Why English is important
IF yoy are currently learning English in a school, college
or institute of further education, you join approximately
one billion other people around the world who are
engaged in the same pursuit. However, as you try to
memorise proper grammar, and try to avoid the mistakes
common to most students of English, you may wonder
why you are learning the language in the first place.
So, why is English important? After Mandarin, English
is spoken by more people than any other language,
and is the native language of more than 350 million people.
More people speak English than those who speak
the Arabic and French languages combined. Moreover,
English is the international language of diplomacy,
business, science, technology, banking, computing,
medicine, aviation,
UN & NATO armed forces, engineering, tourism,
Hollywood films and arguably the best pop and
rock music in the world. English has plenty of words to
choose from. In fact, an English speaker is offered
the biggest vocabulary of any language with a choice
of 500,000 to 1,000,000 words (including technical and
scientific terms). But don’t panic, most English speakers
do very well with a vocabulary of around 20,000 words.
English can be fun too. For instance, the music of such
stars as Elvis Presley, The Beatles,Led Zeppelin,
Michael Jackson and Madonna has encouraged fans
to speak the language of their idols, whilst others have
enrolled in English classes to improve their understanding
of the dialogue in films and TV shows. Or perhaps they
have embraced English to enjoy the writing of
Stephen King, George Orwell or J.K. Rowling.
They may even have
an interest in speaking English just to converse with
travellers from other countries, who communicate by using
the English global interlingua travelling abroad. Finally,
if you are studying English at school, college or
university, remember that getting an ‘A’ grade in
English is almost worthless, in terms of communication,
if you cannot speak the language. Spoken English is used
in the best careers, the best universities, and is increasingly
being used at job interviews.
So like it or not, English is a very important
language to learn how to speak. Being able to read and
write in English is not enough! – Vance Carson, Kajang
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