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How is English so important language?
9 Responses to How is English so important language?
What do you mean Belize only speaks english. English is a widely spoken language, and is accepted wordwide. The importance is also this. Wherever you go, you can communicate in English, all the scientific publications, whatever etc. is in English. It is the INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE.
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Is this supposed to be in the jokes section?
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English became the language of commerce after England won the Battle of Trafalgar against France and Spain in the 1800s for contriol over shipping lanes. England’s victory and influence at the time allowed for the spread of the English language.
By the way, Belize isn’t the only country in the world where English is the primary language. There are many besides England and Belize such as The USA, Canada, Australia, nEw Zealand, Fiji, etc..
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Have you ever been out of Belize? What do English people speak? Have you ever wondered about that?
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Do you think Belize is the only country that speaks English? Sorry, but you are quite wrong, there are many countries out there that their main language is English, besides the many that has it as second language like Puerto Rico, Guam, Taiwan, Trinidad and many others.
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English is the language spoken by more people than almost any other language in the world, and some of the most important and powerful countries, in terms of both military and economics. Spanish is more widely spoken, but the countries are no longer as powerful, and Chinese (Esp. Mandarin) is on the rise, as China is being forecast as the next most powerful (military and economic) country of the future. French, too, has long been an important and widely spoken language, and in certain sectors, French is the preferred language to know. It is all a matter of power and numbers.
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English is an important language because it is the language of the powers which were most powerful since almost a century: Britain before WW2, the US after it, both economically and politically. It has also been the object of a very clever policy by English speaking countries to advertise their language as a “must”, as “the” global language, and to promote its spread. Indeed, it’s indispensable in international business and trade, and in science.
But among ordinary citizens, its dominance and the ideas about it prevent people from communicating across language barriers with real ease and in depth. Another international language, Esperanto, is much more cost effrective and better suited to global communication. It can be learned in a few months by anybody. Non native English speakers have to devote 3 or 4 hours a week for 7 or 8 years — yes! 7 or 8 years ! — to reach an operational level in English. It’s really unfair to them, since native speakers can devote that time to studying other subjects and perfecting their training.
And even after such an enormous effort the average performance is far from ideal. In a research made in Hanover, Germany, only 1% of the 3700 students tested (they had had 8, 9 or 10 years of English) could be classified as “very good” and only 4% as “good”. 96% were not even “good” !
I suggest you watch the video by a former UN translator “The language challenge — Facing up to reality” on http://www.dotsub.com/films/thelanguage .
What do you mean by saying only one country speaks English? It’s true that it is spoken only by 4,5% of the world population. But there are other countries than Belize that speak it. For instance the United States.
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because it is spoken in the UK, USA and Australia.
and most of the internet is in english.
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