The English Speaking World

Multilingualism in the English-Speaking World is the winner of the BAAL Book Prize 2005. Multilingualism in the English-Speaking World: Pedigree of Nations explores the consequences of English as a global language and multilingualism as a social phenomenon. Written accessibly, it explores the extent of diversity in ‘inner circle’ English speaking countries (the UK, the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand) and examines language in the home, school, and the wider community. Considers the perspectives of English as a global language as well as multilingualism as a social phenomenon. Written in an accessible style that draws on contemporary real life examples. Examines the everyday realities of people living in 'inner circle' English-speaking countries, such as the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Discusses the theoretical issues that underpin current debates, drawing on research literature on societal multilingualism, language maintenance and shift, language policy, language and power, and language and identity.

A collection of studies on the role of English in German-speaking countries, covering a broad range of topics.

English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. Have you ever wondered why? Here we go on a journey over five continents to look at countries where English is used in daily life: from the top of Mount Everest in the Himalayan Mountains to the beaches of the Caribbean, from the plains of Kenya to the streets of New York, the shores of Australia, and beyond. Dossiers: Aboriginal Australians Real Pirates of the Caribbean

A sweeping account of the global rise of English and the high-stakes politics of languageSpoken by a quarter of the world's population, English is today's lingua franca- - its common tongue. The language of business, popular media, and international politics, English has become commodified for its economic value and increasingly detached from any particular nation. This meteoric "riseof English" has many obvious benefits to communication. Tourists can travel abroad with greater ease. Political leaders can directly engage their counterparts. Researchers can collaborate with foreign colleagues. Business interests can flourish in the global economy.But the rise of English has very real downsides as well. In Europe, imperatives of political integration and job mobility compete with pride in national language and heritage. In the United States and England, English isolates us from the cultural and economic benefits of speaking other languages.And in countries like India, South Africa, Morocco, and Rwanda, it has stratified society along lines of English proficiency.In The Rise of English, Rosemary Salomone offers a commanding view of the unprecedented spread of English and the far-reaching effects it has on global and local politics, economics, media, education, and business. From the inner workings of the European Union to linguistic battles over influence inAfrica, Salomone draws on a wealth of research to tell the complex story of English - and, ultimately, to argue for English not as a force for domination but as a core component of multilingualism and the transcendence of linguistic and cultural borders.

The essays in this book, written by poets, novelists, mountain-climbers and academics from all over the world, evoke the representation of mountains in the English-speaking world as artists, writers, philosophers or mountain-climbers have represented them from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries. From the Alps to the Pyrenees, from Mount Fuji to Mount Shasta, from the Himalayas to the Scottish Highlands, from Ikere in Nigeria to Devil's Tower in the United States, from Uluru in Australia to the most northern mountain of the Arctic, the shapes of the world speak the same language and tell the world its own story. This interdisciplinary book, weaving together mountaineering, literature, philosophy, painting, cinema, ecology, history, palaeontology, geography, geopolitics, toponymy, law, religion and myth, invites people to an innovative reading of mountains: it reveals the close relationship existing between the shapes of the world and all forms of writing and, at the same time, it shows how the representations of the imagination may be instrumental in protecting the natural world. The story told by the landscape inscribes a broken line in the shapes of the world, tearing the landscape like a fragile page whenever historical and political events (wars, mining or deforestation) leave scars in the landscape; but writers' and artists' representations of mountains constitute a path to awareness as they are not only a painting of beauty, but an image of our link to nature and a warning as well. For centuries the image of the mountain has conveyed a symbolism telling the story of human thought, and this book shows to what extent literature and art play an essential part in our awareness of nature.

Written in a detailed and fascinating manner, this book is ideal for general readers interested in the English language.

The English language is currently used as a second or foreign language in those countries which had once been British colonies. For example, when united India was partitioned into two main countries, India and Pakistan, it was intended that English would gradually be replaced as the language of administration in both countries. However, as the countries were also home to several regional languages, attempts to introduce a sole official language and abolish English as the second official language have never succeeded. In today’s world, English is the language of the cultural, social and political elite, offering significant economic, political and social advantages to fluent speakers. Speakers of the English language automatically enjoy greater social status and have easier access to positions of power and influence. Learning and teaching the English language has therefore become a concern for those who cannot afford to study in native-speaking countries or at local expensive English-medium schools. This book provides various government and non-government educational and professional institutions with simple and practical language-learning courses which fulfil the requirements of people who want to learn English. It will be of great interest to a wide variety of readers, including teachers, language learners, students, linguistic departments, general readers who are struggling to learn English, and professionals who want to overcome the language barrier.

New studies of both Goethe's relationship to the English-speaking world and its perception of Goethe and his works.Goethe's relations with the English-speaking world have been the subject of scholarly investigation ever since his lifetime. This volume brings together eighteen articles that provide new points of view, a broad range of approaches, and new and original findings on this relationship. These range from the discussion of applications of recent critical approaches such as chaos theory and Edward Said's Orientalism to Goethean texts, through other more empirical contributions that bring to light new material, some of it deriving from archives in Weimar relating to Goethe's contact with English culture. Other essays involve the reassessment of questions of influence, from both sides: inthe case of Cooper and Goethe some standard assumptions are revised, while in the case of Goethe and Edith Wharton and Goethe and George Eliot, new comparative ground is broken. Close readings of portions of well-known texts suchas Faust and Wilhelm Meister challenge standard assumptions. The analysis of selected recent translations of Goethe's poetry raises perennial questions of cultural transfer, while the survey of the role played by some of Goethe's texts in one corner of the English-speaking world, Dublin, is long overdue. Nicholas Boyle is Reader in German Literary and Intellectual History, Head of the Department of German in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene College. John Guthrie is College Lecturer in German and Director of Studies in Modern Languages at New Hall, Cambridge.exts suchas Faust and Wilhelm Meister challenge standard assumptions. The analysis of selected recent translations of Goethe's poetry raises perennial questions of cultural transfer, while the survey of the role played by some of Goethe's texts in one corner of the English-speaking world, Dublin, is long overdue. Nicholas Boyle is Reader in German Literary and Intellectual History, Head of the Department of German in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene College. John Guthrie is College Lecturer in German and Director of Studies in Modern Languages at New Hall, Cambridge.exts suchas Faust and Wilhelm Meister challenge standard assumptions. The analysis of selected recent translations of Goethe's poetry raises perennial questions of cultural transfer, while the survey of the role played by some of Goethe's texts in one corner of the English-speaking world, Dublin, is long overdue. Nicholas Boyle is Reader in German Literary and Intellectual History, Head of the Department of German in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene College. John Guthrie is College Lecturer in German and Director of Studies in Modern Languages at New Hall, Cambridge.exts suchas Faust and Wilhelm Meister challenge standard assumptions. The analysis of selected recent translations of Goethe's poetry raises perennial questions of cultural transfer, while the survey of the role played by some of Goethe's texts in one corner of the English-speaking world, Dublin, is long overdue. Nicholas Boyle is Reader in German Literary and Intellectual History, Head of the Department of German in the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene College. John Guthrie is College Lecturer in German and Director of Studies in Modern Languages at New Hall, Cambridge.versity of Cambridge and Fellow of Magdalene College. John Guthrie is College Lecturer in German and Director of Studies in Modern Languages at New Hall, Cambridge.