ANTICIPATING ENGLISH
AS THE INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE
English has become an international language with global significance. For some an international language has the meaning of a language that has a large number of native speakers. In this sense, English, Spanish, Hindi and Arabic, the most widely spoken mother tongues in the world nowadays, might be considered as international languages. However, although these languages are spoken by a large number of native speakers of other civilizations, they cannot serve as a language of wider communication. It is in this sense that English is the international language. In many instances it is the language of wider communication both among individuals from different countries and between individuals from one country. In this way, English is an international language in both a global and a local sense. For these who want to know the main reasons for the spread of English, they will be stated below.
Several geographical and historical factors, led to the initial spread of English. During nineteenth and twentieth century both British and American colonialism and the migration of English-speaking individuals to other areas were of central importance. In the beginning of the nineteenth century Britain had become the world’s leading industrial and trading nation. Most of the innovations of the industrial revolution were of British origin, resulting in new terminology for technological and scientific advantages. As a result, these who wanted to learn more about these innovations needed English both to understand the new terminology and talk to English-speaking inventors and manufacturers. In tandem, similar developments were taking place in the USA and by the end of the nineteenth century the USA had overtaken Britain as the fastest growing economy, producing many new inventions.
