In most Asian countries, people start learning English as a second language when they enter elementary school. They have to learn for more than three hours a week at the elementary school. As English is becoming a global language, the world is changing. These days, there are many effects of English as a global language. The most important effects are that companies are able to trade with foreign companies well, and that people spend a lot of time to learn English.
The first effect of English as a global language is that companies are able to trade with foreign companies easily. In fact, there are few countries in the world that are self-sufficient now. The overseas market has grown and has become important today. Consequently, most companies are trading with foreign companies. If a company cannot communicate well with foreign companies, their business deals may fall through. So, before, in a meeting or a conference, people used to communicate through a translator. However, people do not need a translator now because they could trade successfully with foreign companies using English. For this reason, companies hire capable professionals that can speak English fluently as a second language. As a result, companies are able to trade with other companies well without misunderstandings that result from language differences.
The second effect of English as a global language is that people spend a lot of time to learn English. In Korea, people began to teach English to every student at the school in 1995. In my case, I spent more time studying English than studying other subjects when I was a high school student. A lot of students usually go to a private institute to learn English after school. Other countries are similar to this situation. Even though students are not good at math or other subjects, they spend much time studying English because many people think that English is the most important subject. Some Korean mothers emigrated from Korea to an English speaking country with their child in order to teach them English, even though their child is too young to speak their own language. Thus, a number of this type of immigrants is increasing.
In conclusion, English as a global language affects companies in communicating well with foreign companies. Also, it makes people to spend a lot of time to learn English. I think that there are both positive effects and negative effects of English as a global language, but one thing that we have to remind ourselves is that we cannot live well without using English. The necessity of English as a global language is very obvious. Indeed, we will use English even more in the future.
This post was submitted by one of our students, Minwoo, in response to English as a Global Language.
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