English as Lingua Franca

As we all know, English is a language that has become almost universal and today it receives the name of English as Lingua Franca (ELF). When we say ELF we are talking about people who speak English as a way to understand each other but with different mother tongues and of course different cultural backgrounds. This tendency has become more and more common to communicate in businesses, international trade, technology and science. Nowadays, according to some statistics, non-native English speakers might outnumber native English-speakers. However, is this positive or negative?

This tendency has found several supporters. They affirm English accomplishes its function as a global language because it allows the communication in specific situations, such as business and international meetings with people that do not share the same language but are able to understand English.  This has been efficient so far, that is why there are some universities in different countries that are giving the lessons in English, so that students can get used to it. They also state that this has nothing to do with cultural background; they only use English to communicate and they do not adopt the culture that this language owns.

Nevertheless, while this tendency is welcomed by some people, it is also rejected by others. The ones that are against it claim that it represents a threat to the rest of the languages and cultures because it could eventually replace them. This is even a threat to Standard English because non-native speakers are the majority, which is why most of verbal exchanges are between non-native speakers. Apart from being a threat, they affirm that the culture that one language possesses cannot be left behind, which could lead to misunderstanding among the speakers because they do not know the language enough, so they would not understand it completely.

To sum up, we could say that English as lingua franca is useful and positive. It can help people with different mother tongues to communicate among each other, but also it involves some problems because people who speak the language do not have full awareness neither of it or its culture, which can lead to problems and confusions. However, one thing is true: English is the business language and if you want to take part in that world you should definitely speak English or hire an interpreter.

By Vanessa Urra