English as an International Language

ENGLISH AS INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE

Everyone in the world keeps wondering about the issue of language. It seems to never reach a full stop about this big issue. People are always debating over the status of English language which now becomes the main language in the world. With every research that has been done, English is becoming a necessity if a country wants to ride the wave of globalisation. In Malaysia, we as a citizen must admit that English language was one of the key tools to our Independence and our development right till today. To neglect the English language will only push us backward. For example, Tunku Abdul Rahman, in his fight for Independence would not have made it had he not mastered the English language. Furthermore, ambassadors and diplomats to foreign countries have to be able to speak English in order to communicate with people from other nations. If we realise that Malaysia is a multi-cultural country with than over a hundred ethnicities and is therefore a multi- lingual country. “Trying to unite races with one language alone is like trying to fit a round peg into square hole. It will never work.” Hence, we can prove that the multi- functioned English language as an international language to unite people all over the world.

First and foremost, the best answer for the importance of English is it is an international language in education. Fast forward to 2012 and the Malaysian government is trying in earnest to arrest this ever declining standard of English with good reason. We have come full circle to acknowledge that we have to do so for purely education reasons, the very same reasons that the Razak report gave to maintain English as a second language then. Even though Mandarin is used by the largest number of people in the world, but English is the most widely used language in the world. The evidences are, about 380 million people are speaking in English as a second language and one billion people are used English as a foreign language....