Why should you even learn English? If you are not based in an English speaking country, this question is a valid concern. If you are living in an English speaking country, you may still feel that the necessity for speaking proper English is overrated. But trust me, there are more reasons than simply improving a skill you already have and learning a second language.
With the arrival of the Internet and several advances in the fields of global communication, the world has become much smaller. The time of living in your small community is over. Even if you refuse to submit yourself to the global community the global community will come to you.
International travel has become an easier process. Several countries, like China, have opened their borders for trade and commerce. With easier travel and open borders, emigration and business with foreign investors has become a reality for today’s business communities. In this new global world, English plays a large part.
According to a study conducted by Pearson Education (2007), English is the second most widely spoken language in the world. English has around 514,000,000 speakers around the globe (Pearson Education 2007). The first on that list is actually Chinese. Though, one must take in account the population and size of China. They occupy a large space on the globe and there are a lot of them. The United States of America and England, on the other hand, are much smaller but still English remains a powerful force in language.
One must also note the difficulty associated in learning Chinese. There are several different types of Chinese, spoken in different areas. Some of the words in one dialect can mean an entirely different thing in another. Chinese also uses unique intonations for each word. Each word in their language has four intonations. So pronunciation is not the only thing to consider, you must also consider the intonation (if its steady, rising, falling, etc.) (Language for Travelers 2006). When saying one word with a falling intonation you can mean entirely different thing. These are just some of the difficulties one may encounter if learning Chinese.
It is not that I particularly discourage learning a new language like Chinese. Doing so would defeat the purpose of an article such as this one. Learning any language is difficult. It is just that, using a practical approach, English seems like the most viable language one should learn if concerned with business and dealing with an international audience.
For years, English has been used as a lingua franca. In other words, English has been used as a common language between two speakers who do not have the same native tongue. And depending on your background, seems much easier to learn than Chinese.
