English Channel

Although English is not the language with the largest numbers of native or ‘first’ language speakers, it has become a lingua franca. A lingua franca can be defined as “a language widely adopted for communication between two speakers whose native languages are different from each other’s and where one or both speakers are using it as a ‘second language’.“ English seems to be one of the main languages of international communication, and even people who are not speakers of English often know…

The victory of Norman troops on English soil in 1066 represented a critical moment for the little archipelago’s communicative history. When William the Conqueror was officially designated as the ruling King of England at Westminster Abbey, a distinctive shift in language use suddenly intensified; redefining cultural models that had been making meandering progress towards interpenetration since the period of Roman occupation. It was a catalyst that initiated the production of an early trilingual…

“¿Qué estas diciendo?” To a native English speaker, this sounds like gibberish. The Spanish phrase which translates into “What are you saying?” has no meaning for non-Spanish speakers. Similarly, the English language sounds like a harmony of “th” and lazy linguistics to immigrants of foreign countries. Richard Rodriguez writes Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez about his life as a Mexican-American immigrant and how being an immigrant impacted him when he was growing up.…

can be observed in body language, gesture, writing, Auslan, symbols and pictures; language can even be felt with the use of Braille. Similarly, language is diverse and fluid, and it evolves along with the human race. There are many variations of English that are spoken around the world, each with multiple variations of their own. Furthermore,…

Bonjour Monsieur, et mes amis. Aujourd’hui, je veux vous présenter: La France. Can you guess what language i was speaking? That’s right! French. Today, I will mentioning the three aspects that France is most acclaimed for: Food, Language, and Fashion. But let me begin with some basic history. Do you hear the people sing? Singing the songs of angry men? It is the music of the people who will never be slaves again! Does this sound familiar? Yes, it is from the movie that is a global sensation: Les…

Translation plays a significant role in conveying literary works of different cultures. It is the most important channel of communication as it creates a genuine unity between two societies of different awareness and cultures. Moreover, translation is a very important element in maintaining the domestic culture and identity which contribute to respecting the local characteristics of other societies and trying not to erase them. This leads to the enrichment and promotion of human civilization.…

My middle school days were not the best; I encountered many instances of bigotry from students. I was teased endlessly and disrespected because of my diversity. Born and raised of West Indian Heritage, students made my life a living hell because I spoke with an accent. “Where are you from?” instantly began the conversation. It indicated what I said and how it was said, especially since it was delivered with a Caribbean accent. I quickly realized that my accent was the first thing people noticed…

the United States as the promise land. This for them was Israel, a place where freedom reigned and there was a constant promise of a better life. When my mother and I came to the United States, I was just a little girl who was embarrassed to speak English and had been uprooted from the only home I ever knew. I was unaware of any form of oppression, oblivious to different nationalities and ethnicities other than the ones I had seen which were Indian and Islam. The lightest person I had ever known…

Australia Stephanie Natolo, Griffith University, Australia Abstract: Heritage language maintenance in Australia faces great challenges. In Australia, English is the dominant official language de facto, whilst Spanish is a community language. Spanish is primarily learnt and used in the home with parents and other family members, however, English holds power via hegemonic means, and is used in a multiplicity of domains. This paper presents an exploratory qualitative and quantitative study…

“Politics and the English Language” Analysis In his essay, “Politics and the English Language,” George Orwell states his critical opinions on the deviation of English, especially when it is deceitfully used in politics. Orwell believes that English is deteriorating alongside our “decadent” human civilization. He is quick to point out that one can’t simply blame it upon an individual writer who spread terrible prose, but in fact this occurrence has certain political and economic causes that have…