By: Jeff Leiper Presented by: Soni Sarin English 393

Introduction The impact English is having on foreign students of today A brief history of the English language and how it is spreading The importance of English in the world Closing remarks

The Students This article basically discusses the importance of English and essentially asks why English became the Global Language. It begins with a scene of 3 Foreign-exchange students (Korean, Japanese, and French) trying to unscramble the words: “father-Was-your-angry?” into a sentence that makes sense. The students are attending the "Living Languages Institute" in Ottawa, during their summer vacation.

The Author The author, Jeff Leiper, is a reporter for an Ottawa IT community. He writes about his thoughts on how English is affecting the way the world communicates. He tries connecting to the students just to realize that they’re using: “words to communicate, but not a language.” He notices this barrier in conversation between him and the students. He does not understand their languages, and they are having trouble with English.

How English spread…and Where It’s Headed Mr. Leiper briefly delves into the history of English, how it is derived from the Anglo-Saxon languages. The British colonies greatly influenced the language's use. Now, it is used as communication in all fields: Pop culture – English affects music, icons, spread of trends throughout the world Job market – English essentially determines who is skilled enough to obtain a job Sciences – A surprising figure of 2/3 of the world's scientists write their papers in English Technology – 80% of the information stored electronically around the world is in English. Even though countries have tried to make expensive changes in technology, the simple html codes such as: are still in English.

Interviewing Members of the Institute Leiper interviews Gonzalo Peralta, the director of the Living Languages Institute to understand his views on English Peralta states that English is the “bread” humans now need in order to survive. Peralta believes that English is the language of technology. Leiper then interviews some foreign students to ask their reasons for attending the Institute. They admit they’re learning to speak and write in English properly because: They’ll find more job opportunities It’ll ensure a good job It’s essential for business They need it for the digital age. As Peralta's summarizes: English leads to more freedom.

If not English….? Mr. Peralta then tries to share his views on how other ages had different dominating languages used. Some examples include—Roman, French, Latin, Sanskrit. However, the major difference is that these languages were reserved for the elite. Not everyone knew how to speak, read, or write in them. English just seemed to work for this era. Linguists are still curious as to why that may be.

Closing remarks This article was a fascinating read. I really learned a lot from it. Often times, I've wondered myself over the demand of the English language and what impact it has on others as well. Approximately one billion people speak English as their second language! An interesting thought: Even though the Mr. Peralta reveals that learning English leads to the idea of freedom in today’s world, it seems double-edged---without English, there would be no jobs for many people. Thus, in order to gain that “freedom”, you first need to resort to learning the language. This article causes readers to question: why English?

Questions??