Importance Of English As An International Language

An international language refers to a language in widespread use as a foreign language or second language (Richards et al.,1992, p.234). Over the years, the English language has reached a status of the international language, and has played an important role around the world for economic, education, scientific and entertainment exchange between nations and particularly between people, and commonly is characterized as a lingua franca. According to Crystal (1997), today, more people use English than has used any other language in the history of the world. Additionally, almost 380 million people have English as a first language, but more than a billion people use it as a second language. Even if people from different backgrounds such as cultural and linguistic meet, they need to communicate using a particular language as the lingua franca. English is now a world lingua franca used by people in almost every part of the world. Graddol (2006) states that
The English language finds itself at the center of the paradoxes which arise from globalization. It provides the lingua franca essential to …show more content…
One of the major reasons is that because Britain is the leading industrial and trading country by the beginning of the nineteenth century, English was the language of the leading economic power in the world. Additionally, there are major reasons for the initial spread of English such as colonialism, speaker migration, and new technology contributes to making English an international language (McKay,2002, p.16). Moreover, it is also used in new communication technologies such as the telegraph and telephone which used in international politics, international industry, and business. It is also used in mass media, such as newspaper and radio, which used in technology and science and in education areas. Therefore, the most important factor in the spread of English is that it has been in the right place at the right