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Linguistic failures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2007

Niu Qiang  and
Martin Wolff
Niu Qiang
Affiliation:
School of Foreign Languages, Tong ji University, Shanghai, China
Martin Wolff
Affiliation:
Shanghai
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Abstract

Heart-felt opposition to the status and spread of English in the world at large and most particularly in China today. It can hardly be denied that England has given the world maritime law, contract law, and an international language. However, whether by accident or design, the effect of these ‘gifts’ over time has, we would argue, been the destruction of many ethnic customs, social structures, and other aspects of culture. There appears to be little or no dissent among linguists regarding the proposition that language and culture are inseparable: what affects one affects the other.

This paper discusses how the global spread of English has affected – deleteriously – many languages and cultures, and currently engages too much time and too many resources in China today. Maritime and contract law may have been less problematic.

Type
Original Article
Information
English Today , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , pp. 61 - 64
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

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