1. Easy to learn
The simplicity of English is beyond doubt. Friends who have never studied other languages or are not good at English may hate me for saying this, but in fact, as long as friends who have studied foreign languages will find that English is the simplest of many languages, and the most difficult one should be Chinese. We are lucky to live in this Chinese-speaking country!
English has 26 English letters, which are arranged and combined in different ways to form words. Of course, this understanding is a bit far-fetched, but at the same time, compared with Chinese, it is simply weak.
2. High utilization rate
At present, among the top ten languages in the world (20 15 data), Chinese ranks first with about 1500 million, Indian ranks second with about 360 million, and English ranks third with about 340 million. There is not much difference between the third place and the second place. Comparatively speaking, the first two are "disadvantaged" in English because of demographic factors. The data shows that there are about 300 million websites with English as the main communication language in the world, which is far behind Chinese websites. According to the calculation of China Academy of Social Sciences 20 1 1, is it rare that the global share of China websites does not exceed 0.5%?
3. International use
It is an indisputable fact that English is the international language. Through the popularity of English training institutions in China, we can see that English training institutions are still in a growing trend for so many years. Although it is not as fast as before, it is only spreading in a different form, such as online classroom and online education. Language plays a major role in the official language of the United Nations, not because Chinese is difficult, but because English is universal.
4. Historical reasons
From a historical point of view, the spread of English is due to the fact that Britain and the United States can hardly be replaced by other countries in history, and China still has a long way to go in its modernization, but fortunately, we are already on the road of rising. The international "Chinese fever" is already on the way, but the spread of Chinese is not very strong. After all, for most people, it is still difficult to master. There are many jokes on the Internet that let foreigners take CET-4 and CET-6:
Leader: "What do you mean?" Xiao Ming: "Nothing interesting, just a little interesting." Leader: "You are not interesting enough." Xiao Ming: "Nothing, nothing." Leader: "You are really interesting." Xiao Ming: "Actually, it doesn't mean anything else." Leader: "Then I am embarrassed." Xiao Ming: "I'm sorry."
It shows that Chinese is not so simple to master.
5. Wide audience
According to Wikipedia's statistics on books published around the world, it can be seen that the most published English books in the world are not only Britain and the United States, but also India and other third world countries. Of course, there are books in China, but most of them are printed and published in Chinese, with a wider readership.
Be in a strong position
After World War II, the rise of Britain and the United States plundered a lot of resources on a global scale and lowered the status of many countries. This is irreplaceable and urgent in a short time. The emergence of English is due to the toughness of the United States, and it is also one of the main reasons why American English replaces British English. At present, the development of Britain is in a relatively weak position.
7. International communication
The rapid development of English is closely related to history. 1, 300 years ago, English was only a few languages, but by 1, 500 years ago, the development trend of modern English basically took shape. No matter the number of words or the pronunciation of words, a basic system has been formed. By the time of 1.9 century, this language has gained a certain position advantage. The basic situation now is that the United States has gradually replaced Britain's hegemonic position because of its victory after World War II. There are differences between American English and British English in carriers. The former relies on media propaganda rather than political guidance, so American English can replace the development of British English in a short time. Until today, it is still the case! This feature can be seen from the selection of American presidents. What a grand media promotion. Almost 80% of the media in the world will pay attention to the US presidential election. That's why.
8. Trade advantages
For a long time, British and American trade products have been widely circulated in the world. The strong trade position of the US dollar has forced businessmen all over the world to communicate and exchange in this way. Just as the popularity of Esperanto is due to the easier communication between some European manufacturers, the formation of any language has its historical basis, and the popularity of English is not excluded.
9. Economic status
For a long time, the leading position of British and American countries has been accompanied by the spread of their cultures around the world. From Coca-Cola to KFC, from McDonald's to Christmas, they are all influenced by the American economy and have been "flowing" into all parts of the world in the form of "strong existence". The deep-seated reason behind this is that their economic status is irreplaceable. I'm afraid that's what the so-called "economic base determines the superstructure" means.
Global Village and Globalization
Global village translation: Global Villige (first put forward by Canadian communication scientist M. McLuhan in his book Understanding Media: Extension of Man 1967) and global translation: globalization (1985, put forward by American scholar Theodre Levitt in his article entitled Globalization of Market) originated from western culture, with good intentions. Just as Apple's popularity is formed by its "brand rendering", America's conceptual leadership is smart, which we need to learn. Conceptual lead is typical and irreplaceable, and we can only "follow the footsteps" before we get the real rising position.
In a word, English as a global language has its reasons.