Unit 1. English in the World Part 1. Standards & Experiences Lead in

«English is by no means an easy language to learn. There is the problem of spelling, of the large number of exceptions to any rule, it is very idiomatic and the prepositions are daunting! English is one of those languages which for many seems easy in the beginning, but then the bridge between the basic knowledge and mastery takes a long time to cross, and many people give up».

1. Do you find the English language challenging? Do you agree with the quotation?

2. Identify and share which aspects of English you find the hardest. The list below might be helpful.

   Spelling	Pronunciation	Polysemy & polyonymy	Phrasal verbs & prepositions
   Idiomacy	Syntax	Super syntactical struct.	Punctuation
   Fluency	Oral comprehension	Creative writing	Reading comprehension
   Lexicology	Social English	Styles	Technical areas

3. You will now hear a text entitled "English is a Crazy Language". It is a humorous essay with a lot of play on words. The narrator will mention a number of non-existent words. Jot them down as you listen, and then explain why the author has invented them.

e. g. "fing". The author suggests that once writers write, fingers should "fing".

4. Refer to the Tapescript Section at the end of the book and look at the text in more detail. Where in the text does it say that:

• parts that make up the word don’t reflect the word’s ultimate meaning?

• inflections aren’t uniformly used for all similar words?

• words may have a number of meanings which make comprehension difficult?

• the same inflections may suggest totally different meanings?

• words may lose their original meaning and may be equally used in expressions denoting opposite things?

Reading

5. Read the newspaper article below and match the listed headings with appropriate paragraphs in the text. Study the language of the article for further exercises and discussions.

New Name in Publishing Elite	Lapses
Spread of English Today	British and American Distinctions
Encyclopaedic References	Pioneering Publication
Akin to Globalisation	Political Correctness
Global Language	Dictionary's Winning Features

The Dictionary

Robert McCrum, Observer, August 1, 1999, abridged

1

2

Consider the astounding facts of global English. Most estimates agree that there are some 375 million native speakers, a further 375 million second-language speakers and a staggering one billion learners of the English language at large in the world today. What's more, 90 per cent of the world's computers linked to the Internet are based in English-speaking countries.

Whatever the totals (and they'll always be disputed), there's no arguing with the fact that English is now more widely scattered, more widely spoken and written than any other language has ever been. I could go on, but the point is made - by every conceivable indicator, English is the world's first truly global language.

3

Next to the facts, the phenomenon of global English is even more remarkable. Global English is represented on every continent in the interconnected worlds of business, travel, computing, science and academia, radio and television broadcasting, telecommunications, film production, sport and international defence. It is also the language of air travel and outer space. In a profound sense, it underpins the fashionable concept of 'globalisation' and gives that idea a substance it might otherwise lack.

4

Strange to relate, no one has yet thought to supply a dictionary of this language, to provide a guide through the thickets of potential global misunderstanding. No one, that is, until Bloomsbury had the bright idea of going into partnership with Microsoft and commissioning a brand new dictionary of global English. This week, the fruits of this collaboration are available for inspection with the publication of The Encarta World English Dictionary (pp 2,175). Encarta is the registered trademark of Bill Gates's immensely successful electronic encyclopaedia, and one of this book's unique selling points is that it is the first dictionary to be written with print and electronic publication in mind.

5

This hefty, well-produced volume marks a milestone in the history of the language; it is also a significant moment for one of London's newer publishers. Publishing is often described as a business when, in many respects, it resembles a cottage industry. But when you publish a brand-new dictionary with your name on it, you join some venerable figures at the top table of the book business: Collins, Chambers, Longman, Oxford, Webster and Random House. Publish novels and biographies (as Bloomsbury has done for about a decade) and you will live from hand to mouth. Publish a dictionary of global English that's any good and you transform an essentially shoestring operation into a seriously bankable concern.

6

So, is The Encarta World English Dictionary any good? It's certainly global, almost belligerently so, and it's bursting with novelties designed to appeal to the MTV generation. There are line drawings, photographs and technical illustrations on every page. There are lexical items (i.e. words) from the Englishes of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, India, South Asia and Hawaii. There are citations from every conceivable pop cultural source. There are definitions of "ferntickles" (freckles), "gravy rings" (Irish doughnuts) and "voops" (a wild uncontrolled swing at the ball by a Caribbean batsman).

7

Despite these much-trumpeted innovations, it is at heart a conservative volume. Its chief source is the 50 million word Corpus of World English and it has been written in both British and American English. Thus, to cite two obvious examples, 'sidewalk' is cross-referenced to 'pavement', while the American "aluminum" stands adjacent to the British "aluminium".

8

As you'd expect of a dictionary conceived and written during the age of political correctness, it defines a word like 'democracy' with a citation from former President Jimmy Carter addressing the Indian parliament in 1978, where the Oxford definition is more traditionally Eurocentric. Its definitions in areas of what it calls "cultural sensitivity" are on the whole prudent. "Nigger", "cretin", "crone" and "yid" are all identified as "offensive" terms. Unlike traditional dictionaries, it eschews the international phonetic alphabet and adopts its own "easy to understand" system based on English spelling conventions.

9

Bloomsbury's dictionary's 'Cultural Notes' range from Plato to modern blockbusters. There are entries on Bill Clinton, Iris Murdoch and King Hussein of Jordan. These give the dictionary a Look-and-Learn feel that's slightly off-putting. Readers raised on the Oxford model will not immediately warm to Encarta.

10

Like all the best dictionaries, it has some amusing howlers. I suspect that the great Australian choreographer Merce Cunningham will not thank the design team for placing his majestically posed photograph in the middle of an exemplary definition of the famous English four-letter word beginning with C.