By: Jun Mar V. Martisano
Do the English in England speak the same English as the Americans, the Jamaicans, the South Africans, the Australians, the Irish and the Indians? Do they even speak the same English as they did 100 years ago before the advent of radio, television, and internet? Should there be global standards for all English speakers?
People who speak English in this world vary on many different ways. Some may alter the way they accent rate the words, others is on how they use the words in spelling. These problems seem to be intriguing because nobody knows whose English is really correct. Now, let me point of some advantages in setting a global standard for all English speakers: world Englishes operate as a lingua franca at a number of different level including local national, regional and international; world Engilshes are spoken in particular contents to specific audiences; world Englishes are powerful for it spreads any imperial or post imperial imposition on its unwilling speakers. Those advantages enable people to communicate with other speakers of English because they were able to meet the norms between Englishes, but how about the hindrances of setting standards? Now if the goal is international communication, then many people will fail to communicate in English with an international standard. Second, non-native English speakers face additional hurdles to publish English articles. If we set global standards in English I believe it would create conflict to those who are not used to English because some countries do not practice English as medium of instruction instead they use their native language in communication.
There shouldn’t be global standards for all English speakers because it would just give them difficulties in using the language especially those who are not a native speaker of English, in view of the fact that many of the English speakers are actually second language speakers. We cannot assert that one version of English is better than the other forms. All Englishes are actually correct it just differs on how people give justice and emphasis into it.
exegesis 