Importance Of English Language Essay Example

The English language may be one of the biggest languages in the world with 67 English speaking countries and over 1 billion secondary speakers. Not only is it a global language, but it is also spoken by all ages. How come the English language is still on the rise? It all comes down to culture.

Today, English is spoken everywhere and every day. People use English in a conversation, social media and music. English is casually used among younger people. Especially slang. According to an interview by NDLA, students use English because it is cool and easier to express expressions such as “better late than never”. It is also mentioned that they consider their native language boring compared to English. Because of this, code-switching between English and another language is more casual and natural. English is a very important subject in school, an example is Norwegian schools. At Norwegian universities, most of the curriculum is in English, since English is an international language. People are listening to English music or reading English books daily as well.

Nowadays, listening to English music or watching English TV-shows is common everywhere. This is in fact because of American culture spreading all over the world, including Norway starting from the 1920s where the first commercial radio broadcast in Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania occurred. Spreading the American culture also started from popular inventions. For instance, the first sound film which was Hollywood in the 1920s. These Hollywood movies was in black and white, and the acting style was exaggerated gestures and facial expressions, there were also background music that set the mood and brought out various emotions. Hollywood became a remarkable and phenomenal industry, because the movies was a form of entertainment for many. Afterwards, different countries started to build cinemas and tickets were sold everywhere. Today, because of technology, people can watch English movies online on their computers or tablets. Netflix is one of the most rising and biggest media services where you can watch online movies. Movies today are also more high quality and enjoyable than before, which makes people continuing watching series and movies. Since Netflix is an American media, most of the series is in English or English subtitles, which contributes to the English language rising. Since then, the English language is connected to the term “trendy” or “entertainment”. That is why most forms of entertainment is in English. Examples are music, games and apps.

Does the rise of English have anything to do with trends? Thanks to different factors such as social media, films, music and games, the English language has spread worldwide. English speaking music, games and social media has influenced many countries, and has spread different varieties of slang and expressions, such as “GOAT” which means “greatest of all time”. It is in fact the young who has picked up most of these expressions due to it being “trendy”. They get it mostly from social media, which is a big platform where billions of people interact and communicate. The English language is still growing across the world because of communication. When people who game with each other from different countries tries to communicate, will they likely choose to communicate in English, since English is an international language that is used among both elder and younger people. The elder people will most likely use English when it comes to business or work. English isn’t always connected to work or the media, it can also be used during traveling. When people travel, English is the most possible language to communicate in. Other countries such as India has their own Indian English that they use to communicate that foreign people often picks up and brings it with them back home. “Could a lingua franca English be the norm?” (David Crystal, 2013). A lingua franca means a language that is not identified with one place, because it is a mixture of varieties of English accents. What this quote tries to ask is, will the lingua franca English be the new normal?

The lingua franca English will probably be the new normal, since English is a global language, will there be different varieties or accents of this language. Since most of the young teens picks up from this language, will the future generation also continue this growing action. It is an important language used both in school and outside school. The English language has an important role for me as a person living in Norway because I know it is an international language and that it will be used in future work. As a teen, I can agree with using English to express emotions because of how easy it is. English is surrounding me daily and I have no problems with that, because I enjoy English music and watching series with English subtitles. Since I’m so used to English, I often code switch between English and Norwegian without being aware of it. People using English daily such as in a conversation, travel and gaming is proof that English is still on the rise, and it will likely continue that way as it is a world language.