The costs and benefits of English as a lingua franca
It was refreshing to see the Guardian publishing an article claiming what those of us working in the field of English as a lingua franca have argued for over 20 years – that its global dominance is a cause for concern (English still rules the world, but that’s not necessarily OK. Is it time to curb its power?, 27 December).
My own research published in 2013 found similar injustices to those reported in your piece. To give one example, non-native English university students in the UK said that it took them four times longer than their native English peers to complete an assignment. But rather than taxing native English countries or compensating the others, as per the proposals mentioned by Michele Gazzola, scholars of English as a lingua franca propose that multilingualism (including English) should be made the new normal. And to add a bit of Christmas cheer, the acronym for the field is Elf .Jennifer Jenkins Emeritus professor, University of Southampton
• Michele Gazzola says speaking English comes at a cost, but he overlooks one of the main benefits: English is a very easy language to speak badly. English is spoken around the world with a tolerance of bad grammar and pronunciation which is exceptional. It blends easily into other languages, pidgins and creoles. There are linguistic reasons to suspect that English was itself originally a simplified trading pidgin, evolving from the collision between two other languages. It has emerged with declensions, genders and cases largely abandoned, and tenses simplified.
Second-language English speakers preserve the can-do pidgin attitude: if you can blurt out one verb between two nouns, you are on your way. The language comes with tolerance built in. The result is that many vernacular users feel they own it, despite
the historical name. Quentin ShawCruckton, Shropshire
• Michele Gazzola omits an important factor. My experience of encounters in Europe, both from work and travel, is that many people using English as a second language speak a simplified and scaled-down version. I have learned to try to speak the same scaled-down version, as often more complex use of English isn’t understood. It’s my responsibility to adapt to others who have the courtesy to use English. In the early days of Britain’s EU membership, our Foreign Office minders were careful to give us this advice, as well as urging us not to tell jokes or use idiomatic English.John LambertCalver, Derbyshire
• Michele Gazzola will struggle to dislodge English as the world’s lingua franca. I spent a year in West Germany in 1973-74 during a 34-year career teaching German, French and English as a foreign language, and it was clear which language my students wanted to learn. Many knew the latest English/ American hits by heart and many realised how much a knowledge of English would help their future careers.
French used to be the international language of diplomacy until English took over. Despite the collapse of the British empire, its linguistic legacy remains and is unlikely to change in the near future. Perhaps the words of advice purported to have come from a former German ambassador to London are relevant: “If you want to buy our goods, you can speak to us in English. If you want to sell us your goods, you should speak to us in German.”John MarriottNorth Hykeham, Lincolnshire
• As a teacher in an all-age international school, where English is the language of instruction and the students multilingual, I found it embarrassing to be a monolinguist. I felt much better about this when a 10year-old student, with English as her third language, said it wasn’t necessary for me to learn another language, as she always got by with English when she travelled with her parents. Jennifer HenleyLondon
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