 20th century, when American culture began to overpower that of others on the global scale. Following World War II, the economic and cultural influence of the United States increased and English permeated other cultures, chiefly through development of telecommunications technology. Because a working knowledge of English is required in many fields, professions, and occupations, education ministries throughout the world mandate the teaching of English. English is an Anglo-Frisian language brought to southeastern Great Britain in the 5th century AD and earlier by Germanic settlers and Germanic auxiliary troops from various parts of northwest Germany as well as Jutland. Then came the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. For about 300 years following, the Norman kings and the high nobility spoke only Anglo-Norman which was very close to Old French. A large number of Norman words found their way into Old English, leaving a parallel vocabulary that persists into modern times. The Norman influence strongly affected the evolution of the language over the following centuries, resulting in what is now referred to as Middle English. During the 15th century, Middle English was transformed by the Great Vowel Shift, the spread of a standardised London-based dialect in government and administration, and the standardising effect of printing. Modern English can be traced back to around the time of William Shakespeare. Although a variety of languages are spoken all over the world, English is an important language to know. English is the language most international business is conducted in, it is used in more areas of the globe than any other and the only language spoken by more people is Mandarin (one of the languages in China). In many countries, the citizens have different tribal languages. Even though English is not a native language, the governments select English as an adopted national language. The government documents and laws written in English will be less subject to interpretation than if they had to be written separately in every tribal language. All school-related and workplace connections require a solid understanding of the English language. If you are studying English at school, college or university, remember that getting an 'A' grade in English is almost worthless, in terms of communication, if you cannot speak the language. Spoken English is used in the best careers, the best universities, and is increasingly being used at job interviews. The reason most multinational companies ask their employees to speak English is because English is the language most used for international trade at the moment. It isn't the most spoken language in the world but it has the largest number of secondary speakers. For them it will be easier to adopt new technologies, as well as to get the technologies that they develop exported around the world. Moreover, English is the international language of diplomacy, business, science, technology, banking, computing, medicine, aviation, NATO armed forces, engineering, tourism, Hollywood films and arguably the best pop and rock music in the world. The music of such stars as Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson and Madonna has encouraged fans to speak the language of their idols, whilst others have enrolled in English classes to improve their understanding of the dialogue in films and TV shows English has plenty of words to choose from. In fact, an English speaker is offered the biggest vocabulary of any language with a choice of 500,000 to 1,000,000 words (including technical and scientific terms). However, most English speakers do very well with a vocabulary for just around 20,000 words. Many groups of people want to influence world politics. They want to ask for help, explain their situation, or argue their position. If they use a language that is not understood by people around the world, they will not have a possibility of getting what they want. English language is very important because where ever you go as long as you can speak English you can survive. Maybe some people say that other countries do not speak the language but I still believe that as long as you are equip with this language you can tour around the world.

So Why Learn English?

People must have a clear purpose in learning English. They must know why they want to learn English. The awareness of the reason for leaning gives you the right motivation and focus. English can be learned for several purposes. It would be a good idea to identify ones reason to learn English in order to encourage oneself to continue learning English every time. Perhaps ones purpose is more mundane, more down-to earthconcerned with daily life of a modest person. One may just want to run a supermarket selling a range of everyday products. Here too you will need to know English to deal with you mode valuable customers. Whatever the reason you have to learn English, you will never regret to have done it. English is one of the moist widely language spoken around the world as well as the most taught. Many people learn English as their foreign or second language and it is the lingua franca of business. If you learn English, you will be able to get ahead professionally. The following list shows some of the main reason why learn English language is very important today.

Many books, newspapers, airports and air-traffic control, technology, sports, pop music and advertising have the English as the dominant language. In general, the universal language on the Internet is the English. The majority of the electronically stored information around the world is in English. English is one of the easiest languages to learn and to use for its simple alphabet, easy words, short words and easy plurals. You can travel to any English speaking country without the need of have a translator. Usually, if you don't know the language your trip would be hard and maybe you wouldn't enjoy it. Nowadays in the competitive job market it is necessary to speak English. So if you learn English you will have a better chance of getting a job that pays more. Learn English will help you to communicate with relatives, in-laws or friends who speak a different language. English is also helpful if you are going to move to a different country because it is a global language. A lot of educational information is in English; therefore to have access to this material or maybe communicate with other students it is necessary to have knowledge of English. It is important to learn English if you are planning to study at a foreign university or school. Usually many educational institutions will provide you preparatory courses to improve your English language skills but you have to have at least a medium level of knowledge. An abundant amount of students from over 70 different countries, from Brazil to Japan, Morocco to Uzbekistan and all points in between, prefer to study English in UK members.