English as a world language
Countries in which English is spoken as mother tongue.
Today, when English is one of the major languages in the world, it requires an effort of the imagination to realize that this is a relatively recent thing - that in Shakespeare's time, for example, only a few million people spoke English, and the language was not thought to be very important by the other nations of Europe, and was unknown to the rest to the world.
English has becomea world language because of its establishment as a mother tongue outside England, in all the continents of the world. This exporting of English began inthe seventeenth century, with the first settlements in North America. Above all, it is the great growth of population in the United States, assisted by massive immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, that has given the English language its present standing in the world.
People who speakEnglish fall into one of three groups: those who have learned it as their native language; those who have learned it as a second language in a society that is mainly bilingual; and those who are forcedto use it for a practical purpose - administrative, professional or educational. One person in seven of the world's entire population belongs to one of these three groups. Incredibly enough, 75% of the world's mail and 60% of the world's telephone calls are in English.
Basic characteristics
Simplicity of form.Old English, like modern German, French, Russian and Greek, had many inflections to show singular and plural, tense, person, etc., but over the centuries words have been simplified. Verbs now have very few inflections, and adjectives do not change according to the noun.
Flexibility.As a result of the loss of inflections, English has become, over the past five centuries, a very flexible language. Without inflections, the same word can operate as many different parts of speech. Many nouns and verbs have the same form, for example swim, drink, walk, kiss, look,and smile.We can talk about waterto drink and to water the flowers; timeto go and to timea race; a paperto read and to papera bedroom. Adjectives can be used as verbs. We warm our hands in front of a fire; if clothes are dirtied,they need to be cleaned and dried.Prepositions too are flexible. A sixty-year old man is nearingretirement; we can talk about a round of golf, cards, or drinks.
Openness of vocabulary.This involves the free admissions of words from other languages and the easy creation of compounds and derivatives. Most world languages have contributed some words to English at some time, and the process isnow being reversedPurists ofthe French, Russian, and Japanese languages are resistingthe arrival of English in their vocabulary.
The future of English. Geographically, English is the most widespread language on Earth, second only to Mandarin Chinese in the number of people who speak it. It is the language of business, technology, sport, and aviation. This will no doubt continue, although the proposition that all other languages will die out is absurd.
TRAVELLERS TALES
Every year a magazine called Executive Travel organizes a competition to find the Airline of the Year. Travellers from all over the world are invited to vote for the most efficient, the most punctual, the safest and the friendliest airline. The winner in 1985 was British Airways, The competition asked travellers what for them was most important from an airline, and the results were as follows:
| Punctual departures and arrivals | 35% |
| Attentive cabin staff | 35% |
| Comfort | 18% |
| Safety | 9% |
| Good food and wine | 3% |
The competition also invited travellers to tell their most horrific stories of the nightmare side to international travel. Replies included six hijacks, fifty-three cases of engine failure or trouble with the landing gear, eleven lightning strikes, twenty-three bomb scares, thirteen cases of food poisoning, eleven near misses and two collisions with airport trucks.
Bad flying experiences begin on the ground, naturally. One American airline managed to double-book an entire 747, but this is nothing compared to what happened on an internal flight on a certain African airline. The flight had been overbooked three times. The local military sorted the problem out by insisting that all passengers with boarding cards should run round the plane twice, the fastest getting the seats. An overbooked flight that was going from Heathrow to America gave one traveller a bit of a shock. Dressed only in trousers, shirt and socks, he had been allowed by the stewardess to leave the aircraft to see if he could get a colleague aboard. He returned a few minutes later to find the 747 closed up and about to start moving — with his shoes, wallet, passport .and luggage inside. Banging frantically on the door got him back inside. A similar event was seen by a businessman on a flight from Bangladesh. Passengers were waiting for take-off when there was sudden hysterical hammering on the door. At first the cabin crew paid no attention. The hammering continued. When the door was finally opened, the pilot got in.
One frequent flier lost a certain amount of confidence when the cabin staff asked him to sit in the lavatory during take-off, so that they could occupy the seats nearest the emergency exit. Another lost faith in the pilot's navigational skills when passengers were given lifeboat drill on a flight between London and Manchester.
For nervous fliers, a journey to be avoided was one between Gatwick and Montpellier, where the in-flight entertainment consisted of watching pieces of the engine falling off. Another passenger was asked to hold the aircraft door closed at take-off and landing.
Baggage is a rich source of horror stories. There was the unlucky traveller who left Chicago in minus 23 weather. He was going to an important meeting in Dallas, where the temperature was 80 plus. Unfortunately his suitcase had gone to LA, where it spent the next two days. The customers he was trying to impress were more than a little surprised to see him going round in a thick suit, heavy overcoat and fur hat.
MEN AND WOMEN
Men and women do things differently. There are, of course, exceptions to every generalization, including this one.
Cristina Stuart is a managing director of Speakeasy Training, a consultancy that runs courses for men and women working together. Here she describes a few key differences between the sexes in the workplace.
Working together. The male approach to business is competitive, direct and confrontational. The end justifies the means. Personal status and a focus on the individual are important.
The female method is collaborative. Collective action and responsibility are more important than personal achievement. Lateral thinking, as well as goodwill and the well-being of the individual, are also of great importance.
Tackling problems. The male approach is to go to the heart of the problem, without taking into account secondary considerations. The female preference is to look at various options.
Body language. Male body language tends to be challenging. Female body language tends towards self-protection. A stereotypical female pose is sitting cross-legged; the male sits with legs apart to give an impression that he is in control.Male behaviour can include forceful gestures for example banging a fist on the desk for effect. The female style does not usually include aggressive gestures.
Language.The male way of speaking does not encourage discussion. Women tend to welcome others’ opinions and contributions more.
Conversation. Men like to talk about their personal experiences and achievements or discuss 'masculine' topics such as cars or sport. Women tend to talk about staff problems and personal matters.
Meetings.If a woman does not copy the male confrontational style, she is often ignored.
Self-promotion. Men find it easy to tell others about their successes. Women tend to share or pass on the credit for a success.
Humour.Men's humour can be cruel - a man's joke usually has a victim. Female humour is less hurtful. A woman often jokes against herself.
Caveat. Many men have a female style of working. Equally many women have a male approach.As Ms Stuart says many of the current management theorems - flatter organisations, empowerment, managing by consensus - have a female style to them.