Business English or bowing down to language imperialism
Why does everyone in Germany feel impelled to learn English? Why do all these workers over here want to learn Business English, and what exactly are they learning?
Ok, ok, through the might of America and Great Britain English is the language of commerce and business, and America is the world's sole superpower and wants to dominate the planet and the stars. But, does that mean that everyone who does not live in an English speaking country has to bow down and grovel in front of the English language?
At present I have two Business English teaching assignments, one is a one on one course with a bourgeois lawyer and the other is two separate classes of five employees each, all ten of whom are German working class. The first is in her late twenties and studied English for about six years, took a break from it during her university studies, and now uses it 50% time for her job at one of the world's four largest accounting firms. The ten other students studied English for maybe two years and are of a variety of ages, probably 25 to 58, and work for a German international company that makes medical products.
The first has little problem speaking English; she just needs to practice, and her firm is paying for four weeks of classes eight hours a day. This intensive approach will help her a lot. But, the second group has great difficulty speaking and really agonizes over it, especially the older students. These classes meets once a week for 90 minutes each.
Why does a 58 year old German woman have to agonize over learning this language that she never learned before? Does it really make sense to force her to do so? Isn't she close enough to retirement now? Why force her to learn a few words a week especially given that the classes are too short for anything to sink in? What's the sense of it all?
And why English? English is coming across as an imperialist language, dominating the workplaces and a lot of culture around the world. Sure, there's Shakespeare, Faulkner, Poe, and many, many other great writers and poets, and there are great songwriters in the English language. But, their works are not being taught. Instead, it is the language of economic imperialism that is being taught, and being forced down people's throats. At some point, the world might stop and shout "No" in a myriad of toungues and stop bowing down to language imperialism.
Ok, ok, through the might of America and Great Britain English is the language of commerce and business, and America is the world's sole superpower and wants to dominate the planet and the stars. But, does that mean that everyone who does not live in an English speaking country has to bow down and grovel in front of the English language?
At present I have two Business English teaching assignments, one is a one on one course with a bourgeois lawyer and the other is two separate classes of five employees each, all ten of whom are German working class. The first is in her late twenties and studied English for about six years, took a break from it during her university studies, and now uses it 50% time for her job at one of the world's four largest accounting firms. The ten other students studied English for maybe two years and are of a variety of ages, probably 25 to 58, and work for a German international company that makes medical products.
The first has little problem speaking English; she just needs to practice, and her firm is paying for four weeks of classes eight hours a day. This intensive approach will help her a lot. But, the second group has great difficulty speaking and really agonizes over it, especially the older students. These classes meets once a week for 90 minutes each.
Why does a 58 year old German woman have to agonize over learning this language that she never learned before? Does it really make sense to force her to do so? Isn't she close enough to retirement now? Why force her to learn a few words a week especially given that the classes are too short for anything to sink in? What's the sense of it all?
And why English? English is coming across as an imperialist language, dominating the workplaces and a lot of culture around the world. Sure, there's Shakespeare, Faulkner, Poe, and many, many other great writers and poets, and there are great songwriters in the English language. But, their works are not being taught. Instead, it is the language of economic imperialism that is being taught, and being forced down people's throats. At some point, the world might stop and shout "No" in a myriad of toungues and stop bowing down to language imperialism.
posted by paulmediaeye at 12:58 AM
2 Comments:
Yes, but how do you really feel about it?
I would shout "No" to language imperialism and would organize people from all over the world to no longer learn English solely for work.
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