Language Imperialism and the English Craze in China.doc

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1、Language Imperialism and the English Craze in China内容摘要 随着全球化和信息化浪潮的到来，一个不争的事实是：越来越多来自不同国家的人们在用一种语言(即英语)相互交流和传播思想。目前，全世界有近3.8亿人口把英语作为母语，约2.5亿人口把英语用作第二语言。而学习英语的人数则更多。英国文化委员会估计，全球正在学习英语的人口大约为十亿，另有15-20亿人口每天使用接触英语。到2050年，全球一半人口会较熟练使用英语。我国英语热的出现与国家的开放政策有密切关联，这一点在我国入世后更是如此。现在，我国不但要求高初中以上所有学生必修英语，从2001年起，

2、还要求在有条件的城市中普及小学三年级英语教学。我国每年高考和研究生考试的必考科目，和提拔干部和晋升技术职称的必要条件之一。在上海这样的大城市，一个人的英语能力还可以决定他是否能够成为国际化人才的标志。本文讨论了国际中英语强势的表现方式和研究英语强势的必要性，并从英语语言本身发展历程、宏观层面、技术因素和综合原因等方面分析了在国际中出现英语强势的成因。本文最后分析了国际中英语强势给英语国家和非英语国家所带来的影响，并突出了对我国现阶段的影响。关键词： 英语热，成因，影响AbstractWith the coming of globalization and the age of informat

3、ion, an indisputable fact is that more and more people from different countries around the world are communicating and disseminating ideas by using the same language, that is, English. By far, nearly 380 million people have English as their mother tongue in the whole globe and about 250 million peop

4、le use English as their second language. The English craze in China has a close relationship with its open policy, especially after its entry into WTO. Currently, it is not only required that all the students in junior and senior high school should learn English, but also required the permeation of

5、English teaching among the grade-three pupils in primary school in some good-conditioned cities from 2001. English is the subject that students have to take in the college entrance and postgraduate examination every year in China. This article discusses the way that shows the dominant position of th

6、e English language in the world and the necessity of studying the English superiority. Furthermore, the reason of the formation of English language imperialism is analyzed from these elements such as the developing course of the English language itself, the technology, and the comprehensive causes a

7、nd so on. Most importantly, it analyses the impact of the English language superiority on both English-speaking and non-English-speaking countries, especially on the current stage of China.Key words: the English craze, cause of formation, impactContentsIntroduction.1Chapter One The Dominant Position

8、 of English Language3 1.1 A Brief History of English.3 1.1.1 The Development of English Language.3 1.1.2 The Global Position of English.5 1.1.3 The Developing Process in China.6 1.2 A Working Definition of Language Imperialism and the English Craze.6 1.2.1 Language Imperialism.6 1.2.2 English Craze

9、in China.8 1.3 English-the Global Language Today.9 1.3.1 The Linguistic Features of English Language.10 1.3.2 The Historical Reasons11 1.3.3 Some Other Reasons12Chapter Two The Impact of the dominant position of English language.14 2.1 The Impact on English-speaking Countries15 2.2 The Impact on Non

10、-English-speaking Countries16 Chapter Three The English Craze in China and its Impact20 3.1 The English Craze in China.20 3.2 The Positive Impact of the English Craze in China.21 3.3 The Negative Impact of the English Craze in China.21Conclusion.24NotesBibliography26Language Imperialism and the Engl

11、ish Craze in ChinaIntroductionThe academic circle holds that “language imperialism” refers to a fact, that is, because some sort of metropolitan states language must be used within the high-grade category of peoples life, such as education, judicatory and administration and so on, the native languag

12、e of this district can only express the low-grade or primitive aspect of peoples life. Therefore, this makes even the elites of that district lose their confidence and believes that only if they master the metropolitan states language will they obtain a better life.1With the coming of globalization

13、and the age of information, an indisputable fact is: more and more people from different countries around the world are communicating and disseminating ideas by using the same language, that is, English. By far, nearly 380 million people have English as their mother tongue in the whole globe and abo

14、ut 250 million people use English as their second language. While the number of people who are learning English is even larger. The English Culture Committee made an estimate that there are about one billion people who are learning English all over the world with an addition of 1500-2000 million peo

15、ple using English every day. By 2050, half of the worlds population will have been proficient in using it.The English craze in China has a close relationship with its open policy, especially after its entry into WTO. Currently, it is not only required that all the students in junior and senior high

16、school should learn English, but also required the permeation of English teaching among the grade-three pupils in primary school in some good-conditioned cities from 2001. English is the subject that students have to take in the college entrance and postgraduate examination every year in China.In th

17、is essay, the first two chapters show that English has a dominant position among the worlds various languages; in chapter three, the English craze in China and its impact will be analyzed.Chapter OneThe Dominant Position of English Language1.1 A Brief History of English It is a truth no one can deny

18、 that all things of creation develop in a process of perpetual change. Language as a tool of communication is no exception. Arthur Lloyd James is absolutely right when he has it, “ A language is never in a state of fixation, but is always changing. We are not looking at a lantern slide but at a movi

19、ng picture.” (Arthur Lloyd James 1935)2 Leafing through an English etymological dictionary and tracing the history of some active words right up to their present-day usage, we are sure to be either enchanted or shocked by finding the dramatic differences between the English language in current use a

20、nd the English language in the past, or, lets say, Old English.3 1.1.1 The Development of English LanguageOld English refers to the language spoken by the earliest settlers in the British Isles-the Angles, Saxons and Jutes from the 5th to about the 12th centuries AD, well before and after the Tang D

21、ynasty in China (618-907).4 Before the 5th century, these dominant invading tribes lived and procreated in a part of Europe which now encompasses the whole of Denmark and a part of Germany. Although they spoke different dialects, their language was Germanic in origin. In the 5th century, quite a num

22、ber of the Frisians also came to Britain. They either joined voluntarily or were swept along by the expedition of the Anglo-Saxons who passed through their territory in the northwestern part of Europe to enter and occupy Britain. The Frisians were also noted as both traders and raiders during Viking

23、s times. They used a collection of dialects often unintelligible with each other. Nevertheless, the Frisian language as a whole was also Germanic in origin. The Frisian language had a considerable impact on the formation of Old English, and that is why the current Frisian language is linguistically

24、classified as the closest relative to English.From the 8th to the 10th centuries the Vikings, also known as the Scandinavian pirates, attacked and sometimes settled along the coasts of northern and western Europe, including Britain. Their language, also Germanic in origin, had some sort of impact up

25、on the form of English already existing when they arrived. The subsequent natural blending of the language of these invading tribes laid a solid foundation for the existence of German content in English, which, I think, offers a good sense of correctness for some scholars allegation that English is

26、a sister language of German. Next chronologically came the Normans. No one can overestimate the significance of the historically known event-the Norman Conquest, i.e. the invasion of England by the Normans in the 11th century. The Normans who came from Normandy in France were descendants of the mixe

27、d Scandinavian and Frankish race. They were actually the northern French people. Their language was not a Germanic one but a Romance one, based on the spoken form of Latin of Rome. With the Normans becoming the new masters of the British Isles, it was a matter of course that their language was begin

28、ning to flood the English language at that time.Old English was soon relegated to be the language of the lower classes (peasants and slaves) and couldnt but make way for Norman French to be used exclusively by the propertied class. Bilingualism gradually became a necessity among those who had to do

29、business with both upper and lower classes. However, this by no manner of means helped to hinder the extensive infiltration of Norman French into English. With the lapse of time, more and more French was invisibly added to English resulting in significant changes in inflection and pronunciation. In

30、the year 1204, English was labeled the only home of the so-called Norman English. This, I think, affords another good sense of correctness for some other peoples allegation that English is more of a Romance language than of a Germanic one. By about the time of the Renaissance, the period in Europe b

31、etween the 14th and 17th centuries, the language in question had gradually developed into what is known as Middle English.Modern English covers the long period from 1500 to the present. This period has witnessed a continuous influx of words and expressions from a great variety of sources. English ha

32、s been going on assimilating them, creating thereby a reality that it now has the largest vocabulary of any language today all over the world.1.1.2 The Global Position of EnglishWe always hear some information like these: in our world, 75% of TV channel televises program Via English; 85% of internat

33、ional organization uses English as official language; 85% of web page is English page; 80% of E-mail was delivered by English; all the source code of software is made by English. All these show us that English already becomes an international technique.In a sense, a matter that occupies a little pro

34、portion can be a best model of technical plunder. This is the formation of main language market. Some countries, such as Britain, America, even India, can gain enormous profits only depending on the export of English education of which the cost price is nil.It is reported that a Chinese people need

35、cost 5 Yuan for learning an English word. That is to say, we already suffer a cruel exploitation since we lower our head and hand over the noose on neck to globalization to start English study. The little money in our bag will be much less before we get profits from globalization. As a kind of indus

36、try, English education created 70 hundred million pounds for Britain per year. According to American Educational Foundation, United States gains 90 hundred million dollars from foreign students per year, the great part of this profit is attributed by English teaching.1.1.3The Developing Process in C

37、hinaEnglish is the western language that the Chinese learned in the earliest times. During the transition between the 4th and 5th century, a Chinese people called Jiu mo luo shi (鸠摩罗什), who was a master of translating lections, translated nearly 300 rolls of lections. From Sui (隋)to Tang dynasty, th

38、e three great masters of translation turned up, they are Xuan zang (玄奘), Jiu mo luo shi (鸠摩罗什), and Zhen di (真谛).They pushed our countrys translating industry to a new height.Then the modern times comes, a famous translator named Yan fu (严复), translated many prestigious foreign works, such as T.H.Hu

39、xleys “ Evolution and Ethics and other Essays”, A.Smiths “ An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations” and C.L.S.Montesquieus “ Lesprit des Lois” and so on and so forth.As the globalization goes on, China raised a upsurge of learning English all over the nation, various kinds of

40、examination systems emerge as the times require. People are all eager to obtain a certificate or diploma of English. Therefore, the English craze turns up in China. 1.2 A Working Definition of Language Imperialism and the English Craze 1.2.1 Language ImperialismImperialism, as normally defined in la

41、te 19th century England, is primarily a political system in which colonies are governed from an imperial center, for economic but also for other reasons held to be important, then the subsequent grant of independence or self-government to these colonies can be described, as indeed it widely has been

42、, as “the end of imperialism”. On the other hand, if imperialism is understood primarily as an economic system of external investment and the penetration and control of markets and sources of raw materials, political changes in the status of colonies or former colonies will not greatly affect descri

43、ption of the continuing economic system as imperialist.5In current political argument the ambiguity is often confusing. This is especially the case with “American imperialism”, where the primarily political reference is less relevant, especially if it carries the 19th century sense of direct governm

44、ent from an imperial centre, but where the primarily economic reference, with implications of consequent indirect or manipulated political and military control, is still exact. Lenin is a key theorist of imperialism. In Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, he wrote: If it were necessary to

45、give the briefest possible definition of imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the monopoly stage of capitalism.6 Though much analysis of imperialism has been primarily economic, later versions of imperialism theory also encompass the political, social, and ideological dimensions of

46、exploitation, and integrate all these strands into a coherent whole. The theories attempt to account for the structure that perpetuates inequality in the world.While, “language imperialism” refers to: because some sort of metropolitan states language must be used within the high-grade category of pe

47、oples life, such as education, judicatory and administration and so on, the native language of this district can only express the low-grade or primitive aspect of peoples life. Therefore, this makes even the elites of that district lose their confidence and believes that only if they master the metr

48、opolitan states language will they obtain a better life. Language imperialism is closely related to other types of imperialism, such as economic, political, military, communicative (here meaning communication and transport), cultural and social imperialism. It is a kind of imperialism in the area of linguistics. It is well known to a