Daily Times

Adopting English as our first language may be a great idea to benefit from the advantages of an international language.

Language is essential to civilisation. There are thousands of languages in the world. Some of these are used more frequently than others.

Language are not superior or inferior to other languages per se. The status they enjoy is linked to the power possessed and exercised by their speakers. Powerful nations get to exploit the resources of weaker nations around them. During the colonial days, the British Empire exploited India’s natural resources. It also benefited from its vast human resources, particularly during the world wars. One of the problems they faced in this enterprise was the language barriers.

To rule the subcontinent effectively, the British taught their subjects English.

Today the colonial rulers are gone. However, their language is still here. This study aims at exploring the perspectives of non-native English speakers. Both qualitative and quantitative measures are used. The data was collected using a descriptive questionnaire. The results showed that English has immense influence in the country and cannot be avoided without serious disadvantage. It is better probably to adopt English as our first language to benefit from the advantages attached to learning it.

Linguistic imperialism

A language is a part of the culture of its primary users. No culture can survive without a language. A language is also representative of a culture. It is through their knowledge of English that most people in the world know about the culture of the United States.

Learning a language is not only about the system of signs and symbols used for communication. It also influences ideologies and values. A problem arises when people learning a foreign language start yielding to a culture associated with it in preference to their native culture.

English is a dominant language in our society. There are many reasons for it besides the colonial history.

Why are people of Pakistan obsessed with English? Why is a foreign language so dominant? Robert Phillipson calls such dominance linguistic imperialism. The process has taken almost two centuries and is continuing. Phillipson defines the term as “transfer of a dominant language to other people.”

Historically dominance has been achieved though military means. In modern times, it is increasingly achieved through economic means.

One of the questions one needs to answer is: Why are some languages used more frequently and others less so. What kind of structures and ideas facilitate such processes?

A social phenomenon

There is denying that languages are dynamic. They evolves with the passage of time. English was once a means of communication with our colonial masters. Later, its function changed and it became the means of trade and business. Simon-Maeda quotes Suresh Canagarajah as saying: “English as a language of secrecy, power, and mystery; a language owned by others, not belonging to me: a language that could put into disadvantage those who aren’t proficient in it.”

A post-colonial writer from Pakistan has similar ideas regarding the English language. He believes that people in Pakistan prefer English language speaking communities. Those who can speak English fluently are considered educated. Those having had a good education in some other field are not so well recognised.

Robert Hauptman cites the example of Ngugiwa Thiongo, who switched from his native language to the language of colonisers because of the limited audience for his language. Given the limited scope of his own language, his novels needed to be translated into world languages such as English and French. Eventually, he opted for English.

To rule the subcontinent effectively, the British taught their subjects English. Today the colonial rulers are gone. However, their language is still here

People having good English skills are preferred in many jobs. This is an indirect message to the native people to learn English.

Phillipson maintains, “Speaking English makes people open to Britain’s cultural achievements, social values and business aims. So there is a kind of “greed” associated with people going for the English language because they want to be successful in their future.

English in education

Hauptman believes that English is the language of the world. It is the language of trade, business, traffic signals, education, and science, so it would be very silly and unproductive to use it for cyberspace.

Muttahir has parallel views about it. He describes the attitudes of Pakistani parents who want their children to speak English fluently irrespective of other knowledge. Parents send children to English-medium schools because they believe that it is only by speaking this language that they would have a prosperous future in Pakistan. I higher education too native speakers of English languages have an advantage.

Tietze and Dick maintain that there is politics in higher education as well. They call it “geopolitics” for publication, which means that international journals with high ratings always prefer native speakers for publication of articles. Non-native speakers (or people living in peripheral locations) face discrimination and have to put more efforts to get their research published. Muttahir maintains that Phillipson believes that organisations like the IMF, the British Council, the USAID and the World Bank misguide people by presenting English speaking people as sophisticated and well educated, making native people feel inferior.

English in Politics

Shahid Siddiqui asserts that politics against indigenous languages started during colonisation when British education policies affected native languages by introducing English as the only language of education.

He mentions Macaulay’s sweeping statement regarding Arabic and Persian literature that “A single shelf of a good European library is worth the whole native literature in India and Arabia.” Robert Phillipson gives a brief political view about some strategies regarding how English people are spreading their culture through their language to keep their dominance of the world. The US is busy spreading English in Nimibia. It has formed a collaboration with TESOL Association for the purpose. The UK government is also taking part in the spread of English in Thailand and Ukraine.

Susanne Tietze and Penny Dick argue that the US is facilitating the English language through its politics to spread throughout the world in the form of trade, business, and technological spheres; giving ground for “English as Lingua Franca.” Phillipson calls spread of the English language a completely political and business interest of the British. He mentions research, which claims that the mother tongue is best for education and English, as an educational language, is inappropriate and does not foster better learning. James Milton maintains that there are abundant signs of showing the involvement of the centre through economic and commercial power.

English is a dominant language. It is used all over the world for access to science, technology, internet, research journals, computers, engineering, education, military and many other fields. It is better to embrace it than to try to escape it.

The writer is an assistant professor at the English Department at Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro