20898045 General Linguistics 178: Blog 2: 'It is okay to speak more than one language, if that language is English."

20898045 Ella Horne

Tuesday 14th March 2017

General Linguistics 178: Week 2 : Language and Diversity:

Weekly Blog: 2 : 'It is okay to speak more than one language, if that language is English.”

There is much controversial debate surrounding this statement in society today.  With English being the predominant language of international commerce and politics, there are many advantages and benefits of being able to speak and comprehend the English language. However to interpret this statement to say that English is exclusively the only language that is acceptable to possess if monolingual would deprive the monolingual of insight, appreciation and understanding into another person's or group of people's culture and also diminish the opportunities to  honour and value another person's culture and identity. This is substantiated by the fact that language and culture have incredible close ties. These two stances and their implications will be discussed and explained in greater detail in this blog.
The extent to which English is used as a medium can be clearly recognised in the world today. English is used as the predominant medium for the majority of global economic dealings, technological and business sectors, international media coverage, global news and communication (not including regionally based news stations), international airports, capitals and travel, international job opportunities and possibly in some areas locally as well for people, much of UN and global policy and conference legislation, a vast extent of literature, much of the film making industry stemming from Hollywood being predominantly American English , advertising, many education systems and the list can go on. However the use of other mother tongue translations are increasing in the above.
In our previous General Linguistics lectures, a white Afrikaans speaking student said that she agreed with the statement and her reasoning was that if you can speak English you are more able to comprehend information on the internet and have a higher chance of attaining a job opportunity internationally and locally in South Africa. Another white Afrikaans speaking student  also agreed saying that he felt either speaking Afrikaans or speaking English with an Afrikaans accent would put him at a disadvantage in a job interview in comparison to another mother tongue English speaking applicant, due to certain stereotypes he felt his language and accent has been labelled with.
I observed from an outsider’s perspective, the international, local and personal effects of this perception  through relating with students from South Korea at my previous high school. The majority of the South Korean students I met, had been sent from South Korea to South Africa to learn English. The reason given being the influence and effects of the predominance of the English language exclusively being used as the main global medium in gaining access to the global society and economy. This has however lead to their immediate families being torn apart causing emotional upheaval for the families relationships and  further adding to the diminishing recognition of their  language, culture and  the sense of value of their mother tongue on a local and global level.
An advantage of the English language being used as the main international language mediums  is that it provides a common language medium for speaker's of two foreign countries, who may both have different mother tongues but can both speak English and therefore can use the English language as a common medium by which to understand each other.  This is especially beneficial in global gatherings, whereby for simplicity, time and effort , one may argue that when  facilitating a discussion between many different mother tongue speakers from different places that it could be almost impossible for one person to contain the capacity to repeat and translate all the different speaker's present mother tongue's into the different languages being spoken by each speaker in the discussion and vice versa for every situation with whichever language they are faced with. Translators could be chosen as an option,, however this would incur considerable cost and time, and if resources are lacking , using English language as a direct medium could be time, effort and cost effective and provide a sense of reliability in what the speaker is saying as translators can be subject to misinterpretation or mistake. This situation could hypothetically also be applied to the context of a South African education system with the country possessing eleven different national languages, and for one teacher to learn and be able to teach on an academic standard in all these eleven different languages could prove a practically impossible and to provide translators/ translator machines for each language for each subject and lesson, could be costly. Many schools in South Africa may not have the financial resources or staff capability and capacity for this.
However this reasoning does not detract from the more personal perspectives upon this situation. An example would be one drawn from the experience one of the student's in my General Linguistics lecture. Her mother tongue is Tswana,and she had expressed that at her university English is used as the dominant medium to educate the learners. She expressed that those whose mother tongue was English had an advantage over those who also have to learn in whose mother tongue is not English. The student agreed with the stance that mother tongue English speakers have an advantage in learning over non- English speaking mother tongue speakers. She felt that this act of the exclusion of her language being a medium for her to be educated through. I gathered from what she said that this did not bestow the same  perception of worth, equality and value upon her mother tongue language as the English Language had and is given within the university and globally.
This points to the other angle of the topic's statement which could interpret the statement to imply h an attitude of superiority and a biased perception of English being a medium which can exclusively be sufficient to be the only language needed to learn.  This further implies an exclusivity to other languages other than English as not being okay to be the only language spoken by a person. This angle poses a stance of discrimination to other languages.
How does this statement holds true?
If this statement is taken in the sense that one can get by in global society and economy if they speak the dominant medium used which is English, then this statement would hold true, as this is what the current global structure's system or framework caters for with the usage of English language being the dominant medium used.
How does this statement could be problematic?
If one were to take this statement from an angle other languages not being of the same capability, equality, standard or importance to English, this would be exclusive and discriminatory to other languages and due to a persons language being woven into their identity and culture, this not only dishonours, devalues, excludes and discriminates the importance and value of a language compared to English but also of the person's who speak that language, and their identity and culture as well.
In conclusion, this statement does in one aspect describe the reality of aspects of the global society and economy framework and structure today in regarding the need to comprehend and speak the language medium English to get by. However, one must also recognise that this statement too has its negative implications in that it can knowingly or unknowingly discriminate against and degrade other languages significance and importance and therefore the speaker's of the language due to the close linkages a language carries with the culture and identity of a person.
In light of this , how does one bring about a reform and change to end the discrimination this reality of the dominance of English as a global medium brings but also still I propose a way forward where through a transformational process , one incorporates the study of different languages and cultures morose into the global sectors of the world education over time and let it be a gradual shift of different mother tongue mediums being used world wide more regularly hopefully by a generation which has more linguistic knowledge and capability to speak more languages than previous years. The question remains,which languages shall these be? And is this discriminatory to allow certain languages to progress and be integrated as global mediums more than others simply because of majority of people speaking those languages?

(Word Count: 1389)