The five official languages of the United Nations are English, French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, and Arabic. All of these languages are very commonly used all around the globe. According to the tendency observed over the last several decades, English is gaining popularity as an international language. The rapid development of the Internet and its worldwide coverage facilitates the global use of English. Among the other factors that promote the use of English and stimulate the growth of its popularity are education (exchange students), tourism, and business. At the same time, Graddol (2006) projects the decline of the popularity of the English language due to the challenge presented by the other languages. For instance, the numbers of learners of English are expected to decrease within the next five years as English is now a part basic education in most countries (Graddol, 2006).
As a result, from an international language in demand English has become a universal skill, common for most contemporary people regardless of their age and background. One of the main disadvantages of using English today is being monolingual. As the globalisation spreads, the native speakers of English are facing the need to learn other languages to be able to function in a multilingual society. Regardless of the geographical region (Europe, Asia, Africa, North or South America), being able to speak only English is very limiting for any kind of professional or traveller. Besides, if earlier the knowledge of English was necessary for doing business globally, today, as various cultures and languages started to compete for resources, English is challenged by Mandarin and Spanish (Graddol, 2006). The primary benefit for the English speaking countries is that the flow of the international students is expected to stay very dense, so the demand for the English-based education will remain high (Graddol, 2006).
The concept of global citizenship is composed of a set of advantages and disadvantages. The main benefits of being a global citizen are international connectedness, open mind, broad outlook, and deep knowledge of the diverse information. As for the main disadvantage, it is the fact that global inequalities come along with the global citizenship (Killick, 2012). Moreover, it is important to mention that global citizenship is not quite as advanced a privilege as it sounds; this means that becoming a global citizen today includes leaving the original place of birth, relocating one or multiple times and fitting in as “the other” in the new societies.
Discussing global citizenship, Killick (2012) raises the question of cultural diversity as a source of clashes and conflicts due to the rejection of some groups of individuals by the others. In a diverse environment, language as one of the most vital aspects of culture becomes a necessary link that connects social groups. Killick (2012) uses an educational facility environment as an example a diverse society where the exchange students play the role of the global citizens attempting to make their ways to the new culture without losing their own. Generally, global citizens are under a constant risk of being rejected by the cultural majority, those who do not speak English in a multicultural society are doomed to be isolated. Today, the knowledge of English is the only pathway towards fitting into the international society.
Reference
Graddol, D. (2006). English next. London, UK: British Council.
Killick, D. (2011). Seeing-Ourselves-in-the-World: Developing Global Citizenship Through International Mobility and Campus Community. Journal Of Studies In International Education, 16(4), 372-389.