English as a global language - Inglês Instrumental - Aula 2

English-speaking world 

Approximately 360–400 million people speak English as their first language. More than half of these (231 million) live in the United States, followed by some 60 million in the United Kingdom, the first place where English was spoken. English is the third largest language by number of native speakers, after Mandarin and Spanish.  Estimates that include second language speakers vary greatly, from 470 million to more than 1 billion. David Crystal calculates that non-native speakers as of 2003 outnumbered native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1. When combining native and non-native speakers, English is the most widely spoken language worldwide.  

Besides the major varieties of English, such as British English, North American English, Australian English and their sub-varieties, countries such as the Philippines, Jamaica and Nigeria also have millions of native speakers of dialect continua ranging from an English-based creoleto a more standard version of English. Majority English-speaking countries. 

There are six countries with a majority of native English speakers are, in descending order, the United States (at least 231 million) the United Kingdom (60 million), Canada (19 million) Australia (at least 17 million), Ireland (4.2 million), and New Zealand (3.7 million).  Besides these, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago have majorities natively speaking an English creole, or a patois in a "post-creole continuum". Other substantial communities of native speakers are found in South Africa (4.8 million), Nigeria (4 million, 5%), and Singapore (1 million, 17%). 

English is also the primary language in the island states and territories of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas,Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Indian Ocean Territory, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, theFalkland Islands, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guam, Guernsey, Guyana, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Montserrat, Nauru, Pitcairn Islands,Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. 

COUNTRIES WHERE ENGLISH IS AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE 

In some countries where English is not the most spoken language, it is an official language; these countries include Botswana, Cameroon, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malta, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines (Philippine English), Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Sudan, South Africa, South Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Also there are countries where in a part of the territory English became a co-official language, e.g. Colombia's San Andrés y Providencia and Nicaragua's Mosquito Coast. This was a result of the influence of British colonization in the area. 

India has the largest number of second-language speakers of English; Crystal (2004) claims that, combining native and non-native speakers, India has more people who speak or understand English than any other country in the world.  

Although the United States federal government has no official languages, English has been given official status by 30 of the 50 state governments. Although falling short of official status, English is also an important language in several former colonies and protectorates of the United Kingdom, such  as Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Cyprus, Malaysia, and the United Arab Emirates. 

ENGLISH AS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE 

Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era, while it is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a foreign language. It is, by international treaty, the official language for aeronautical and maritime communications. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations and many other international organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. 

English is studied most often in the European Union, and the perception of the usefulness of foreign languages among Europeans is 67 percent in favor of English ahead of 17 percent for German and 16 percent for French (as of 2012). Among some of the non-English-speaking EU countries, the following percentages of the adult population claimed to be able to converse in English in 2012: 90 percent in the Netherlands, 89 percent in Malta, 86 percent in Sweden and Denmark, 73 percent in Cyprus and Austria, 70 percent in Finland, and over 50 percent in Greece, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Germany. In 2012, excluding native speakers, 38 percent of Europeans consider that they can speak English.  

Books, magazines, and newspapers written in English are available in many countries around the world, and English is the most commonly used language in the sciences with Science Citation Index reporting as early as 1997 that 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries. 

In publishing, English literature predominates considerably with 28 percent of all books published in the world  and 30 percent of web content in 2011 (from 50 percent in 2000).  

This increasing use of the English language globally has had a large impact on many other languages, leading to language shift and even language death, and to claims of linguistic imperialism. English itself has become more open to language shift as multiple regional varieties feed back into the language as a whole.  

WHY IS ENGLISH A GLOBAL LANGUAGE NOWADAYS?

A language is not considered international just because a great number of people speak it. An enormous number of people speak Chinese, but Chinese is not the most important language in the world. The main reason for a language to become international is power – the political and economic power of the people who speak it.

Britain was the world’s leading industrial and trading country in the 19th century. It colonized many other countries where English is now spoken. The North America economy is growing fast, making the USA one of the most important and powerful countries in the world. These are the reasons why English is a global language.

Like anybody else, you need a global language for communication, not only today, but for your future as well. So, let’s learn English. 

READING AND COMPREHENSION  

1. Olhando o título do texto, imagens e gráficos tente prever sobre o que ele irá falar.

Resposta pessoal.

2. Em linhas gerais do que se trata o texto?

O texto fala sobre o inglês como língua global, os países que tem a língua como língua mãe ou segunda língua e ainda explica a razão do inglês ser uma língua global.

3. Qual a razão para uma língua se tornar global, uma língua franca? 

O poder político e econômico do país que fala essa língua.

4. Quantas pessoas no mundo tem o inglês como sua língua mãe? 

De 360 a 400 milhões.

5. Como é distribuída essa quantidade de falantes nativos? 

United States (at least 231 million) the United Kingdom (60 million), Canada (19 million) Australia (at least 17 million), Ireland (4.2 million), and New Zealand (3.7 million). 

6. Quais outras línguas que tem a maior quantidade de falantes nativos?  Mandarim e chinês 

7. O que o texto fala sobre a proporção de falantes nativos e não nativos de língua inglesa? 

Para cada falante nativo temos 3 não nativos.

8. Quais são as variedades de inglês citadas no texto? 

British English, North American English, Australian English and their sub-varieties.

9. Qual a língua oficial dos Estados Unidos? 

Apenas 30 dos 50 estados americanos tem o inglês como língua oficial.

10. Cite alguns países que tem o Inglês como língua oficial. 

EUA, Reino Unido, Australia, Canadá etc

11. O que o texto fala sobre a India e sua relação com o inglês? 

A India é o país com a maior quantidade de pessoas que falam inglês sem serem nativos.

12. Cite algumas razões que fazem do inglês uma língua franca. 

13. Qual o impacto do grande uso do inglês em outras línguas? 

1. A que se referem os números abaixo: 

17% -________________________________________________________________________________ 

19 million - ___________________________________________________________________________ 

231 million - __________________________________________________________________________ 

3 to 1 - ______________________________________________________________________________ 

19th  ________________________________________________________________________________ 

70 - _________________________________________________________________________________ 

30 of the 50 - _________________________________________________________________________