Politics and the English Language

125 CD2-Fall 5015 October 7, 2015 Language as a Political Instrument Both James Baldwin and George Orwell (Politics and the English Language, pg. 313) are interested in understanding language as a political instrument. Write an essay in which you examine their views on the politics’ of language, pointing out their similarities and differences. According to both George Orwell and James Baldwin, language is a means of communication and across time, language has altered in political talk.…

Global language does not have an official definition, but it is essentially a language, which is learned and spoken internationally. English is today the biggest global language with more non-native speakers than native speakers. Because of all these different countries speaking English there are many varieties, such as British, Australian, South African, American. The English Language is constantly changing. Around the 1600 century the English language as we know it today was created. Before…

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…

Language is a very important thing when we talk about one’s personality, about a country, about patriotism, about uniqueness and also about politics as it is exactly the thing that determines changes or new visions about the world that sorrounds us. It can be a way of expression, but it can also be a way of manipulating, if we talk about politics. As we talk about English language, we have to state that during the time it has suffered a lot of changes specific to each period. Modern English…

writing of English and examines the link between political convention and the degradation of language. One of Orwell's major points is that the great enemy of clear language is insincerity (Hopkinson, 2013). The insincerity of the writer perpetuates the decline of the language as people particularly politicians attempt to disguise their intentions behind euphemisms and convoluted phrasing. As Orwell says that this decline is self-perpetuating. He takes it as poor English since the language is…

narrative it sustains, unravels the interplay between competing discourses of power .To transcend the boundaries of marginality infused in the supremacy given to certain languages over others, voicing minorities plight of exclusion can only be maintained through the re- appropriation of their own linguistic medium .In the same way that language creates and determines discourse, identity is re-constructed; it is manifested in the very act of writing and narrating the shared experience of a given…

Is teaching, and more particularly, the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), a political domain of professional practice? There are two aspects to this issue: first of all, is teaching a professional practice, and secondly, is such practice political. This essay is going to focus on the second part and discuss the politicalness of teaching practice under the presupposition that teaching is a profession. It will argue that teaching, and especially TESOL, are highly…

Like a spy, I live a double life: at school, I’m American, speaking English with my friends, but at home, I’m Korean, speaking a different tongue with my immigrant parents. I would say I’m pretty proficient in Korean; I can beg my parents for Thai food takeout, or chuckle at their cringe-worthy jokes. But when it comes to idioms, politics, or anything other than basic conversation topics, the language barrier sets in, and my mind draws a blank. I desperately want to take part in my parent’s…

To talk about how the English language is related to social status and economic power in ESL countries, I will instantly think of Hong Kong, as the English language has marked significant influence in Hong Kong educational system and it represents a status of power. Basically, Hong Kong has a colonial history, it was occupied by the British army and then subsequently ceded to England as a colony in the mid-19th century. So in ESL countries, the British cultural influences keep on featuring…

only small amounts of English upon arrival. The argument that they will never try to learn it has worked its way into politics. Even some so called moderate voices on the subject believe that immigrants should be required to learn English to live in America. “They can come here, but they should learn to speak our language” (Sen. Lindsey Graham). This undermines the hard work that many immigrants do put into learning our language. Alma goes to the community center to learn English. Apparently,…