Why English?
What does the abbreviation ELF stand for?
English as a Lingua Franca?
What is Standard English?
A form of English spoken by few native speakers, which has specific, accepted rules for grammar, vocabulary and punctuation and is often taught in schools.
A language that mixes English with the original language in the specific country in the Caribbean. It has its own vocabulary, grammar, etc. Many varieties exist. In its mildest forms, it may have the appearance of ”just” an English dialect that contains traces of Caribbean languages - especially in terms of pronunciation.
What is Martinez' main claim in "Why Mandarin Won't Be a Lingua Franca"?
That Mandarin will not threaten the position of English as the world's preferred lingua franca, since the English language has several advantages over Mandarin.
Why has the English language become the world’s preferred lingua franca? Name at least two reasons
Example reasons: The global power of The US, The British Empire, the language of pop culture, not too difficult to learn, the language of technology (e.g. Microsoft and Apple), the snowball effect --> exponential growth.
What is EFL?
English as a Foreign Language
What is Received Pronunciation?
An accent considered to be the standard form of the English accent, spoken in and around London, and often used on British radio and television. "BBC English".
Name two characteristics of Alexi from Everything Is Illuminated.
Example answers: quite confident, slightly arrogant, thinks very highly of himself and his own abilities, a ladies' man, proud, cares about his appearance, appears to be conservative (the lesbian-comment), has a skewed view of his own English-abilities, Russian
In connection with “The English language is the world’s Achilles heel”, why is Thierry a reliable sender?
Because he is a professor of neuro-science, and he has clearly done research on the subject, which he includes in his argumentation.
What is a Pidgin language?
When parts of two or more languages are combined in a simplified structure and vocabulary, thus creating a new hybrid-language.
Explain what a lingua franca is.
A language that is adopted as a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
What is a Creole language?
A pidgin language that evolves to the point at which it becomes the primary language of the people who speak it. E.g. in The Caribbean.
Who is the speaker in "Listen Mr Oxford Don"?
An Caribbean immigrant, who lives in Clapham Common and does not have a high level of education.
What is the main claim in “The English language is the world’s Achilles heel”?
That it is essential that English native speakers also become learn other languages, as truly bilingual exchanges without a loss of empathy and understanding of others' beliefs require poth parties to understand each other's languages.
What is "The Queen's English"?
A different name for Received Pronunciation in the UK, which is associated with the Queen.
Name at least two reasons why it is difficult to determine the number of English-speakers on a global level.
- Disagreements concerning at what level you need to speak the language in order to be considered an English-speaker
- Pidgin-languages and creoles
- Quite hard to measure the world’s population
- Self-taught people are difficult to keep track of
What is Globish?
Simplified form of English that reduces the vocabulary to around 1,500 words and eliminates grammatical complications.
Name at least two main issues with Alexi's usage of English in the except from "Everything Is Illuminated".
Possible answers: He uses many words that are too formal and/or normally used in other contexts. He mixes formal language with informal slang and some rude words. He lacks an understanding of English idioms and translates Russian expressions directly in to English. He uses some words that have completely different meanings than what he thinks.
Name two of the reasons Martinez gives in his article for why Mandarin won't become a lingua franca,
Name at least two points we discussed in the "English and the job market"-lesson.
Examples: Customer service-jobs rely more of verbal English without the need for high proficiency. Jobs relating to trade, commerce, international businesses, etc. require much more communication in English, including writing, speaking, listening, and reading.
1. IS is the official language of several nations (e.g. England)
2. Is is one of the official languages in some multilingual nations (e.g. India, South Africa)
3. It is made a priority in terms of many countries' foreign-language teaching policy.
Explain the difference between a dialect and an accent.
An accent is a way of pronouncing words that indicates the place of origin or social background of the speaker.
A dialect is a regional variety of a language distinguished by both vocabulary, spelling, and pronunciation.
What is the extended metaphor in Agard's poem "Listen Mr Oxford Don"?
His language = a crime. Agard uses words associated with crime and violence as an extended metaphor for how some British people view the speaker's treatment of the English language, as he uses Non-standard English.
How can we compare Thierry and Martinez' arguments with each other?
They both mention the need for native speakers of English to learn other languages. However, while Thierry focuses on the need for both parties in a conversation to learn to speak the other party's language in order to increase their mutual understanding, Martinez focuses more on the economic advantages of speaking multiple languages on a globalised job market.
According to David Crystal, why did the need for a global lingua franca not emerge until the mid-twentieth century?
After WW2, the need for a global language became imperative, as it was easier than using translators. Moreover, having a lingua franca improves international relations. Global trade also played an important role (economic reasons)