First, the expressive power of English in international communication
First of all, the strength of English in international communication is reflected in the number of people who use English. At present, nearly 380 million people in the world speak English as their mother tongue, and about 250 million people speak English as their second language. More and more people are learning English. The British Council estimates that the global population learning English is about 65.438+0 billion, and another 65.438+0.5-2 billion people use English every day. By 2050, half of the world's population will be more proficient in using English. [2]?
Linguists divide the above-mentioned English-speaking people into three categories: the first category refers to people whose mother tongue is English, usually the only language. These people mainly live in the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland and South Africa. The second category refers to people who speak English as a second language. These people generally live in countries and regions that were once British colonies or the United States had great influence, such as India, Nicaragua, Singapore, the Philippines and China. The third category refers to countries and regions that learn English as a foreign language, which are generally not closely related to the United States and Britain. [3]?
Although the number of Chinese-speaking people currently exceeds 65.438+0.3 billion (including overseas Chinese), the Chinese-speaking population is mostly confined to China and China, and few foreigners use Chinese as their mother tongue or second language. In recent years, with the strengthening of China's national strength, there has also been a craze for Chinese, but compared with the craze for English, it cannot be mentioned in the same breath. ?
In fact, the strength of English in international communication is not only reflected in the number of people who use it, but also in the scope of English application. After the cold war, with the advent of globalization and informatization, English has been widely used in various fields around the world, including politics, economy, trade, culture, diplomacy, tourism, communication, natural science and humanities academic research. According to statistics, English is the official language in more than 60 countries in the world. [4] 85% of international organizations list English as a common language (United Nations, European Union, etc. ). Worldwide, 75% of mails are written in English, and 80% of publications and Internet information are published and released in English. [5]? The power of English is particularly evident in the communication in the field of scientific research. Before and after World War I, German once replaced English as the main language of scientific research. However, with the establishment of American mobile Altman status in the world after World War II (especially in the 20 years after the Cold War), the strength of English has become overwhelming. According to the survey of thousands of major scientific journals in the world from 65438 to 0997 by Professor EugeneGarfield, the founder of Science Citation Index (SCI), 925,000 scientific papers were published in the world from 65438 to 0997, of which 95% were written in English, and only half of these papers were written by authors from English-speaking countries, that is, half. The strength of English is evident. [6]?
The strength of English in international communication is obvious to all in China, especially in the past 20 years. The emergence of English media in China is an example. Up to now, English media in China mainly disseminate news, including an English TV channel, a foreign language radio station, 9 English daily and weekly newspapers, 65,438+00 English magazines and 9 major English websites. For a country with Chinese as its official language, this shows that China has made great achievements in foreign communication, but it also shows the importance of English language from one side. [7] The above statistics do not include English newspapers that focus on English learning all over the country. ?
Besides the development of English media, the huge number of English learners in China is enough to show the influence of English strength. It is estimated that about 300 million people in China are learning and using English [8], and there has been an unprecedented upsurge in English, and this number is still growing.
The emergence of English craze in China is closely related to China's open policy, especially after China joined the WTO. At present, China not only requires all students in senior high schools and junior high schools to make English compulsory, but also requires popularizing English teaching in the third grade of primary schools in qualified cities from 200 1 [9]. English is also a compulsory subject in China's college entrance examination and postgraduate examination every year, and it is also one of the necessary conditions for promoting cadres and technical titles. In a big city like Shanghai, a person's English ability can also determine whether he can become a symbol of international talents.
Second, the reasons for the formation of English international communication strength
The power of English has gone through a long process of development. 1300 years, English is only the language spoken by "inferior people" in England. After 1500, modern English began to take shape, mainly referring to the relatively stable spelling, pronunciation and meaning of English [10]. But the emergence of English as an international language really happened after19th century. This paper holds that there are three main reasons that contribute to the international status of English. ?
1. From a macro point of view, English power is not caused by the language itself, so the emergence of English power in international communication is not only the power of the language itself. As JeanAitchison, a professor at Oxford University, pointed out, the success or failure of a language has little to do with the inherent characteristics of the language, but much to do with the strength of the people who use it. [ 1 1]
As far as English is concerned, this is most obvious. 18-19th century, the industrial revolution made the British empire's influence spread all over the world. English is also popular all over the world with the soldiers and businessmen of the British Empire, and is moving towards the goal of a global language. English is not only used in British colonies, but also in diplomatic negotiations in non-English-speaking countries. During 1940, when Germany and Japan were discussing the establishment of an anti-Anglo-American alliance, the foreign ministers of the two countries (JoachimvonRibbentrop and YosukeMatsuoka) negotiated in English. [ 12]
However, no matter how adaptable English is, no matter how influential it is, the current international status of English mainly stems from the great power status of the English-speaking United States after World War II. Churchill realized that the decline of the British Empire was inevitable after the end of World War II, so he envisaged using American power to maintain Britain's leading position in the world. Of course, all he got was a "special relationship" between the United States and Britain. With the global influence shifting to the other side of the Atlantic, a new English (American English) has swept the world [13]? . The popularity of American English is slightly different from that of British English: American English has spread to the whole world mainly through the power of popular culture and media market, and its breadth and depth are unprecedented, so new terms such as "delicious colonialism" and "cultural imperialism" have emerged to describe the strength of English in international communication. ?
In addition to the above reasons, at the end of the 20th century, global economic development and the new political situation also urgently needed an "international" common language, so the convenience of English itself quickly made it the first choice. ?
2. From the linguistic perspective, the strength of English in international communication is closely related to the vitality of the English language itself. First of all, English is related to all languages of Indo-European family. English may be more difficult for orientals. But for western Europeans, Russians and even Iranians, English may not be so difficult to learn, because they will find that English grammar and vocabulary are similar to their mother tongue. ?
Compared with Indo-European, English has the unique characteristics of "world language", namely its diversity, flexibility and adaptability. Although the strength of English originates from British and American English, it is listed as the official language by countries on five continents. At the same time, although the English vocabulary is the largest in the world, with at least 500,000 words, which is more than German (nearly 200,000) and French (654.38+10,000), ordinary users can communicate effectively in English as long as they can master 654.38+10,000 to 2,000 English words. ?
In addition, English can make non-native English speakers "localize" and create their own English, such as Singapore English, Chinglish (a mixture of Mandarin and English), Western English (Spanish plus English), Japanese English (Japanese plus English), Creole whisper (Hindi plus English), and even French English (French plus English) and German English (German plus English) [6000.000 In a word, the strength of English is that it can tolerate non-English people to use English in poor English, make them feel the convenience and closeness of English [15], and make it more "cosmopolitan". ?
3. Of course, these "cosmopolitans" of English are closely related to its cultural value system. Compared with other cultures, British and American cultural values can encourage innovation and tolerate dissidents more. Perhaps because of this, a figure like Bill Gates may only appear in the United States, but he is unlikely to appear in Europe and Eastern countries that emphasize collectivism. ?
Secondly, the strong marketization tendency and technical strength of British and American media are enough to make English play a leading role in international communication. The most noteworthy here are the "Hollywood effect" and the "Silicon Valley phenomenon". The former mainly refers to cultural products, including English media, movies and other entertainment products; The latter mainly refers to technical products based on computers and the Internet. The worldwide popularity of these products will inevitably lead to the worldwide popularity of the English language contained in these products, and the dominant position of these products in the world will certainly help English gain strength in the process of international communication. ?
Finally, the formation of English power is also because most of the existing world cultures appear in the form of English language. As mentioned above, 80% of the documents in the world are written in English. It is almost impossible to translate these documents into another world language, such as Esperanto, Chinese or German. Thus, the formation of English strength has become a cyclical logic: English is cosmopolitan because it is already cosmopolitan. [ 16]?
Third, the characteristics of strong English
From the above discussion, we can easily find three characteristics of English strength in international communication. ?
1. First of all, the essence of English strength is the strength of English-speaking countries. This is no exception in English-speaking countries. At present, the reason why American English can replace British English is only the embodiment of the status and strength of the United States as the only superpower in the world. Therefore, although the language sweeping the world today is also called "English", it carries American culture. [ 17]?
This kind of English power is irresistible and difficult to change in a short time. Non-English-speaking countries can choose to adapt to this kind of strength, or they can choose to reject this kind of strength, but they can't stop the emergence of this kind of English strength. ?
3. Language is closely related to politics, economy, culture and international communication. The strength of English language will certainly further strengthen the strength of this country in politics, economy, culture and international communication industry. In other words, English strength is not a simple language problem in the world, but it will exert influence on all aspects (including language) of other countries in the world through its strong position and various means.
Fourth, the influence of English strength.
The influence of English strength is like a double-edged sword. They can be positive, negative or both, that is to say, seemingly negative effects are often accompanied by positive ones, and vice versa. Interestingly, this applies not only to non-English speaking countries, but also to English speaking countries themselves. ?
1. Influence on English-speaking countries
For English-speaking countries or people in English-speaking countries, the influence of English strength should be said to be more positive than negative. First of all, the strength of English has further strengthened the political, economic and cultural strength of these countries, which in turn will further strengthen the strength of English; Secondly, the power of English will naturally make people in these countries feel a sense of national superiority and a sense of honor as the population of English-speaking countries. In the long run, this is the greatest benefit (or beneficial influence) brought by the power of English to English-speaking countries, because it will make the whole country and nation always maintain a high posture and show strong cohesion. Of course, this sense of superiority and honor will be manifested in different English-speaking countries, and the United States with the strongest strength may be the strongest. ?
However, the sense of superiority and honor brought by this strength sometimes brings negative effects. For example, due to the universality and convenience of English in the world, the nationals of most English-speaking countries are not interested in understanding other countries and cultures, do not care much about international news, and do not want to learn foreign languages. It is understood that native English speakers have the worst ability to use other languages. In 2000, only 9 people from all universities in the United States graduated from Arabic, and Britain is the most monolingual country in Europe. This inertia makes them more and more closed, and their way of thinking will gradually become rigid. [ 18]
In addition, the strength and popularity of English will also lead to the diversification of English, such as Singlish and Chinglish (a mixture of Mandarin and English). This diversity will not only cause some language communication obstacles, but also have an impact on British and American English itself. The Financial Times pointed out that the real challenge to English comes from the population who speak English as a second language, because at present, these populations not only far exceed the native English population, but also are growing rapidly. The newspaper predicts that this situation will have a far-reaching impact on English itself. [ 19]
2. Impact on non-English speaking countries?
The influence of English power on non-English-speaking countries may be just the opposite to that of English-speaking countries, and its negative influence may be greater than its positive influence. The direct benefit of English as a global language is that people from different countries can communicate freely, but language is not only a tool for communication, but also a carrier of culture and a symbol of identity. ? Faced with the irresistible force of English, many non-English-speaking countries feel helpless, but they are worried about the cultural invasion (cultural imperialism) brought by the power of English, because the influence brought by these cultural invasions is intangible, but it does exist and cannot be changed in a short time. Some people even think that cultural imperialism is a continuation of the gunboat policy of these colonial powers in the past, but the current colonial means are relatively civilized. [20]
Especially for those minority languages and ethnic groups, the strength of English may be devastating, and even means the demise of their language, culture and identity. The disappearance of language has existed since ancient times, but now it is bigger and faster. Some people say that half the languages will disappear in this century, others say that it is 90%. [2 1]
For those non-English-speaking western countries (such as France) who also want to become a language power, this helplessness is more obvious. Now, although France spends 1 100 million dollars every year to promote French culture, French still ranks only the ninth among the world languages, and its decline can still be seen everywhere. French scientists are well aware of their situation. "Either publish articles in English or die in obscurity in French"? [22]。 ?
Therefore, non-English speaking countries will face a dilemma: whether to integrate into the world and move toward modernization, or to isolate themselves and maintain their nationality? To modernize, we must integrate into the world, which will inevitably bring some changes to our national language and traditional culture. Judging from the current situation, whether we can successfully get out of this dilemma largely determines whether we can effectively deal with the problem of strong English in international communication. ?
3. Impact on China?
The power of English has both positive and negative effects on our country. From a positive point of view, the direct function of English strength is to promote the wide popularization of English in China, thus effectively improving the quality and internationalization of Chinese citizens and improving the soft environment for China to connect with the world. Imagine: If there is no English as a language bridge in these 20 years, what will be the result of China's reform and opening up? If China did not introduce English strength, attach importance to English learning, and link English level with education, promotion and employment, it would be impossible to have one English craze after another in the past 20 years: from new concept English to 3L, to traveling all over the United States, to crazy English, the so-called "English economy", a large number of China students studying abroad every year, and so many English media mentioned above. ?
In a word, without the effective absorption of English for more than 20 years, there would be no big environment in which China initially possessed the degree of internationalization. Without such a big environment, it would be unthinkable for China to join the WTO and successfully bid for the Olympic Games. ?
Our country's experience shows that as long as we can properly handle the strength of English and only use English as a tool to integrate into the world, then we can develop our modernization faster at a smaller cost, shorten the backward time and lay the foundation for catching up as soon as possible. ?
Of course, many China scholars are worried about the potential dangers brought by the current advantages and popularity of English. 65438-0998 At the seminar on "Technological Progress and Development in Today's World" held in Harbin, they thought that in today's information technology era, the strength of language will inevitably lead to the strength of culture, which will lead to new injustice. [23]?
This kind of worry is obviously justified. As long as we look at the infiltration of English into Chinese, we can know that government officials will casually say English abbreviations such as WTO, PNTR and APEC at press conferences, as if they were speaking their hometown dialect. Young people are full of TOEFL, GRE and NBA. Even if you ask an old lady what she is doing in the hospital, she will answer, "I do CT." ?
Chen Yuan, a famous social linguist, thinks this is a miracle of Chinese. It is strange that English words appear in Chinese so naturally without any red tape, even if the old lady doesn't know what CT means, it's okay to say it. [24]
Then, how do you think that English strength may bring potential dangers (negative effects) while bringing positive effects? How to treat the possible negative influence of English power on Chinese and even China culture? This paper holds that, first of all, we don't have to worry too much. As Professor Chen Yuan said, a living language (or culture) is never afraid of "invasion" by foreign objects. Any language is not self-sufficient, and from time to time it will be mixed with some foreign objects to enrich and develop itself. [25] From another perspective, Chinese can effectively absorb many English words in the face of English strength, which is the expression of Chinese vitality and vitality. Therefore, in the face of the strength of English and the flexibility of our Chinese, we should be full of confidence and pride, not anxiety. ?
So is language and so is culture. China culture has a long history of 5,000 years because it can extract the essence from the rough. Western culture will inevitably affect our culture through the strength of English. But in the long run, if we can absorb the essence of foreign culture and discard its dross, China culture will certainly gain new development and show great vitality on the basis of absorbing western culture.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) Conclusion: Will English be strong in the future?
Before English became strong, other languages (such as Latin, Esperanto, French and German) also appeared strong, but with the decline of the influence of countries that speak this language, the strength of these languages no longer exists, and some even died out. So, will English go up and down? Will English decline like other languages? ?
The answer is, of course, yes. Since other languages can rise and fall, English should be no exception. So what is the sign of English decline? David Gray Lador, the author of The Future of English, thinks that science and technology are a major sign, and he thinks that the sign of English decline may be the continuous emergence of major technological discoveries in China or other countries. At this time, the importance of English may be greatly reduced. [26]
Of course, science and technology is a sign, but I believe that the decline of English will be manifested in other aspects (such as political influence and economic strength). After all, the strength of a language is supported by other strengths. In fact, the citizens of English-speaking countries lack interest in international news, lack understanding of world affairs and show "low energy", which shows that these English-speaking countries are inflexible and even rigid (at least in these aspects). In the long run, this may be the beginning of the decline of English, but it should be admitted that this process will be very long. ?
References:?
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[4][23] yellow. Linguistic diversity concerns the global village. 1feb 1 1.2000. China daily. Page 4.
[6] The dominance of English: Universities all over the world give up their mother tongue for the common language. Chronicle of higher education. September 8, 2000.
[7] Guo Ke: "The development trend and communication effect of English media in China", unpublished paper in 2002. ?
[8] Zhao Yanyan; Keith. Personal computer .. (1998) China English. World English. Volume 14. No.3, pp. 377-399.
[9] China promotes the development of English. March 29th, 200 1.p 14.
Stevenson. Global communication of 2 1 century. ? Longman publishing group. New york: Longman Publishing House, page 88.
[14] Authentic English will no longer exist, reference news, 6th edition, March 29th, 2006, 5438+0. ?
Stevenson. Global communication of 2 1 century. ? Longman publishing group. New york: Longman.p.9 1.
The global communication of Stevenson r. l .( 1994)2 1 century. ? Longman publishing group. New york: Longman Publishing House, p. 92.
[ 17][ 18][2 1][22]? Zuo Haokun compiled: "Is English really triumphant? See World, No.3, 2002, p.43.?
[24] Chen Yuan: "The New Landscape of Chinese Territory at the Turn of the Century", "Reference News", 2006 54 38+0 5 15, 8th edition.