-'-o

' t 'J,; '

 NOWOUTNUMBER
ENGLISH.SPEAKERS
NON-NATIVE 3 TO1.
ONES
NATIVE
THEWAYWECOMMUNICATE.
ANDIT'SCHANGING POWER
BYCARLA

HE NAME-CAMBRIDGE dia aloneis a $ lOOmillion-per-yearbusiness.

Schoolof Languages - con- They arethe front lines of a global revolution in
jures imagesof spiresand whiih hundredsof millions of peoplearelearn-
Sglo - S.axonaristocratscon- ing English, the planet'slanguagPfuJ com-
versingin the Queen'sEng- merce,lechnology- and, increasingly,.*pgy-
lish. But this Cambridgeis erment.Within i-decade,zbillion peoplewill be
composedof a few dank studyittg English and about half the world-
rooms with rickety chairs at
the edge of acongested
' { #ff.3*H?3;"'118,
Delhi suburb. Its rival is not a recCntreport from the
stately Oxford but the near- British Council.
by Euro Languages School, From Caracasto Kara-
where a three-month Eng- chi, parentskeenfor their
lish course costs $ L6."\nb childrento achieveare
tell students you need two forking overtuition for
things to succeed:English English-language schools.
and computers," saysChe- China's English fever-
tan Kuma\&Euro Lan- elevatedto epidemicpro-
guages manager. "\Me teach portionsby the country's
one. FOr the Other"-he pOintS tO a nearby i ''"' : j,rli'' I :
recent accessionto the World Tfade Or-
.-,. .
T-*^*n ..,*^II
^} stall-"you
Internet
(6-r^tr
can go next door."
" r\.ra., rr.\ rrarrf ganrzation and the com_ll_lg
.1r..'.* 2-00.8OlVm-
Writin$ abOUt
ethnicity at an
The professorsbackin Cambridge, - language pics-even
has its own Mandarin term,
English
England,would no doubt questionthe schoolin Sudan Yinp en re.And goYernmentsfrom
schools'pedagogy. There arefew books funisia to Tirrkey are pushing English,
or tapes.Their teacherspronounce "\Me"as "ve" recognizing that alongwith computers and mass
u"J*pri-ary" as"primri.ry."Andyet suchstore- is theTPil:,""gt","*f
ryigt-*ion,thelanguage
fto"tittops iren'tinere$ lhe raggededgeofthe As one l2-year-old self-taughtEng-
g1o-balization.
;;;ri"" fnglish-learning induitlry, whi"chin In- Iish-speakerfrom China'ssouthwesternSichuan
PROPSTYLINGBY JOHNNYFEGO,EVELYNHOCKSTEIN_POLARIS
BY DAMIENOONCKFORNEWSWEEK.
4L
LEFTTORIGHT:PHOTOGRAPH

province says, "If you can't speak English,
it'r lik you're deaf and dumb."
Linguistically speaking, it's-u *!91-" new
world. Nott-native speakers of English now
outnumber native speakers3 to 1, according
to English-language expert David Cry9tal,
whose numerous books include "English as
a Global Langu age)' "There's never before
been a language that's been spoken by more
people as a second than a first," he sayst In
Asi; alone, the number of English-users has
topped 35o million-roughly the combined
populations of the United States, Britain
u"a canada. There are more chinese chil-
dren studying English-about
lion-than there are Britons.
lOO mil-
The new English-speakers aren't just
passively absorbing the langlage -they're
ihaping it. New Englishes are mushroom-
ing the globe over, ranging from-"Englog,"
the fagalog-infused English spoken in the
Philippines, to'Japlish," the cryptic English
poetry beloved of Japanese copywriters
("Yo,rt health and loveliness is our best
wish," reads a candy wrapper. "Give us a
chance to reali zeit"),to "Hinglish," the mix
Thenumberof
in
English-speakers
fura
-r-r - alsthe
rougruvequ
totalinAmericl,
Canadaand Britain.
of Hindi and English that now crops up ev-
erywhere from fast-food ads to South Asian
.oil.g" campuses. "Hungry t yu?l' ("Are you
hunfrry?"), queried a recent Indian ad for
Doriino'i pir"u. In post-apartheid South
Africa, many blacks have adopted their own
version of English, laced with indigenous
words, as a sign of freedom-in contrast to
Afrikaans, the language of oppression' "We
speak English with a Xhosa accent and a
Xhosa attitude," r'eteran actorJohn Kani re-
cently told the BBC.
,til luttguages are works in progress' But
English't globalization, unprecedented in
tfrJhistory of languages, will revolutionize
it in ways we can only begin to imagine' In
the future, suggestsCrystal, there could be a
tri-English world, one in which you-could
speak a local English-based dialect athome,
a national variety at work or school, and in-
ternational Standard English to talk to for-
eigners. with native speakers a shrinking
mlnority of the world's Anglophones,
there's a growing sensethat students should
stop tryrng to emulate Brightott It Boston
English, *d embrace their own local ver-
sions. Researchersare starting to study non-
native speakers' "mistakes"-"She look very
sad," foiexample- as structured grammars.
In a generation's time, teachers might no
longei be correcting students for saying "a
boJk who" or "a person which"' Linguist
in world En-
Jennifer Jenkins, an expert
"gtirh"t
ui tcittg's College London, asks why
iomeAsians, who have trouble pronounc-
ing the "th" sound, should spend hours try-
 TheGlobalIanguagein a Circle
Circle
McArthur's anunrulylanguage'
triesto organize
ofWorldEnglish lnthemiddleisan
outlietheregional
Fariher
formallanguage.
idealized thateitherhavea standard
varieties
usage one,andonthefringelieburgeoning,
oraredeveloping regional
freelyevolving dialects'

Dialectsthat are closer Despiteits spot at the

to the center of the rn hub of the wheel,no
wheel havethe "z one really speaks
World Standard
mostformalrules o
Engfish.
tr
t-a

of usage.
%
tu
I Irl
t-
l G'
Itr
:lg

ffi@@ffi^
I Bnnf+?Sgff * F**3A*F"?

the most to lose. For the tradi-

ofthem
Signsofthe Timesl some
trai-slateinto Englishmoreeasilythan others
ing to say "thing" instead of"sing" or "ting."
International pilots, she points out, already
pronounce the word "three" as "tree" in ra-
dio dispatches, since "tree" is more widely
comprehensible.
Not everyone is as open-minded about
English, or its advance. The Web site of the
Association for the Defence of the French
Language displays a "museum ofhorrors"-
a series of digital pictures of English-lan-
guage signs on Parisian streets. But others
say such defensiveness misses the point.
"This is not about Errglish swamping and
eroding local identities," says David Grad-
dol, author of the British Council report.
"It's about creating new identities-and
about making everyone bilingual."
Indeed, English has become the com-
mon linguistic denominator. Whether
you're a Korean executive on business in
Shanghai, a German Eurocrat hammer-
ing out laws in Brussels or a Brazilian
biochemist at a conference in Sweden,
you're probably speakittg English. And as
the world adopts an international brand
of English, it's native speakers who have
Cambridg" dons who in-
sist on speaking the Oueen's
English could be met with giggles-or
blank stares.British or Americanbusiness
execswho jabber on in their own idiomat-
ic patois, without understanding how
English is usedby non-natives,might lose
out on deals.
O ACHIEVE FLUENCY, NON-
native speakers are learning
English at an ever-younger
age. Last year primary
schools in major Chinese
cities began offering English
in the third grade, rather than middle
school. A growing number of parents are
enrolling their preschoolersin the new crop
of local English courses.For some moth-
ers-to-be, even that's not early enough;
Zhou Min, who hosts severalEnglish pro-
grams at the Beijing BroadcastingStation,
sayssomepregnant women speakEnglish
to their fetuses. At Prague'sLamea chil-
dren's English-language school, 3-year-
olds sing songsabout snowmen and chant
colors in English. Now 2-yearolds have a
classoftheir own, too.
tional custodians of
English-the British and,
more recently,the Americans-this means
money. The demand for native English-
speakersis so hugethat there aren't enough
to go around;Chinaandthe Middle Eastare
startingto import English teachersfrom In-
dia. The averageprice of a four-day busi-
ness-Englishcoursein London for a French
executiveruns €2,240.Despite- or perhaps
becauseof-all the new Englishescropping
up, it's the American and British versions
that still carry prestige,particularly with tu -
ition-paylng parents.Australiaand Britain,
in particular, have invested heavily in
branding themselves as destinations for
learning English. More than 4OOforeign
English-teaching companies are trying to
break into China. On a visit to Beijing last
week, British Chancellor Gordon Brown
said the Chinesethirst to acquire the lan-
guagewas "a huge opportunity for Britain,"
which alreadyboastsa f,L.3billion English-
teaching industry. SaysJenkins, "Owning
Englishis very big business."
To seebig businessin action, one need
only walk down London's brr"Y O>trord
Street,where adshawk instant accessto the

DOUG
FROMTOP:KYODO, JOOICOBB-NATIONAL
KANTER_POLARIS, IMAGES
GEOGRAPHIC-GETTY
43
 tectionist ones, are starting to agree. Last
language of success:DOESYOUR ENGLISH
EMBARRASS YOU? BUSINESS ENGLISH
IN
To achievefluency, year Malaysia decided to start teaching
school-level math and science in English.
FOR BEGINNERS; LEARN ENGLISH
In France, home of the Acad6mie Fran-
JUST ro WEEKS! Above clothing stores,
-bustling
English-language schools are
non-natlve gaise, whose members are given swords

packed
^around
with eager twentysomethings. from
the world. Ben Beaumont, a buoy-
ant18-year-old Briton, presides over a class
that includes a South Korean business
speakers a"d charged with defending the sanctity of
the French language, a commission
recommended last fall that basic English
be treated like basic math: as part of the
mandatory core curriculum beginning
manager, a nurse from rural Japan and an
ItaHa; law student. "Do you want a lot of
arelearnittg in primary school. As it turns out, the min-
ister of Education didn't agree' No matter;
homework or a little?" he asks. The class is
unequivocal: "A lot!" Englishatan French schoolchildren are ahead of their
government: 96 Percent of them are
HY SUCH ENTHUSI-
asm?Inaword,jobs.A
ever-younger age. ilready studying the language as an elec-
tive in school.
center job. "With call centers, ro longer is Technology also plays a huge role in
generation &go, onlY
speaking English one of the important skills English's glolal triumph. Eighlv percent of
elites like diplomarc
to get a good job;' says Raghu Prakash, who the electronicallv stored information in the
and CEOs needed
for work. *ttt an English-language school in Jaipur' world is in English; 66 percent of the
English
"It is the sl<rlL"At the new Toyota and Peugeot world's scientists read in it, according to the
"The ante on what's needed is going up year
plant in the Czech Republic, English is the British Council. "It's very important to learn
by year," says Graddol. "Throughout organi-
working language of the Japanese' French English because [computer] books are only
rutiottt, more people need more English'" In -English,"
says Umberto Duirte, an
and Czechstaff SaysJitLa Prikrylova, direc- in
China, the Beijing Organizing Committee
tor of a Prague English-language school: uruguiyan IT student learning English in
for the 2oo8 Oly-pics is pushing English
"The world has opened up for us, and En- London. New technologies are helping peo-
among stafl guides, taxi drivers and ordinary
glish is its language." ple pick rrp the language, too: Chinese and
citizens. For lower-middle classesin India, jupitt.t" students can get English-usage
Engtish can mean a ticket to a prized call- Governments, even linguistically pro-

44
g.
tips on their mobile phones. English-lan-
dug" teachers pointlo
the rise of Microsoft
bttgTirh, where computer users are drafting
letiers advised by the Windows spell check
and pop-up style guides. In the temple town
of Varanuti, ktdia, Sanjukta Chaterjee says
she's astonished by the way her 7-year-old
son learns the langrage, through CDs and
video.
,,our teachers were strict that we
should practice, and speak the language till
we were near-per ct," she says' "Now
there's an additional technological finesse to
Iearning English."
Schoolt it" becoming more and more
creative. Last August, South Korea set up its
camp' The
first English l--"tsion
Gyeonggi"English Village, b-uil1o1.? small
isiand I" t5" Yeilow Sea and subsidized by
the provincial government, comes complete
with a Hollywood-sryle fake bank and air-
port, whereitudents must conduct all trans-
^actions
in English. "Through the camp, we
want to train capable global citizens, who
can help Korea win international competi-
tion in ihis age of globalizationl' says Sohn
Hak Kyr, gorr"tnor of Gyeonggi province'
who started the program. In one class,
eighth grader Chun Ho Sun$, wearing a
SANTOSH-GAMMA
VERMA
Englishisthe
of
language
business,
.IIf
technoloryano'
increasinglY,
empo\Merrnent.
long black wig and posing as British heart-
throb Orlando Blobm, sweats under the
lights of a mock televisionstudio ashe pre-
pit.t to be intenriewed."Do yoy think you
ur. handsome?"asks the anchonvoman.
Shyly,in broken English, Chun responds:
"Y"s, I do. I am ro"ryhundsome"'Theaudi-
enceof other studentscollapsesin giggles'
While courses like Gyeonggi's sound
simple, English and its teaching are
ineiorably becoming more complex' Ilan
Stavans,?r Amherst Collegeprofessor,re-
cently finished a translation of Cenrantes's
,,Donouixote" into spanglish,the English-
spanish hybrid spokenin the united states
urraMexiio. Wri^tingin the journal English
Today last spring, Hu Xiaoqigng arguedfor
reorientating China s English curriculum
toward Chiia English, incorporating Chi-
nese phrasesHkJ"pay New Year calls"' a
Spri"g Festivaltradition, and"no faceI'to be
uihu*"d-as Standard English. In coun-
tries like Germany,where most kids begin
Englishasearlyurth" secondorthirdgrad_e'
the"market for nnglish studies is already
shrinking. German language schools no
longer target English beginners but those
puriuing iot.-expert niches:businessEn-
gtittt, phonemannersor Bnglishfor presen-
iutiotti. Beginning-Englishclassesarefi lled
with immfoants from places like T\rrkey
and Russialeagerto catch "p with the na-
tives. As with migrants the world over'
they,refinding thaitheir neurfoundland is
one'
an English-sPeaking
Wi thS U D |P MA ZU MD A R andH |ND oLS E N GU P TA
in Delhi,PAILM00NEY in Beiiing,{|T.K-A.KR0SNAR
i nP rague,.rl ',ttuyFLY N N andMA R |E V A LLA i nLondon,
MC i n P ari s ,
N IC o LL
TR
e. u. rE i i n Gyeonggi , A C Y
Johannes0,, If,[ ;^ r4gt3,'Jfffifi::i#Hil
i'nf