WHY ENGLISH MATTERS
By​
​
Margo, Grade 12
I’m proud to admit that I am bilingual. As a half­German/half­American, I had the pleasure of growing up with two dominant and fascinating, though at times strenuous, languages. Yet if I were to ask my younger self, maybe twelve years ago, which language I preferred, I would say German. At that age, I was a bit prejudiced towards English; I refused to speak it, and only spoke and responded in German, though I fully understood what was said to me in English. This rejection towards English can either be traced back to my laziness of not wanting to switch between the two languages, or due to the fact that I had no affiliation towards English whatsoever. Though a bit late, I started to speak at the age of two or three. In order to appease my dad, my mom would practice basic English speaking skills with me on our way back home from German kindergarten. These conversations ranged from “what’s your name?” to “what did you do in kindergarten today?”. I was a little recalcitrant, because she, my German mother, once admonished me for refusing to speak English, and had convinced me that I would not make any friends at my new school, an international one, that I would be attending. In hindsight, I’m quite surprised that my own German mother forced me to speak English. I think she wanted me to experience both sides of the culture and the language, even though to this day I feel neither affiliated to one side over the other. I will freely admit that I don’t necessarily have any strong association towards the United States, having been born and raised here in Germany. Yet I feel that, since I don’t have any, my longing for English has deepened. Therefore, I prefer speaking English. Nevertheless, my parents raised me bilingual, believing that speaking both languages will enable me greater and further access to the world that we live in today. As English is subjective, rather than only giving examples of how and, most importantly, why English matters in terms of globalization of people, ideas, and goods, I will also be focusing directly on why English matters specifically to me. 1 First of all, English matters because it has become an international language for communication. The role that English has played in my life has completely shifted from my three­year­old point of view to my eighteen­year­old point of view. At first, English was something that I was forced to speak. Now, English has allowed me broaden my knowledge of the world, to appreciate English literature, and to acquire international friends through speaking an international language. As my appreciation and knowledge of English has furthered throughout the years, English has hot­wired my brain to think and respond instinctively, a technique that German doesn’t have. As I feel more comfortable with English, I speak more freely about subjects I am passion about: It gives me the ability to feel powerful. Even though German is a dominant language, speaking English in a business allows one to metaphorically climb the “ladders of success.” In less than 400 years English has become a world language. It is taught and studied as the language of instruction in many schools outside America and Britain, and particularly at mine. This has enabled me to interact and work with people, as well as appreciate what they are saying. In the land of business and the pursuit for economic prosperity, English has become a language that is required in order to receive the best opportunities in life, career wise. Whenever I ask my German friends why they have come to F.I.S., they say it is because they want to improve their English. Naturally, this makes sense. It gives them the opportunity to advance on in the ultimate hierarchy of the society we live in today. This shows me that while English is a language of almost unlimited vocabulary, thanks to Shakespeare and Chaucer, it is also a language of opportunity and hope. Secondly, nowadays being able to speak English also carries more prestige. I had discovered this a long time ago when I noticed that speaking English in public is the easiest way to gain respect in Germany. For example, when I was in seventh grade I was out shopping with my dad and I was wearing this atrocious I LOVE JUSTIN BIEBER sweater. My dad and I sat down in front of a fast food restaurant and I looked over to a couple of girls snickering at me for my choice of sweater. My dad defended me by speaking to them in English, something that completely threw them off the 2 warpath they were on. One girl, however, argued back by saying my sweater was stupid and that he (Bieber) is a bad influence, etc. In hindsight, I wasn’t surprised that this girl had been talking badly about something, or someone I liked; I was actually surprised that Germans now had the opportunity to argue back, whereas beforehand they only knew basic communication skills. The majority of Germans have noticed how important speaking another language like English can be for your future. Therefore, being able to speak English metaphorically raises you above the crowd. Thirdly, English matters because it is a tool in which we can raise awareness and spread information. In terms of the arts, this is very applicable. For example, the English book market is bigger and far more diverse than any other book market. This is especially important to me because I consider myself a bookworm. Since the book market is larger in English, I have the possibility of reading more than a non­English speaker. This can also be seen in Hollywood movies. While the language that is spoken is in English, people who do not speak English have to wait for the dubbed version of it. This means that their anticipation has to be prolonged for several months until the dubbed version comes out. This shows how universal this language is. Shifting from pop culture, English opens up opens up doors to historical knowledge, as well as present and future knowledge. Important news channels, such as ​
CNN​
, ​
CBSN​
, ​
BBC​
and others, as well as eminent newspapers like ​
The New York Times​
, ​
US Today ​
and​
The Washington Post​
all report breaking news and other stories in English. ​
CNN​
was the first cable news channel to break the news of the September 11 attacks. English helps spread breaking news quite fast, as almost three­quarters (71%) of Americans watch local TV news, almost two­third (65%) watch network news over the course of a month, and one­third (38%) of Americans watch news on cable television. A lot of news channels, as well as newspapers, have converted to writing their reports on the Internet, because more than 3 billion have Internet connection. As we are in the Information Age, the use of social media exhibits how much of the English language we use. I have noticed that my French cousins on Facebook, though they are immensely better in French than English, use 3 Internet linguistics like ​
SWAG, YOLO, LOL, ROFL, LMAO​
while communicating with one another. This allows them to​
​
spiritually connect with one another, and to divulge new aspects of the English­speaking culture. Fourthly, English matters because it has enabled other languages to grow and develop. Several languages have borrowed from English in order to develop their own. This can be seen in languages such as French, and German. The French, in fact, have even put up a barrier to stop French mixing with English. A 1994 law that sought to defend the French language from foreign invaders has become indefinitely harder to control. Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin claims that certain languages, like English have shown themselves generous in offering French hundreds of new words. For German, this is also applicable. There are many words that have been imported from the English language. So much, in fact, that it has been called a new language: Denglisch. Denglisch is the excessive use of English vocabulary in the German language, used in colloquial situations. This highlights the impact the English language has on changing the language of another. To conclude, I started writing this essay in the pursuit of explaining why English matters. As stated before, English has always been, and will also be subjective, so whatever I write might not always be agreed with. However, it is false to argue that English does not matter; in fact, it does quite extensively. Without English, we would not be able to communicate so swiftly in order to raise awareness, enjoy a passion, care about our future, and communicate with one another. English matters because it would be too tempting to not want to be engulfed in such a serendipitous language. Word Count: 1,460 4