"English language expertise is becoming a priority academic/professional requirement whether international higher education graduates choose to return to their home countries or whether they choose to stay in the United States," notes ELI’s Joan Morley.
"English is today the dominant language in science and technology, medicine and health care fields, commerce, business and industry, and much more. It should come as no shock to find that three-quarters of the world’s information stored in computer banks is in English."
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, a billion persons in the world are able to speak English, with more speaking it as a foreign language than as their mother tongue. But the language that non-native speakers actually speak can be thought of as many different Englishes. Some speak only about computers, or oil, or commodities trading or swine; they customize English into forms useful for specific purposes, and those who speak these forms are usually unable to converse comfortably about matters outside their field of interest. Phrases like "get the hang of it," "to go along with" and "getting at" for example, mystify many non-native speakers.
Ambiguities in English can even be deadly. An air traffic controller in Madagascar radioed, "Clipper 1736 report clear of runway." The pilot interpreted that as a clearance for takeoff, rather than an order to report that he had cleared the runway, collided with an incoming airliner, and 600 people died. Such linguistic mistakes have claimed at least 3,000 lives, an expert told the Journal.
Alan Firth, a British scholar who specializes in foreign varieties of spoken English, told the Journal. "What happens to this language is no longer our prerogative. English is no longer our possession. It’s not a monolith. It’s in an incredible state of flux."
. . . October 1995