My view on English as lingua frankensteinia

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.