Globalization And The English Language

Did you realize that over a billion people in the world now speak English? According to a report titled, "English Next" by language researcher David Graddol, "...two billion people [will] be speaking or learning English within a decade." [1]

English is everywhere. The Economist says, "[English] is the language of globalization-of international business, politics... It is the language of computers and the Internet... it is the dominant international language in communications, science, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy...." [2]

"English... is an important tool for operating on the world stage," says John Whitehead, director of the British Council. The ability to speak and understand English is mandatory in certain fields, professions, and occupations. In fact, English is so widely spoken, it is referred to as, the "lingua franca" [3] of the modern era.

Nonetheless, with the millions of native speakers vying for jobs in the global market, what chance is there for ESL (English as second language) speakers to compete? ESL students take heart. As the Graddol report demonstrates, the global spread of English... will lead to serious economic and political disadvantages in the future.... A future in which monolingual English graduates face bleak economic prospects as qualified multilingual young people prove to have a competitive advantage in global companies and organizations.

Given that English has acquired its world-wide reputation due, in large part, to globalized power relations, those companies and governments employing well-trained non-native speakers for their international business communication needs will obviously see the advantage of hiring non-native speakers of the English language with multilingual talents.

1) David Graddol (1997). The Future of English?. The British Council.

2) The triumph of English. The Economist (20 December 2001.

3) David Graddol (1997). The Future of English?. The British Council.

Steve G. James is a native English speaker living in Tomsk, Russia with over thirty years teaching experience. He is an independent journalist, ESL professor, and authority on teaching international business English. His site, [http://www.esl4ru.com] provides an affordable opportunity for non-native speakers of the English language to learn the international business communication skills necessary to give them a competitive advantage in our globalized world.

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Benefits From Globalization

Facts

The things that come to many minds when globalization is mentioned are loss of United States' jobs, NAFTA, CAFTA, APEC, outsourcing, and low-wages. The perception to most people is that if outsourcing is bad, then globalization must be bad. The fact is that globalization is good for the United States of America and the market economy. It promotes prosperity for participating countries. What needs to be done is to educate people on the diversity and multiculturalism in the work place, and the sensitivity in the culture of the participating countries. Listed below are the benefits of Globalization and international trade:

(1) Opportunity cost

(2) Comparative advantage

(3) Cheaper to buy than to produce

(4) The terms of trade

(5) Balance trade

(6) Changes in production and consumption

Role of Trade

The United States represents a major exporter of raw materials and agricultural products, and imports a large volume of services. Market is efficient when trading is concentrated on specialization. By concentration, cost is minimized, profit is maximized, production is increased, and efficiency is maximized. Specialization is achieved when participating countries shift their scarce resources toward producing goods and services in which they have a comparative advantage over other countries, and in turn, increase the consumption of all goods.

To workers, this may not make sense if they are losing their jobs, but organizations are in business to make money, and they understand what it takes and how long it takes to break-even and to start making profits. Businesses do not intentionally try to hurt workers by laying them off. They rather keep the jobs in the United States, and by keeping it here, they will save themselves the hassle of moving and talking to people with different languages and accents all over the world. But organizations operate their businesses like puzzles, and for each puzzle, it requires a lot of the pieces to be put together in order to complete a puzzle. Going global is what it might take for most organizations to compete in order to control costs and produce at an efficient capacity.

Only winners are created in global trading, because selling a product creates an increase in the demand for that product because net demand by foreigners is added to domestic demand. Therefore, with the increase in demand, the price will rise. On the other hand, buying a product will create an increase in the supply of the product because net foreign supply is added to domestic supply. Hence, with the increase in supply, the price falls. No one loses; it is all a win-win situation for all the participating countries.

Market economy is dynamic due to continuous research and development, and the change in technology, and as such individuals will need to keep up with the movement and change by continuously attend seminars and undergo retraining. The old style of static market is over.
The argument has been made concerning exploitation of the poorer people in the developing countries. It also went further to compare their wages to slave wages. The fact is, whenever the people of these developing countries have opportunity to obtain jobs and earn more than they originally earn, it is improvement. Most parents in these countries are illiterate and do not know the importance of education, and because of that they send their children to work at these production plants. They need to be educated on the importance of education in order to begin sending their children to school rather than to the production plants.

For more information on globalization and international trade email to: consulting@iba-pec.com

Dr. Sidney Okolo is a professor, consultant, strategist, and Africa expert. He is affiliated to several universities, the Managing Director of International Business Associates, a management consulting firm, and also the CEO of Global Education Support, an education assistance program.

Among other things, he engages in all aspects of learning, knowledge, organization and human change. His focus is on leadership, management, entrepreneurship, profit engineering, human potential, excellence, achievement, business strategy, research and development. Product management, change management, conflict management, athlete management, marketing, business development and operations. He works with clients to adapt to change due to change in factors of production, technology, goods and services. He engages clients in training, retraining, development, skills enhancement, association, behavior modification, ways of thinking, and attitude adjustment. In addition to his work in the United States, his focus is also on developing countries in the continent of Africa, their leadership, culture, economic and market structure, community planning and development, and his created four letter word, "PIES", which stands for: poverty, instability, ethnicity, and sectarianism.

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The Positive Effects of Globalization

Globalization has a relatively new idea that the world has been embracing. The positive effects of globalization are numerous and extremely beneficial for everyone in all countries. It has been the most successful prosperity and anti-poverty movement in modern history.

The Advantages Include...

• Forces businesses to compete on a global scale. This allows the market place to really work and gives consumers a better advantage. No long will businesses be able to corner markets because politicians protect them. They'll now to compete with foreign businesses that may or may not be able to do business more efficiently.
• Countries move to market sectors that they are better at. This simply means that the labor in a country is going to do what it's best at. There is no need for Americans to do manufacturing when someone in China can do it better. Our labor is better served doing something beneficial.
• The consumer is the real winner. Despite the desire from some politicians to protect workers, there are far more consumers than there are workers, but no one wants to seem to protect them. Consumers should not be forced to buy over priced goods from American buyers when you can get the same quality for less if it is made in China. Now consumers can get the best products for the best prices.
• Everyone grows more prosperous. Just look at China and India. Before globalization they were very poor countries. The standards of living were extremely bad. Now these people are becoming more prosperous. These countries having mega economic booms. People that could never afford a car are now getting them. Not to mention the fact from the consumers side that are benefiting from saving money which can be used to save or spend on other things.

These are the positive effects of globalization. It is a movement that is pro-free trade, pro-prosperity and anti-poverty. It is helping the developing world raise it's standard of living as well as raising the standard of living in the developed world.

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