The Universality of English

"Edward Armstrong. The Story of English Episode 1." YouTube.com. 27 Aug. 2009."  

English is all around the world. That is unquestionable. When we buy a new object that requires instructions we will almost always find instructions in English. Why is this? It has become a universal language. It's just everywhere. A huge cause for this is colonialism. For example, in The Story of English Episode 1 we learn that in India knowing English is basically a necessity. Men desire women that know English and people each day are becoming more and more dependent on the language. India was a British colony and the presence of them definitely had an impact when it came to shaping the country. If the British would've never settled in India would the language still be the main one spoken? It could be, but colonialism unquestionably impacted India. 

English is spoken differently in almost every country you visit. When I was younger, I lived in London and basically grew up speaking and hearing British English. In fact, it became my first language as I forgot how to speak Spanish and would pretty much ignore anyone who asked me to practice my spanish. I remember that in school, the teachers would criticize anyone who would come speaking English in a different accent because there are marked differences between each accent. Many use these differences as a tool for discrimination, but in my opinion aren't these what make every culture unique? 

In fact, English is not just spoken differently in each country, but there are different accents within countries, especially in the United States. A clear example of this is the difference between a Texan accent and a Jersey one. 

English is also used as a tool for distinguishing class. As I watched the documentary I realized how Clueless, a movie by Amy Heckerling, portrays a scene of how English is spoken amongst different social classes. In the documentary, a Hindu girl begins to speak about how English represented education and class, which relates to what Alicia Silverstone represents in the movie. "English represents class whether it really is class or no." 


Another topic covered in this episode of the documentary is the importance of English for a child's future. All around the world, parents are striving to provide the opportunity so that their child may learn a second language. Being bilingual nowadays is a huge advantage and especially if one of those languages spoken is one of the main ones as is English. Think about it, if you are hiring someone you will probably want to hire someone who speaks more than one language and properly for higher positions.