Asia Times Online :: South Asia news - 'Native English' is losing its power - 0 views
-
Even as the English language continues its meteoric global rise, native speakers such as the North Americans, British and Australians will soon become a rare breed, overwhelmed by the many millions who have started speaking English as their second language.
-
the new lingua franca in what is now often called a flat world.
-
"So the balance of power is changing, and when the second-language speakers adopt English language as their own language or as a second language, they actually take control of it, mix it and use it with their own language, developing new forms, vocabulary and ways and using English."
- ...4 more annotations...
-
"China now produces over 20 million English speakers each year, and possibly within a few years, there could be more English speakers in China than in India."
-
Graddol's findings predict that by 2015, there will be about 2 billion people from Asia and non-English-speaking Europe learning English.
-
However, that is not necessarily good news for native English speakers. Instead, it could come as a big blow because "they can no longer look the other way, celebrating the rising hegemony of their language".
-
As English becomes more widely used as a global language, it will become expected that speakers will signal their nationality, and other aspects of their identity, through English, Graddol says. Lack of a native-speaker accent will not be seen, therefore, as a sign of poor competence.
