Question

English language competence is a significant aspect of an engineering student’s academic life and prospective career. It is because the main mode of communication used and most of the teaching contents and the sources for information are in English. After graduation too, English takes its predominance because it is the official language used in workplaces globally. The criteria to be a successful engineer depends not only on the ability to perform calculations and experiments, as in most other jobs, but mainly based on the ability to present his innovative, creative ideas convincingly. Hence proficiency in communicative English is very essential for an efficient engineer who has a sound technical background to interpret the technical facts in the universal language which everyone in any corner of the world can understand.

Today we see an increasing number of ‘non-native’ English speakers throughout the globe. Increasingly multilingual schools and cities are in many ways analogous to the Indian marketplaces that are being dominated by MNCs. The recognition that a community may contain a huge diversity of functionally relevant linguistic resources illuminates the complex communicative needs in today’s society--not simply a unique characteristic of multilingual India. Most urban high schools in The U.S. or the U.K. feature dozens of home languages--and students increasingly use them with each other. Additionally, the late-modern massive “breakdown of constraints on communication” --through transnational movement and the internet--and the participatory culture it fosters (Jenkins, 2004) has led to a proliferation of multilingualism, even in monolingual strongholds like the United States. Internet communication and increased transnational movement has also meant that people moving across language boundaries are motivated to maintain languages of multiple countries--as they may be speaking with a teacher in English at one moment and Skyping with their Moroccan mother in French and Arabic the next.

So, communication today is increasingly multilingual, and like Indian English Speakers and Native Londoners, even those speaking the “same language” do so in widely varying ways. And, understanding communication these days goes beyond simply describing languages people are using. Varied expectations for routines, gestures, ways of dressing, etc., also contribute to communicative complexity. For example, when people communicate via the web, they have developed routines that involve photos, video, music, emoticons, and other non-linguistic forms of expression that serve as resources for communication.

Reading the situation presented in the paragraphs above, try answering the following questions. Keep in mind, this is a search for your perspective and there are no wrong answers:

1) English is gradually becoming the language of the world. Do you agree? If yes, why? If not, why?

2) Today we see a large number of Indians working in high executive positions in the U.K or the U.S.A? What role does communicative grooming play in this?

3) In a world where native languages are getting crushed by academic and professional needs, how can one maintain a balance between both cultures?

Try to keep the answers subjective (personal) with a touch of the larger socio-cultural impact on the whole.

Answer 1

Answer:

So, communication today is increasingly multilingual, and like Indian English Speakers and Native Londoners, even those speaking the “same language” do so in widely varying ways. And, understanding communication these days goes beyond simply describing languages people are using. Varied expectations for routines, gestures, ways of dressing, etc., also contribute to communicative complexity. For example, when people communicate via the web, they have developed routines that involve photos, video, music, emoticons, and other non-linguistic forms of expression that serve as resources for communication.