Language

What’s the best language for intercultural communication?

It depends

Maybe language isn’t important

• Cross-cultural competence• Knowledge about other cultures• Understanding other people’s feelings• Confidence in your own knowledge and self• Cultural identity (knowledge of your own

culture)

• Language ability?!

Language isn’t important?

Adaptability

Even if you are great at languages …

… you might NOT be a great communicator

… you might not be aware of others.

You might have the wrong kind of understanding

But language IS important

English IS important

The MOST important?

It depends on you

But it’s not a BAD idea

It’s not BAD to study English HARD

It won’t do any HARM

So study hard anyway

Maybe in 10 years, you’ll be living in Russia

Maybe you should be studying Russian?

Who knows?

But studying ENGLISH hard …

… is good preparation anyway

OK, but how about China?

ONLY 144 million speakers of Russian in the world!

But Chinese is different

Mandarin Chinese

How many native speakers of English?

Less than 400 million!

That’s almost no one!!

How about Mandarin Chinese?

One billion people!

Almost 15% of the world’s population!

English native speakers – less than 6%

That’s almost no one!!

Less than Spanish!!

More native speakers of Spanish!

… than English!!?

Forget about English!

English is rubbish!

Why does anyone care about English?

Are English native speakers BETTER than others?

Better than English native speakers?

Yes

Yes

English-speaking dogs are better, too!

OK, that’s not true

But why, oh why, oh why …?

… is English SO important?

Simple answer:

• It’s not native speakers• It’s NOT me• It’s YOU• NON-native speakers are the reason

How many non-native speakers?

• For every 1 native speaker of English …• … there are about 3 non-native speakers of

English• So YOU have the power• Work like crazy to GET English• And make the power work for YOU• That’s my advice

• If you are an English major …• … and you’re not studying like crazy …• … then you ARE crazy!!

The people here

And here

And here …

Are ALL learning English

That’s why English IS important

Don’t blame me

It’s you

But it’s not JUST language

Understanding people’s attitudes is important

English is complicated

English spread because of Empire

People like him

Captain Henry Morgan

17th century pirate

In the Caribbean

Pirates of the Caribbean

Britain had lots of coal

The conditions were just right

To take advantage of industrial advances

Economic opportunities

And the Empire spread

The English-speaking world had power

Maybe it still does

About 27% of internet USERS are English speakers

About 55% of CONTENT is in English

That’s not fair

• About 25% of internet USERS are Chinese speakers

• Only about 4% of internet CONTENT is in Chinese

• So maybe English is TOO powerful• OK, so study like crazy to get power for

YOURSELF!

But the spread of English is a REALITY

People from the Caribbean are native speakers of English

• About 100% of Jamaicans are English speakers• Only about 85% of Canadians (French is also

spoken)• 90% of people from the Netherlands• 85% of Swedish people• 80% of Singaporeans• 65% of Germans• 55% of people from the Philippines

How about Japan?

Who cares?

• Just study like crazy• Get all the power you can get• Speak for your country• Be a hero

But try to understand how people feel

Everyone has a complicated relationship to English

Except for ENGLISH people

Here’s England

England

Here’s where I’m from -- Wales

Wales is an ancient culture

The culture of Wales 2,000 years ago

The culture of Wales today

• Everyone speaks English• But some people speak Welsh nearly all the

time• And many people don’t really like speaking

English• They don’t want to speak English to English

people

Similar situation in Ireland

People are happy to speak English

But they were treated very badly by the English

They used the English language to fight for independence

Independence from England

Similar to Ireland

High standards of English

They used English to fight for independence

So understanding culture …

… isn’t ALL about English …

… but you can use the language…

… to get the power YOU NEED

So study like crazy