English Languages

I feel that it was an eye-opening week in CCC. I really enjoyed your comments and feedback in class. You are engaging and thought-provoking, and it has been a pleasure to discuss these international issues that complicate communication.

For example, in Thoughts and Reflections, one student wrote:

"English is known as an international language. However, I think English is just English, and I feel that the owner is the Native English speaker. I study English because I want to be able to communicate with natvie English speakers for many reasons. If every county has their mixed English such as Tinglish, Chinglish, Spanglish, etc., it will be very chaotic because if we want to use English with Chinese people, we have to learn Chinglish, not English."

This comment is very insightful and important. This comment goes to the heart of the debate of English as an International Language (EIL). Is there a universal standard? Are native speakers the authority? If every culture develops their own form of English, then what is the point of having an International Language?

Question: How can we balance this issue? How do we meet the needs for international people to communicate clearly with language, and meanwhile meet the needs for people to express their own cultural identity?

I hope this student's comments will inspire some ideas and new comments and questions to think about. Aj. M

2009

Welcome back from your break. It is hard to start again, but you have done well. Thank you for your excellent work in class on a very heavy reading week.

This week and next week, we are exploring the idea of internationalization and what that means for cross cultural communication in a post-colonial and globalized world. We are connected internationally everywhere we go and with everything we do. Every time we use our mobile phones, turn on the TV, surf the internet, and check our e-mail, we are participating in globalization. Our interconnectivity has brought many new things into our lives, and in fact made us dependent on each other more than ever in history... but what is the effect to culture?

I'm sure our world today is more and more unrecognizable to our grandparents and certainly the generation before them. Culture is accelerating. Culture is changing. Culture is internationalizing.

So, what does that mean? I would like to know your thoughts and ideas about what it means to be internationalized. What are the qualities and characteristics of an international person, or more popularly: a world citizen?

I don't know. Aj. M

"I do think this next century, hopefully, will be about a more global view. Where you don't just think, yes my country is doing well, but you think about the world at large." Bill Gates