Monday 19 January 2015

Where do we see evidence of linguistic imperialism in the Anglophone world?

In today's world, English is continuing to dominate all over the world in several aspects and it continues it's stronghold as being the world's leading language. One major reason why English continues to take over the world is because the language represents a fine and a prestigious level of education in which no other non-English speaking country can match. In my opinion, I feel that education is the main reason that English is becoming more widespread all over the world. The top 10 universities in the world are all in either the United States or United Kingdom in which both countries hold English as their main language.

Studying at a high quality university can definitely boost your chances in the future to live a high quality life after graduating. A great education opens up the doors for people as they have a much higher chance at finding jobs (than people who have an average or below average education) and with further chances of finding employment, the better the chance you have for making money which you can then use for many great things. Universities in United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada (4 of the best countries in the world to study) all want their students to know their native language English to a certain level and a certain degree. Therefore, if you want to get into a good education, the first step is to have a good fluency level of the English language. Education has made  the English language a barrier for people to cross over if they want education at it's best, in order to get into universities in English speaking countries, you must take the IELTS or TOEFL (if you hold passport of a non English speaking country) which are tests to see the level of one's proficiency at the language. If a person let's say doesn't know much English at all but he can find cures for diseases or has the thinking and logic to that of the levels of Albert Einstein! he still will need to take tests and needs to have a good fluency of the language in order to get into the university despite the fact that he is presumably very intelligent.

The majority of the 200 highest rated universities in the world are situated in an English speaking country and therefore English is needed as without a good level of English, you will struggle to survive in living in places like Australia or UK and also all the studies and teaching are in English so basically the knowledge needs to be transmitted in the English language. One can study in their own language but the quality of what they learn in whatever their own main language may be will be nothing compared to what they would learn in English. The countries in which the best universities are located in tend to be the most developed and wealthier nations in the world so therefore after graduating, English will be very helpful as you can get a good quality job in a developed nation which will boost your earnings. The upside of English is that it can get you always a step ahead at getting a great education and future but the downside is that if one learns English and forgets his own culture, then a culture and language both are dying in this world.


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