English as a Global Language by David Crystal, 0521530326, Lowest Book Price Finder

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A short history of the rise of a language to dominance

This is a fascinating review of how the English Language got to its present position of world dominance. David Crystal is not, contrary to Daniel's review, a linguistic imperialist. He lives in Wales, speaks Welsh, and champions minority languages. But he also understands that an interconnected world needs a global lingua franca, which will be a second language for the great majority.

From Daniel's review, you might get the impression that Crystal advocates fertilizer bags having instructions only in English. In fact, Crystal is quoting the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, who said that farmers in her country should learn English as a second language, since international companies were never going to print instructions on fertilizer bags in Sinhalese. She was simply being realistic.

Crystal recognises that the dominance of English today is the result of chance, the language repeatedly being in the right place at the right time. If English had not become the common second language, another language would have done so. Crystal gives us the reasons for English's rise, the history, the effects on other languages and some predictions of where its going. It's quite a short book, and I would have preferred more detailed discussion in places. But it's certainly worthwhile reading.

too blue eyed

Crystal's book is the exact counterpart to Phillipson's "Linguistic Imperialism". While the former has been called an "alarmist" (because of his view that English has been used for imperialistic purposes) the latter apparently sees no problem what so ever (and has thus been called "triumphalist"). Crystal seems to suggest that all linguistic cross-cultural problems could be solved if everyone would learn English from an early age onwards. He apparently sees nothing wrong if Asian farmers cannot read the instructions on fertilizer bags because they are in English. Rather suspiciously, Crystal disregards Phillipson completely in this. While there are some good arguments against Phillipson, Crystal refuses to enter the debate. More generally, it seems to me that he refuses to deal with the more unpleasant facts of the global spread of English. Better to continue writing about the happy family of English speakers! The book is thus rather naive in its evaluation of the role, status and attitudes connected with the English language.For those who would like to read a really damning review I can recommend Phillipson's "Voice in Global English: unheard Chords in Crystal loud and clear." which appeared in Applied Linguistics 20/2:265-276.

Good overview of an interesting subject.

Short and to the point, this provides an overveiw of how English came to be a global language, the different status it has worldwide and the issues it raises. It's a slim volume and it won't take long to read but it's an interesting subject and makes you realise how lucky you are if English is your first language. I read right after doing a Teaching English as a Forign Language course so it was an illuminating look at where in the world I could go.

However it sometimes lacks detail and leaves you wanting more, but don't let that put you off - it's an interesting introduction to a subject I intend to learn more about.

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