15. International multilingualism. A lingua franca. The role of English on the international scene.

Multilingualism is a very widespread phenomenon. The multilingual situation is the rule rather than exception. The vast majority of the nation-states of the world have more than one language spoken indigenously(местно)within their frontiers.

Multilingual nations exist in all parts of the world. Nearly all European nations are multilingual to a certain extent. Perhaps the most multilingual of all countries in Europe, apart from Russia and Romania. About 85% of the population have romanianas their mother tongue, but at least 14 other languages are spoken natively in the country.

But in spite of existence of so many languages in the world, still people from different countries are able to communicate with each other quite easily as they are also familiar with languages capable of functioning as lingua franca. A lingua franca is which is used as a means of communication among people who have no native language in common. Some of the languages which are used in this way in Africa, like English and French, are not indigenous to the area in question and are often learned through formal education. Many African lingua francas, though, indigenous, and many have come to be used as such because of the political dominance of their native speakers. In west Africa one of the most important lingua francas which is still used for predominantly trading purposes is Kausa. Many languages have spread as lingua franca in the same kind of way, only to contrast again later for reasons of economics and politics. Greek, for instance, became lingua franca in the ancient world as a result of Alexander’s military conquests, and was used widely from Turkey to Portugal. The original lingua franca from which the term is derived was a form of Provencal that was used as a lingua franca by the multilingual crusaders. When governments are presented with the problem, as many “new” nations have been, of selecting a national language or languages, lingua francas are very useful. There are clear advantages to be gained from the selection of a language which many people already understand. In India, Hindi is used as a lingua franca in much of the northern part of the country. Also there is an opinion that artificial languages such as Esperanto should be adopted as a lingua franca. At present it seems unlikely that any nation-state will adopt Esperanto as its official language because of the practical problems involved, and also because, being a neutral language, it is not national in any way. As to Europe, English is considered to be lingua franca. According to the European commission, some 84% of young people in the EC are currently learning English as a second language. It is the world language, the most popular second language in China and Japan and spoken by 760-800 million people around the world. Taking into consideration these facts we can say that this international language cannot accurately be called ‘english’ at all. It ought to be called world English, international English or Anglo-American. The language is not longer the intellectual property of Britain. One of its great advantages as a world language is that there is on academy to decide what is not ‘good english’. English like the Common Law is what it has been – a less formal and a more flexible instrument than either French or German.

European English is spoken from Brussels to Bratislava an as a first or second language by more than half the people of European Community. The EC is debating whether to recognize more l-ges, such as Welsh, Catalan or Frisian. Countries like Britain and France are opposing the idea because they say it will mean more bureaucracy.

L-ge is perhaps the greatest barrier to trade and the Single Market. Promoting English within the EC Lingua programme or perhaps some new EC programme would surely be the cheapest, most sensible way of overcoming it.