Introduction- Blog Overview

English has enjoyed its status of being the global dominant language for many years and even till today. However, due to the emergence of China’s economy and world’s status in the past decades, Mandarin, the official language of China and Taiwan, is perceived as the future’s global dominant language, instead of English.

This blog site explores the possible shifting of dominant global language- from English to Mandarin, giving a general overview of the usage of the two languages in today’s world and in the past, as well as evaluating their current status with regards of the country’s political, economic and military power. The blog aims to address some of the key issues: 1. defining the criteria it takes for a language to reach the global status, to become globally dominant 2. Does Mandarin have the potential to take over English as the world’s language?

Finally, the blog proposed a hypothesis of a “bilingual world”, predicting that both English and Mandarin will act as the global dominant language hand in hand in the future.

English in today's world- The use of English

English as a lingua franca

It refers to using English as communication between speakers with different first language backgrounds across lingua-cultural boundaries. English is said to be a “contact language” between persons who share neither a common native tongue nor a common culture.

For the majority of its (English as a lingua franca) users, English is a foreign language, and the vast majority of verbal exchanges in English do not involve any native speakers of the language at all.

The use of English in education in Asia-Pacific countries

In Asia-Pacific countries like China, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan, considerable resources are being invested in providing English in many aspects. Recently, the age at which English is a compulsory subject in most countries has shifted down. The fact that children in these countries have to learn English in earlier ages stresses on the importance of English as a global language.

However, there is a considerable consternation in Malaysia as English emerges as a global language. Since English was regarded as a threat to the national language – Malay, it has been phased out in school since its independence from the British in 1957. As a result, the standards of English for Malaysian graduates are low. Many parents send their children to Singapore (which adopted English as an official language) for education in order to learn better English and become more employable. But the dominance of English in Singapore is being now challenged by the rise of China.

English as an undisputed language of science and technology

More than 50% of the millions of academic papers published each year are in English. And this trend of using English as the medium has been increasing in recent years.

Scientific journals in many countries are using English. In the world of science (physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, etc.), English seems to be the universal language of communication. 

Reference:

Crystal, D. 2003. English as a global language (Second Edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nunan, D. 2003. The Impact of English as a Global Language on Educational Policies and Practices in the Asia-Pacific Region. TESOL Quarterly, 37, 589-611.

Seidlhofer, B. 2005. English as a lingua franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Edited by Denize Chan. 

English as a global language

English is a global language

Although not everyone in the world speaks English and not every country in the world recognizes English as an official language, we can find its trace in many places for example televisions, signs, advertisements, etc.

English, as a global language, has been already used by more people than any other languages.

In 1997, there is about 25% of world population being fluent or competent in English. In early 2000s, the population is about 1.5 billion and the trend is growing steadily while the population of people fluent in Chinese is about 1.1 billion

English being the official language of many countries

English has been made the official language of over 70 countries, being regarded as the second language and as complement to the first language of the corresponding countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, India, Singapore and Vanuatu. It is used as a mean of communication in government, law courts, the media and the educational system.

English achieving the status of the priority foreign language in schools

English has been made a priority in over 100 countries’ foreign-language teaching even it has no official status in some of the countries. It is now the language most widely taught as a foreign language in those 100 countries like China, Egypt, Spain, Brazil, etc.

Why did English become a global language?

It’s not about the ease of learning, the size of vocabulary or the association with great culture. It’s all about the power of its people, especially their political and military power. There is a close link between language dominance and economic, technological, cultural power and “No language can make progress as an international medium of communication without a strong power”.

Reference:

Crystal, D. 2003. English as a global language (Second Edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Nunan, D. 2003. The Impact of English as a Global Language on Educational Policies and Practices in the Asia-Pacific Region. TESOL Quarterly, 37, 589-611.

Seidlhofer, B. 2005. English as a lingua franca. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Edited by Denize Chan. 

What Makes English the Global Dominant Language?

English enjoys the status of being a Global Dominant Language for many years, and continue to remain being the world's language today. Having billions of people being able to speak the language, English is without a doubt the most widely spoken language in the world. In this post, we will try to define what a "global language" is, and also aims to answer the question of  "how did English became the global language?" This post also aims to explore some of the key factors that led English to reach today's status, i.e what contributed into it, and how.
.

What makes a Language "Global"?

Some might suggest that the linguistic structure or properties might contribute to a successful status of a language, that a global language has to have a large scope, and able to cover technical terms like specific scientific elements, however, according to Crystal in the book of English as a Global Language in 2003, he noted that 'A language does not become a global language because of intrinsic structural properties, or because of the size of its vocabulary", he also suggested that the association between the language and culture, religion or great literature does not play a role in defining it the global language. 

If it is not about the linguistic quality of a specific language, nor the culture or religion association that it has, some might then think it might perhaps be the quantity of native speakers? The article Global Mandarin written by Goh and Lim had proved the contrary view, it argued that the status of a language has little or no relations to the amount of native speakers around the world, because if that is the case, Mandarin or Hindi would have long been considered the global dominant language. It is, however, the status of the native speakers that plays a big role in raising the status of their language; the political, military or economic power of the country also contributes greatly to whether  it's language will become the world's language. 

Goh and Lim suggested that there are two requirements for a language to become globally dominant, firstly the official recognition by the international community, that is largely contributed by the amount of second language speakers of the language in the world, and that could be achieved by enforcing mandatory studies as a foreign language in other countries. Secondly, as already mentioned above, the needs of expanding number of non-native speakers. 

English becoming the Global Dominant language:

Image from ABAGOND
http://abagond.wordpress.com/2006/06/10/british-empire/ 

Having to explore what factors contributes in making a language global in the above, we can now figure out how English became the most widely used language in the world today. One of the most obvious and probably the most vital reason that contributed to today's phenomenon is the British colonial imperialism in the nineteenth century; The image on the right shows the British Empire in the 1920s, English was not only simply spread out to all theses different part of the world in every continent, but it also acts as a dominant language in the country they colonized, the language of power and status. By the twentieth century, the native English speaking country America had grow substantially in power and world status, acting as a world leader in military, political and also economic side; This largely contributed and further boosted the status of English as a Global Dominant language. 

References: 

1. Crystal, D. (2003), English as a Global Language (Second Edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. Goh Y.S; Lim S.L, Globalization of Language and culture in Asia: The Impact of Globalization Processes on    Language. London/NY: Continuum International Publishing Ltd

Edited by Ron Tsui; Last update at 18th Mar, 2012

Mandarin in today's world- The rise of Mandarin

http://www.taiwanese-secrets.com/facts-about-mandarin-chinese.html 

English, being lingua franca , has worldwide acknowledgment of its crucial role of the facilitator in communications among people from different countries. Despite English‘s high reputation, Mandarin recently rises to challenge its status. As the official language of China, Mandarin is widely in China. Among the varieties of Mandarin, the Beijing dialect is the most standard form. In the past, use of Mandarin is comparatively localized, which is prevalent mainly in China and some areas like Taiwan and Asian country like Singapore. Nowadays, learning Mandarin becomes a trend among the rest of the world. Considering the Mandarin craze, some scholars even predict that Mandarin will replace English‘s status as the lingua franca. 

Today, Mandarin is the dominant language of the administration, media, education, science technology and so on in both China and Taiwan, and it is also one of the four official languages in Singapore. . With reference to the survey done by Xinhua news agency, there are over 690 million Mandarin speakers within the boarder of China; there are at least 20 million in Taiwan and 1.5 million in Singapore. Not to mention those Chinese living in Indoesia, Thailand, Vietname and UK etc. According to the statistics provided by Ethnologue: Languages of the World, there are over 845 millions Mandarin speakers in the world. 

Rise of China 

In previous posts, it is said that whether a language can be a global language depends largely on the power of the country . In recent years, the rise of China has posed a threat to the status of English as a global language, as there is a chance that Mandarin will replace English's global status.
First of all, the Gloss Domestic Product (GDP) of China is US$9.872 billion and it ranks no.3 in the world in 2010. China's GDP just ranks behind the European Union and the U.S. In 2000, China's GDP is only 7.1% of the world's total. But in 2010, it has increased to 13.3 % and it is expected that it will account for 20.7 % of the world's GDP.

On top of that, China is the fastest-growing major economy in the world. it has an average growth rate of 10% for the past 30 years. 

Moreover, According to The Economists, the U.S. economy would be overtaken by China's in 2019. 

There are a lot more data showing that China is rising in terms of economics. We are not going to list out all of them today as our focus is how the rise of China brings the rise of global status of Mandarin

Recent trend of learning Mandarin over the world speaks well for this phenomenon. For the sake of acquire smooth cooperation with enterprises in China as to open up market in China, international enterprises usually require their staff have good command in Mandarin in order to facilitate developing their Chinese links. In Asian countries, proficient in Mandarin sometimes is a much for acquiring a job, especially for the tertiary sector like the tourism. While in western countries, knowing Mandarin is always an advantage in job application.

In acquiring a language, systematic and well organized training is needed. Owing to that, it is a common phenomenon to find Mandarin learning institutions are established over the world to provide Mandarin courses. Even some schools in the western countries like the US are encouraging their students to acquire Mandarin as a foreign language by providing regular courses.

References:

1.      M. Paul, Lewis (ed.).2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World (16th Edition). Tex.: SIL International.

2.      Omniglot - The online encyclopedia of writing systems & languages. http://www.omniglot.com/chinese/mandarin.htm

3.      CIA World Fact Book, accessed 2011

4.      Euromonitor International. “Top 10 largest economies in 2020”. July 7, 2010.

Edited by Ingrid, Denize and Uchi

Is Mandarin becoming the global dominant language?

Being a lingua franca, English is the dominant language of the world by being recognized as the official language by the international institutions and the expanding number of non-native speakers. Can Mandarin satisfy the two criteria so as to become another dominant language like English?

Increasing amount of second language speakers and growing recognition

Cases in Asia

Seen as a key skill for people hitching their futures to China’s economic rise, people in many Asian countries are catching up in the race to learn Chinese. Since China is now the biggest trading partner of South Korea, Koreans are signing up for Chinese lessons with zeal. There are 160,000 high school and university students are studying Mandarin, while Koreans are also the largest group of foreigners studying in China. In addition to the case of South Korea, Mandarin is now the most taught foreign language (after English) in Japan and the number of Japanese secondary schools offering Mandarin more than triple between in the last decades. On the other hand, China is becoming the most popular destination for students from Korea, Thailand and Cambodia study abroad. As from the above examples, we can see that the number of non-native speakers is increasing dramatically in Asia.

Case in Europe – The United Kingdom

Mandarin is recognized as an increasingly important international language in the UK where Mandarin is taught in educational institutions as a foreign language. Mandarin Chinese is offered in many Modern Foreign Language Departments (MFLs) in state schools, not only in After School Club but also the regular school timetable. Moreover, the government departments of education in England, Wales and Scotland, together with the British Council, have agreed on a strategy to support the study of Mandarin through direct access to native speakers and school linking. According to a report from Chinese embassy in UK, the number of Chinese language assistants in UK schools has increased from 13 in 2001 to 95 in 2008. These numbers indicate that the demand of learning Mandarin is increasing as more schools to offer Mandarin Chinese in their MFL departments and thus, the number of non-speakers is expanding in the UK.

Case in the US

The economic and linguistics expansion of China has prompted the American government and its people to recognize Mandarin as a ‘language of opportunity’. In Chicago, the largest Chinese-language program in the US has created and there are now 3500 kids, from kindergartners to 12^th graders, learning Mandarin. For many of these students, Mandarin is their third language after English and Spanish. Moreover, as high school kids across the US have been able to take the AP exam for Chinese language and culture established by the College Board, the number of students taking part in the exam has been growing since 2007.

It is true that Mandarin Chinese is already the most popular and ‘must learn’ language in the planet. In fact, there are currently more than 30 million people around the world learning Mandarin as a second language and this number is likely to exceed more 50 million in the next few years.

So...?

All cases above help to understand that Mandarin is certainly becoming a dominant language in the world because of the enormous number of non-native speakers and the positive perceptions towards Mandarin by people all over the world.


References:

1.          Erard, Michael. 2006. 'The Mandarin Offensive'. Wired Mafazine.

2.          Kim, Terri. "Higher Education Reforms in South Korea: public-private problems in internationalising and incorporating universities." Policy Futures in Education 6. 5(2008): 558-568.

3.          Ramzy, Austin. 'Get Ahead, Learn Mandarin'. Time 19 June 2006.

4.          Scherer, Marge (ed.). 2009. Challenging the Whole Child: Reflections on Best Practices in Learning, Teaching, and Leadership. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Edited by Ingrid . Last update at 20th Mar, 2012

The Future: Can Mandarin replace the position of English?

Is Mandarin able to replace the position of English?

As analyzed in the previous posts, Mandarin is the most widely spoken language in the world and it has met most of the criteria of becoming a global dominant language, in other words, it is ‘challenging the monopolistic position of English’ .In the global world. Even though Mandarin seems to be a threat to the dominance of English, it is not likely that Mandarin is able to replace English to become the sole dominant language in the world. Instead, we are probably entering a bilingual world where English and Mandarin will co-exist and both become the most influential and dominant languages.

http://www.webdesigncore.com/2011/03/15/10-informative-l
anguage-culture-infographics/ 

Regarding to the previous posts regarding the use of English in today's world, we have discussed about the dominance of English as a language of politics and science. English has long been adopted as an official language in varies countries and there are over 1,400 million  people living in countries where English is being used as an official administration, education and media communication etc. At the same time, there is a high degree of prevalence of English in scientific communication; more than 90% of scientific journals are printed in English. Thus, the dominant position of English is not going to change nor will it be replaced by Mandarin. As Graddol (1997) had stated: ‘the position of English has arisen from a particular history which no other language can, in the changed from a particular history which no other language can, in the changed world of the 21^st century, repeat’.

References:

1.      Ammon, Ulrich. The dominance of English as a Language of Science. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2001.

2.      Graddol, David. The future of English. London: British Council, 1997.

3.      Rappa Antonio L. & Wee, Lionel. "Language Policy and Modernity in Southeast AsiaMalaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand." Language Policy 6. (2006): 1-139.

Edited by Ingrid . Last update at 18th Mar, 2012

The Future- Entering a Bilingual world

http://www.futurity.org/science-technology/being-bilingual-gives-brains-a-boost/

Since English is unlikely to decline, while Mandarin continues to grow, there is a growing belief that the future will be a bilingual one. In fact, in many of the South East Asian countries there have been an increasing language shift towards Mandarin and English. The most obvious example is Singapore. Due to its colonial background, it has no surprise that English has been an important language in Singapore, yet with China’s continued emergence as a key player in the world economy, the government is now encouraging Singaporean Chinese to learn Mandarin in order to be competitive. Besides, English has an important value in the Philippines as it is the medium of instruction over Filipino in science and mathematics. However, believing that ‘Chinese language would boost the Filipino’s aptitude needed in trade relations, research and person-to-person relations’ the Philippines has recently considered including Mandarin in the educational curriculum. It is predictable that there will be more and more bilinguals in SE Asia who are able to speak both English and Mandarin.

More importantly, we can never neglect the enormous English learners in China. Though the economic growth of China is boosting, people in China are still very eager to learn English as it is believed that this may enhance their opportunities for employment in international trade Of course, the surge of Chinese-English translators in Chinese or Foreign funded enterprises also contribute to boost people’s desire in learning English. According to Zhang, there are at least 350 million English learners in China, in order words, there are now over 300 million bilinguals in China, more than the total populations of the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Even though China and its language are growing rapidly, it cannot achieve greater success alone. Let us take trading as an example. No matter how strong the purchasing power is of China, it always needs a business partner to trade with. In a deeper degree, issues such as the stability of the global economy and climate change can only be solved by the co-operation between nations. This is why, neither English nor Mandarin can stand alone and simply dominate the world in the foreseeable future since the world will be more globalized and nations will become more inter-dependent. We Chinese have a wise aphorism, ‘When you are in a common boat you need to cross the river peacefully together’. So a bilingual world created by English and Mandarin working hand in hand will be the most likely situation in the next decade.

Reference:

1.          Angel, Lin. 2009. Bilinugal Education: Southeast Asian Perspectives. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

2.          Antonio L., Rappa and Lionel, Wee. "Language Policy and Modernity in Southeast Asia: Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand." Language Policy (6). 2006:1-141.

3.          James E., Alatis and Ai Hui, Tan (ed.). 2001. Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1999. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

4.          Shengyong, Zhang. "English as a Global Lanugage in Chinese Context." Theory and Practice in Lanuguage Studies 1, 2(2011): 167-176.

Edited by Ingrid .