Modern English As A Global Language Essay Sample

Essay Questions

Although often associated with Romance languages, English is actually a Germanic language, particularly one that was born from the Anglo-Frisian dialects. At its heart, English is the language of invaders; the Germanic peoples who spoke the languages that would become English conquered what is today the United Kingdom, bringing the languages with them when they came (Davidson). These early invaders traveled around much of Europe, colonizing many different places; however, the United Kingdom today is where the early seeds of English first took hold. As time went on, the British people came to power, growing a huge empire; as they spread their empire across the world, they brought with them the language of their country (Davidson).
Perhaps things would have turned out differently for the world if England had not developed the heavy colonizing power that they developed during the years leading up to the Industrial Revolution, but England’s naval capabilities and drive for imperialism led to the formation of a number of British colonies throughout the world (Davidson). Many of these colonies would speak English as a primary governmental and business language in addition to their own native language-- a wonderful example of this is the colony of Hong Kong. To this day, Hong Kong uses both English and Cantonese as governmental and business languages (Davidson). English is not a language that makes a lot of sense as an international business language, but because of the way global events unfolded, it seems to have made itself the default. Because both the United Kingdom and the United States use English as their primary language, it has remained an important language to know in most business contexts--without English, it is almost impossible to break into the global business market or even higher education in many countries (Davidson).

Logos, Pathos, Ethos

Dear Dad,
When you were younger, I know you did not get to do everything you wanted to do, because you and Mom got married very young. I know that sometimes I am confusing for you, because I choose to do things very differently from you, and that some of the choices that I’ve made are not choices that you would have made. However, I think that I am your child, at the end of the day, and I have your same drive and sense of ambition that you do; this shared personality is what gives us such a strong connection.
I have decided that I would like to go to Australia to study English for a year. It is a unique educational opportunity, and one that I know you would have appreciated having during your time in university. You have already given up so much to give me the opportunity to go to university, and I would like to get the most I can out of the experience-- this includes going abroad to study and learn the most that I can. I love to study, and I want to experience what it is like to truly immerse myself in another culture. I’ve chosen Australia because of the wealth of different opportunities that are available for students there, and because I don’t think there is anywhere quite like Australia on the planet. I know that this is something you would have appreciated greatly when you were a student, so I hope you and Mom can put aside your worries about me traveling to another country and help me reach this goal. I believe that it will greatly help my studies and having this opportunity on my resume will open more doors to me in the job market later.

TED Talks: Chris Hadfield

Chris Hadfield, an astronaut who worked on the International Space Station, gave a TED Talk about the time that he went blind in space. He was not merely in space-- he was on his first actual space walk, tethered to the space station, nearly floating free in space (Hadfield). He talks extensively about what it is like to go into space-- the feeling of the space shuttle, the fear that people feel when they are faced with new things-- and then he talked about how to conquer those fears. He stood on stage and asked the audience what the most dangerous thing was that they had done, and then he spoke about the dangers of being an astronaut. As he spoke about these dangers, he began to elucidate the difference between danger and fear, and how doing something that is terrifying over and over can numb one to the fear that they feel, even if there is still danger in it (Hadfield).
When Hadfield went blind in space, he indicated that it was not his first response to panic, and that this was because of all the preparation he did in the years leading up to that moment when he went blind. He knew that there were alternative options to panicking, and that panicking would absolutely never help the situation that he was in (Hadfield). Instead, he relied on his training. The overall message of his speech was not that people should not be afraid; it was that people should confront their fears by preparing for them, so that when they are confronted with the worst possible outcome in any given situation, they can rely on the preparation that they did and enjoy the adventure rather than panicking about the potential danger. The message that danger is real, but fear is not is one of the central themes of the speech, and is an important lesson that many people never learn in life.

What is Research?

Research is a process by which human beings absorb, collate, and analyze knowledge. Although some people may believe research to be only the process of collecting information, in reality, research is much more than this. Research relies on the knowledge that other people have collected, but the researcher must take that information and decide how that information applies to any given question. The first step in the research process is asking a question: for instance, a good research question is “which apple has the best nutritional value?” The researcher must then pose a hypothesis that will serve as their thesis: for instance, they might suggest that red apples are more nutritionally-sound than green.

References

Davidson, Keith. 'The Nature And Significance Of English As A Global Language'. English Today23.01 (2007): 48. Web.
Durham Tech,. 'Ethos, Pathos, And Logos'. N.p., 2015. Web. 3 Jan. 2013.
Gil, Jeffrey. 'A Comparison Of The Global Status Of English And Chinese: Towards A New Global Language?'. English Today 27.01 (2011): 52-59. Web.
Hadfield, Chris. 'What I Learned From Going Blind In Space'. Ted.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 3 Jan. 2015.
Winkler, Elizabeth Grace. 'English As A Global Language (Review)'. Language 81.4 (2005): 1003-1004. Web.