My view on English
as lingua frankensteinia
With the development of globalization, English
became the dominant language in the world. However, recently people tend to use
lingua frankensteinia to describe this phenomenon of English
instead of lingua franca .
According to Robert (2008),“lingua franca generally seems to imply that the
language is a neutral instrument for ‘international’ communication between
speakers who do not share a mother tongue.” From this definition, in my
opinion, nowadays English is more like “language hegemony” rather than a
neutral instrument.
English has long been the dominant language in
the world and English as frankensteinia has been used in many key social
domains, such as economics (business and advertisement), culture (movies and
music) and academia.
In Quebec, the centre of French language and
culture in Canada, where instruction in French in schools is mandatory, the
government established English reading courses in middle school in 2011. On the
one hand, parents want their children to value their own culture and language.
On the other hand, English has become the language of international business
and if their children can't speak English, they will encounter obstacles in the
process of improving their status in society.
Those governments who are trying to find a
suitable way to promote English in their own culture cannot get rid of this
contradiction. Take Malaysia for example. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad, who was a Malay driver when he was younger, made Malay the language of
instruction in schools twenty years ago. However, in 2003, he put forward a new
plan, to use English to teach math and science. The reason is that most of the
technical literature of these disciplines is written in English. Malaysian
teachers and the students had become completely frustrated because the English
ability of students had been falling sharply since the country became
independent, although Dr Mahathir himself does not admit that there has been
such a fall. When the Malaysian government suspended the plan in 2009, the
parents voiced strong dissatisfaction. The contradiction continues.
Now, almost all cultures have had to give the English
a more important role in their own culture; it has become an inevitable trend.
More than ten European Union (EU) countries are demanding that their own schools
teach English. In Thailand and China, governments support English study. Rwanda
introduced the teaching of English in their schools in 2009.
These phenomena lead to most people being forced
to learn English, which I personally believe produces many social inequities.
For example, most computer languages are written in English, therefore, people
who want to become an engineer must master English. As for a country, if they
want to develop their computer science power they must master English no matter
what is their mother tongue.
The academic world is under the impact of English hegemony as well. French and German professors
often complain that all academic journals are written in English. Under this
condition, their career development is difficult. It is the same thing in
China, since most university ranking is made by English-speaking countries and authorities.
Professors in most Chinese higher education institutions are encouraged to
publish papers in authoritative magazines, which are mostly written in English,
to get a higher academic reputation. Therefore, most scholars are forced to
study and use English to write their research findings and academic papers.
This unfair language requirement is limiting for non-English scholars and
hinders their own research and development.
On the other hand, the popularity of English
could stifle cultural diversity. When universities --whether in Quebec, Paris
or Catalan universities -- all with global English teaching, can attract
students from all over the world which enriches their own students experience. However,
these gifted students are the representatives of their civilization. It may be
that when students from different countries study together only in English that
English culture will dominate. Language can shape people’s mind. In this case,
the expansion of English may inhibit our ability of thinking in different ways.
Language can shape people’s mind. In this case, the expansion of English may
inhibit our ability of thinking in different ways.
What’s more, as international students, we need
to use the second language- English and pay more money than the native students
to get access to the western universities, which are believed to be high
academic competence. This is especially true for U.K, where post-secondary
education is an industry, which brings huge profits to the British government.
This kind of inequity is obviously due to the English frankensteinia .
Therefore, we need to pay more attention to
English as frankensteinia , because
it will not only influence academic studies but also influence all walks of
life. Meanwhile, it is also a great challenge to solve the imperialism of the
English language.
References
Phillipson, R. (2008). Lingua franca or lingua frankensteinia ? English in European integration and globalization. World
Englishes, 27, 250-267.