English as a Global Language

by David Crystal

David Crystal's informative account of the rise of English as a global language explores the history, current status and potential of English as the international language of communication. This new edition of his classic work includes additional sections on the future of English as a world language, English on the Internet, and the possibility of an English "family" of languages. Footnotes, new tables, and a comprehensive bibliography reflect the expanded scope of the revised edition. An internationally renowned scholar in the field of language and linguistics, David Crystal received an Order of the British Empire in 1995 for his services to the English language. He is the author of several books with Cambridge, including Language and the Internet (2001), Language Death (2000), English as a Global Language (1997), Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (1997), and Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language (1995) as well as Words on Words (University of Chicago, 2000). First edition Hb (1997): 0-521-59247-X First edition Pb (1998): 0-521-62994-2

Genres: Linguistics, Nonfiction, Language, History, School, Education, Academic

228 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

David Crystal works from his home in Holyhead, North Wales, as a writer, editor, lecturer, and broadcaster. Born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in 1941, he spent his early years in Holyhead. His family moved to Liverpool in 1951, and he received his secondary schooling at St Mary's College. He read English at University College London (1959-62), specialised in English language studies, did some research there at the Survey of English Usage under Randolph Quirk (1962-3), then joined academic life as a lecturer in linguistics, first at Bangor, then at Reading. He published the first of his 100 or so books in 1964, and became known chiefly for his research work in English language studies, in such fields as intonation and stylistics, and in the application of linguistics to religious, educational and clinical contexts, notably in the development of a range of linguistic profiling techniques for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. He held a chair at the University of Reading for 10 years, and is now Honorary Professor of Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. These days he divides his time between work on language and work on internet applications.

source: http://www.davidcrystal.com/

Reviews

[Mario · Rating 2 out of 5]

If I didn't have to read it for university, I would have stopped around 20 pages in. A couple of semi-fun facts about English as a language but all in all just plain uninteresting. And for an enormous theme English as a Global Language, this book should have been much bigger, because there is so much more to say when it comes to English being a global language.
All in all, not my cup of tea.

[Stefania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering that I had to read this for university, I feel more than satisfied.

The book contains so many interesting information about many of us call simply "English", without even knowing that there's a whole world behind it.
It explains the possible reasons why English has become "the" global language, using geographical, historical and social data, and tries to foresee what could happen in the future.
Despite everything the style was pretty smooth and involving (except for the parts analising a bit too in detail the charts), but more than anything it was really clear and understandable.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though it took me 3-4 months to get through it, I found it to be a very interesting read. The main premise is that English's growth to a world language has been made possible by it being at the right spot at the right time. The United Kingdom spread it through its many colonies and the US continued its expansion through computers. Would be interested to see some current stats on current speakers of English today. The book was written about 10 years ago.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book provides a historical background (although a really white washed history) of English becoming a global language. I used this for a class I was teaching on World Englishes and was disappointed that there wasn't a more critical lens used in looking at English as a global language. I would not use this book again.

[Elena · Rating 4 out of 5]

me lo he encontrado en la biblio y he recordado q lo leí en cagliari. la parte de historia canelita. es súper completo. abarca todos los niveles del inglés. pero podría tener un lenguaje más sencillo o a lo mejor es q yo andaba muy cansada. Mis apuntes de la asignatura eran todo de este libro y saqué muy buena nota en el oral en el cual la profesora llevaba un pañuelo de palestina

[Sun · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to the historic circumstances underlying the dominance of English as a global language. I read the 2002 edition and found it dated, especially with regard to the internet and international communications such as within the EU. The most outstanding information is to be found in Chapter 2, outlining the historical context and providing lots of statistics for the growing number of English speakers all over the globe.

With regard to the social factors for the rise of English and the implications for future use, these are more or less common-sense and Crystal has nothing extra to add. The US debate over whether English should be "officialised" is interesting but seems to be a theoretical point, rather than pragmatic measure, as is the discussion of whether English should be a global language.

Might be worthwhile trying to learn another language instead of reading this.

[Rania · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book that gives an account how English has become a global language. It gives a definition of what a global language is & how a language can possibly become global. It also questions whether English will be a global language forever, especially with people worrying about their minority languages & struggling to preserve them against the hegemony of English.

[Eskil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Som introduksjonsbok til et førsteårsemne på NTNU funker nok boka godt, og den kunne nok også brukes med f.eks. IB-elever siden den både er tilgjengelig og konsis. Denne tilgjengeligheten kom dessverre på bekostning av innholdet, og jeg føler ikke at jeg lærte noe særlig nytt. Boka er bare ~190 sider lang, og er ganske lettlest, men samtidig skulle jeg ønske at den var litt mer teknisk. På NTNU brukes den i tandem med Svartvik & Leech (2006), men den skal da likevel kunne stå på egne ben. Jeg skjønner godt at Crystal er såpass populær også blant ikke-akademikere, men akkurat denne boka skuffa.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

An outdated but still somewhat interesting book about how the English language has usurped global usage at an accelerated rate and why. It also tries to make very tentative predictions about the future of English as well. Since this was written in 1997, it is interesting to see how almost 30 years has dealt with these predictions, but that’s about as much as you’re going to get from this subject matter.

[delfi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a quite eye opening book with a lot of fun what if questions.
As a future translator and linguist, this book just cemented a suspicion I’ve had for many years.
My affection for the English language and its future forms will never cease.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book has a lot of interesting things to think about, but the way the information is presented sometimes had trouble maintaining my interest. I read the updated 2002 version, but I felt that the job of updating the facts, figures and important trends in the development of World English could have been performed more thoroughly.

[Gramarye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brief and somewhat generalized but nonetheless interesting evaluation of the state of English as a global language. Dates from the late 1990s, so the figures and some of the conclusions are a bit out of date.

[Antonio Filipe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great piece of work for anyone who desires to study/work with this amusing and yet mysterious language that takes the linguistic shape of English. To understand its complexity or even its roots it's essential for a general comprehension of the 21st century mainstream language. An advisable book!

[Anastasia Tuple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprehensive, unbiased (which amazed me, to be honest) and an easy read!

[Reza Nisse · Rating 3 out of 5]

الکتاب مفید لنا کعرب لربما نقدر و نحافظ علی لغتنا و هویتنا افضل

[Reza Putra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Outdated. I'd prefer Crystal's "Language Death".

[Akbar Madan · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a question that is always a place of research and exploration, why was the English language able to become a global language? Linguist David Crystal discusses this question and considers that the English language is the language and the only one so far that has been able to obtain the status of universality. This universality came from political battles that are directly related to the British colonial expansion in the vicinity of the British Isles and outside this ocean, which extended to all continents. Political reasons follow the economic control that employed technological development to double the dominance of the language over the rest of the languages, and here we are talking about printing houses as an industry, the emergence of newspapers and magazines, as well as musical bands that have become transcontinental carrying the English language for all music listeners, as well as the role of cinematic art.
The meeting of these factors in a specific historical context helped a set of circumstances to overlap and integrate and then crystallize them to be the guarantor of the continuation of this domination. David excludes all discussions that consider the English language, with its ancient and modern composition, an important element of domination. There are languages ​​with much easier structures and contain an elaborate and beautiful structure, but they did not It will one day become a global language, while it is recognized that the availability of the elements of political, economic and technological power for any particular nationalism may make the future of this national language a global language, but this conclusion may be questionable given that the availability of the elements of power must be synchronized with the same conditions that It allowed the dominance of the English language, and we know that historical contexts do not recur in an inevitable way, no matter how the first factors are combined.
It remains to be known that the future of the English language is subject to the multiple and varied uses of all speakers who are inseparable from their local dialects and contribute to creating their own English dialects.

[Zainab Salman · Rating 4 out of 5]

"In 500 years’ time, will it be the case that everyone will automatically be introduced to English as soon as they are born (or, by then, very likely, as soon as they are conceived)? If this is part of a rich multilingual experience for our future newborns, this can only be a good thing. If it is by then the only language left to be learned, it will have been the greatest intellectual disaster that the planet has ever known."

A fascinating read. At some points, especially in the first chapter, the author seemed to be very adamant that the way English has been emerging as a global language in recent times is unlikely to be having a negative impact on other, smaller languages. This claim was not substantially backed up with evidence or research, and it was not very convincing, either. I do believe that other languages are paying at least some cost in order for English to develop as a global lingua franca, and these costs should have been better acknowledged throughout the book, and not just at the end. On the whole, the author clearly does not have much of a critical perspective about English becoming a global language, or about the concept of global languages in general. Otherwise, he makes some very valid points and the book was quite intriguing on the whole. I found the parts about 'New Englishes' and their grammatical and lexical features especially fascinating.

[Reece · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very well written book on a topic that isn't covered much in mainstream nonfiction. Crystal covers the commonly asked questions: 'why English as the global language?', 'how did it turn out this way?', as well as more obscure but fascinating topics you'll have to read to find out.

I feel one section in particular (on how English has affected each region in the world) could have been shortened, as after a while, the summaries became rather repetitive and added nothing revolutionarily new to the narrative. The maps too - they were not especially helpful. Otherwise though, it was a great linguistic read!

[Radek · Rating 5 out of 5]

David Crystal's "English as a Global Language" is a tour de force, illuminating the fascinating journey of English from a regional dialect to a global lingua franca. Crystal's clear and engaging prose, combined with his expert knowledge, makes this a compelling read for both scholars and casual readers.

The book is notable for its comprehensive historical narrative, fascinating case studies, and insightful exploration of English's future trajectory. Crystal carefully balances the benefits and criticisms associated with English's global dominance, providing a thoughtful and nuanced perspective.

[M. Apple · Rating 4 out of 5]

An indispensable book for anyone interested in learning about the history of English, world Englishes, and bilingualism/multilingualism. Unfortunately most of the references, particularly about the Internet, are by now extremely dated — the second edition was published in 2093, and the 10th printing dates from 2010 with no further changes despite the rather important technological introduction of social media in the interim. Regardless, this is a good first book to introduce the idea of a global English and refute the concepts of “killer languages” and “linguistic imperialism.”

[Book busy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very very dry, I'm afraid in terms of voice. That being said, the breadth of the scope of Crystal's investigation given the brevity of this document is impressive and I found myself dog-earring many pages to save the data or the specific notion expressed for later. This is an experienced man's account of linguistic futures and it shows but the age of the information acquired and general lack of research into niche linguistic areas means this book only answered so many of my questions unfortunately.

[Catherine Tourangeau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting take on that enormous question: Why did English become a global language in the modern era? Rejecting technical explanations having to do with English itself, Crystal insists on the social, economic, and especially political forces that influence linguistic behaviour. The book is perhaps slightly too "anglophile" at time, but remains a good read for any neophyte interested in the history of the English language.

[Naby ♥ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last year (I know I'm late reviewing this lol) I had to prepare an academic presentation so as one of topics was Englishes and I found it incredibly interesting, I decided on basing my presentation on this book. And it did great, I passed and my teacher congratulated me.
I think this book does a great work analysing the different variations of English and how the language keeps mutating all the time. It's fascinating to me.
Also, David Crystal is a genius, I love him. hahaha

[Karel · Rating 2 out of 5]

It feels a bit unfair to give only two stars to a clearly well-written book for a general audiece about languages but the book does feel a bit dated and much of its content is too familiar for former students of English to really pull you in. Definitely interesting for my high school students that want to know more about the spread of English, not really a book for people that already know a bit about it.

[Owen McArdle · Rating 3 out of 5]

With the book being so old (I should really check publishing dates before getting books out of the library!) the highlights were probably rating the predictions made essentially a generation ago, and seeing quite how English was seen at the dawn of the popular internet. I'm not sure how successfully standard statistics about English proficiency/usage and some ‘we don't really know much’ studies of new English varieties were spun out into a full book though.

[Yemima Yulia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get the clear explanation why English is a global language of our time, its journey in the past and a glimpse of what will be happen with it and how this effect other languages around the globe. Highly recommended not only for English teacher but also to those who are concern with the history and future of languages as the base identity of any group of people walking on the Earth.

[Laura Ďorďová · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an A2 Level student of English language, I found this book really helpful, full of facts which I could use in the exam. David Crystal covered the topic perfectly, although I skipped a few uninteresting pages, which I wouldn’t ever use or even remember.

[Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it for college and will say it was one of the best texts I've read for college. Well written, easy to understand, and very interesting to read about how the English language had become such a global language.

[Allison Engkvist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listen if I'm going to waste all my spare reading time on books for school, I'm going to make sure they get added to my Goodreads. This was right up my alley (or as far up my alley as academic books can be).