【MODULE 4】Which English?
【READING AND VOCABULAYR】
Which English?
When you receive a phone call from a friend, how long does it take you to know who it is? A few seconds, perhaps.The quality of someone`s voice and their choice of words make a person instantly recognizable, even though you can`t see him or her.In this sense everybody`s use of language——whether English, Chinese, or any other——is different.You could say that there are as many varieties of English, or any other language for that matter, as there are speakers of it.
English is spoken as an official language in more than 60 countries acro the world and it can sound very different from place to place.Pronunciation, as well as grammar and vocabulary, can change very quickly from one area to another.For example, within London the most famous dialect is cockney.It is only usually spoken by people from the east of that city so it is not the only form of English you will hear.You can usually tell which part of the English-speaking world someone comes from by their accent, and there are some very recognisable accents all over Britain.It is also quite easy to tell British and American English apart.
Although most people believe there is a right and a wrong way to speak English, there is not really a standard form that everyone can agree on.English spread acro the world over hundreds of years because of trade, exploration and busine, and this proce produced many different Englishes.Profeors of linguistics, writers and teachers all worry about providing a perfect model to follow but as it is so widely spoken, it has become impoible to say which English is “correct” and which is
“incorrect”.Perhaps correctne doesn`t matter——as long as speakers can understand each other——it`s communication that counts.
[Australia]
G`day! D`ya speak Strine? Or rather, Hello! Do you speak Australian? Australia is one of the youngest nations in the world.The first English speakers arrived little more than 200years ago——and they didn`t want to.Most of them were prisoners sent there to work.They came from all over Britain, but especially from Northern Ireland and the London area, which is why the Australian accent today has traces of both Irish and cockney speech patterns.The English speakers found a people who had been living in Australia for more than 50,000 years——the Aborigines, and an
extraordinary variety of wildlife, unique to the continent.Many of the
Aboriginal words for these animals, such as kangaroo, koala and kookaburra soon paed into the language.
But the main differences between Australian English and other intonation patterns.Sometimes it is difficult for British and American people to understand the Australian accent, and mistakes are common.A few years ago a well-known English author was signing copies of his books in a
Sydney bookshop.A customer came up to the author holding a copy of the book and said Emma Chiit.The author thought that Emma Chiit was the woman`s name.But when he asked how to spell the name, in case the
customer wanted him to write her name in the book (To Emma Chiit ,with best wishes), he realized that the customer had been asking the question: How much is it?
[Jamaica and Singapore]
Australian English comes directly from English spoken in Britain.But in other countries where English is spoken as a first language this is not the case.The variety of English spoken in Jamaica, and other Caribbean countries, has some of the grammatical features of the African languages spoken by the ancestors of the Jamaican people, so that there is often no apostrophes(`s) (that woman house, instead of that woman`s house) or no link verb or article(He good man, instead of He`s a good man).Another feature is the rhythm.It is the rhythm of rap music, which became popular in the US in the 1980s.
On the other side of the world, in Singapore, English is a second language, spoken by about half the population.Other languages include Malay and Chinese.Almost everyone in Singapore is bilingual, while some people speak three or four languages.The most common variety of English spoken is known as Singlish.Sentences in Singlish often end with the world lah.
The variety has been influenced in particular by Malay and the Chinese dialect Hokkien (language spoken in Minnan), both in grammatical features and vocabulary.Today there is a debate in Singapore about which variety of English is the best: Singlish, or a variety closer to British English, which is the aim of the Speak Good English Movement created in 1999.
【READING AND VOCABULARY】
The Future of English
Ever since the invention of the first telegraph at the end of the 19th century, English has been spreading around the world.It has a power influence in the media, on the Internet and in pop music that is not going to go away.This communication revolution has turner the world into a “global village” in which everyone needs to talk to each other—and so often nowadays that means in English.
More people now speak English as a second language acro the world than as a native language.It is estimated that 1.3 billion people will use English as either a first or a second language by 2050.But what will that form of English be like? Traditionally, British English has been taught acro the world, but it is only one variety.Experts believe that the future shape and grammar of English, especially in its spoken form, will no longer be determined in the traditional English-speaking countries like Britain and America but in the rest of Europe, Asia and Africa.
International organizations and businees communicate with each other in English.But a new pattern of using English is developing that does not look the same to native speakers as “traditional” English.Researchers are now investigating “non-native” English which is a new form of the language with changes in grammar, pronunciation and meaning.Often meanings and words from other languages find their way into English to produce a new dialect such as “Franglais” which combines aspects of French and English.You could say this gives English a French flavour.All of those procees are a form of natural evolution.New dialects acquire their own complex features until they become real languages in their own right.Experts are convinced that this will happen in the future as more and more people learn English and call it their own.
【READING PRACTICE】
Colourful English
English has a huge number of colourful and splendid expreions which may be difficult to understand.Even if the meaning of the words is
straightforward, the cultural aociations of the phrase may be ambiguous.The dilemma is to know which are explicit, which are figurative, and why they are relevant to an everyday situation.
Idioms are picturesque or absurd expreions conveying a concept which is different from the literal meaning and have been common in English for many years.The Pilgrim Fathers in America always asked for turkeys when they traded with Native Americans.Thus, to talk turkey means to get down to busine.But some idioms are very new and you`ll need to clarify what they mean.For example, man as a box of frogs is a recent way of describing someone who has a tendency to be rather disorganized or vague.A bad hair day is one when you fell clumsy or depreed, poibly because your hair doesn`t look good.
Many expreions are advertising slogans.That`ll do nicely, sir! comes from an old TV ad for American Expre.It`s the shop aistant`s reply to a customer who selects a credit card from his wallet and asks if the shop accepts American Expre.
Other common expreions have metaphorical significance.Get your tanks off lawn! means Back off! Withdraw your threats! and was first said by a British prime minister, rejecting the threat of a potential strike by a trade union leader.Age before beauty is used when inviting another person to go through a door before you.It`s not meant to abuse the other person, but it may sometimes cause offence.The Iron Curtain was the statesman Winston Churchill`s term for the diving line between eastern and western Europe.With friends like these, who needs enemies? means a friend has betrayed your trust or let you down.We shall overcome dates from the American Civil Rights movement in the USA, meaning we will oppose prejudice against black people and resist conflict between Americans.
Finally, there are traditional proverbs which expre a moral or piece of advice.For example, when in Rome, do as the Romans do suggests you should adapt to local conditions.Some sayings have achieved the superior status of a proverb such as Money makes the world go around from the
musical Cabaret(1996).This comes from the older proverb Love makes the world go round.
【CULTURAL CORNER】
Chinese as a Foreign Language
Who wants to learn Chinese? Just about everybody in the world, it seems.The demand for Chinese as a foreign language is growing fast, both in English-speaking countries like France, where the number of students studying Chinese has increased by 15% each year in recent years.
There are a number of reasons for the interest.As China develops
economically, opportunities for doing busine increase dramatically——and if you know your partner`s language, your chances of succe increase.But there is also a renewed interest in the culture and traditions of China; the fact that Chinese culture has continued uninterrupted for more than 5,000 years is a source of curiosity and fascination for people in other parts of the world.
A third reason is that learning Chinese is, simply, a challenge.With its characters and complicated tone system, most speakers of other languages think Chinese must be the incredibly difficult.But is it really so? As one American students says, “The biggest problem about learning Chinese is often fear——sometimes caused by the teachers.I`ve studied quite a few languages, and none of them are as easy for me as Chinese.The grammar is easy, since sentence order is similar to English——but simper.The only difficult part of spoken Chinese is the tone system.Even that isn`t a big problem.I remember the first time I heard a native of Beijing speaking, it was so clear!”
With so much interest in the language ,the Chinese government introduced an international exam system.
Established in 1990,the HSK test was initially meant for those learners who regard Chinese as a second or foreign language.Later, it was introduced abroad.At the moment, there are more than 100 exam centres in 27
countries around the world, with nearly 15,000 candidates taking the exam every year.And a spin-off of this is that teaching Chinese as a foreign language offers young Chinese language graduates interesting profeional opportunities——and a chance to travel acro the world.
