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Why Learn
English?
English was originally the language of England, but through the
historical efforts of the British Empire it has become the primary or secondary
language of many former British colonies such as the United States, Canada,
Australia, and India. Currently, English is the primary language of not only
countries actively touched by British imperialism, but also many business and
cultural spheres dominated by those countries. It is the language of Hollywood
and the language of international banking and business. As such, it is a useful
and even necessary language to know.
Meanwhile,
English has also played role as a global language. Some theorists mention some
characteristics of English as global language i.e. the use of English has
spread across the world and it has become the most preferable foreign language
teaching. English has also been used widely in economic, politic, and
scientific fields as well as the main tool of communication in media such as
radio, television, newspaper, and even internet. (Lynch, 2000, Crystal,
1997, Fishman, 1998).
In today’s global world, the
importance of English can not be denied and ignored since English is the most
common language spoken everwhere. With the help of developing technology,
English has been playing a major role in many sectors including medicine,
engineering, and education, which, in my opinion, is the most important arena
where English is needed. Particularly, as a developing country, Indonesia needs
to make use of this world-wide spoken language in order to prove its
international power.
English is
the International Common Tongue
There are several factors that make the English language essential to
communication in our current time. First of all, it is the most common foreign
language. This means that two people who come from different countries (for
example, a Mexican and a Sweden) usually use English as a common language to
communicate. That’s why everyone needs to learn the language in order to get in
touch on an international level. Speaking it will help you communicate with
people from countries all over the world, not just English-speaking ones.
Education
English is also essential to the field of education. In many countries,
children are taught and encouraged to learn English as a second language. Even
in countries where it is not an official language, such as the Netherlands or
Sweden, we will find many syllabi in science and engineering are written in
English. Because it is the dominant language in the sciences, most of the
research and studies you find in any given scientific field will be written in
it as well. At the university level, students in many countries study almost
all their subjects in English in order to make the material more accessible to
international students.
The Internet and Press
On the Internet, the majority of websites are written and created in
English. Even sites in other languages often give you the option to translate
the site. It's the primary language of the press: more newspapers and books are
written in English than in any other language, and
no matter where in the world you are, you will find some of these books
and newspapers available. In fact, because it is so dominant in international communication,
you will find more information regarding nearly every subject if you can speak
this language.
Travel and Business
With good understanding and communication in English, you can travel
around the globe. Because it is the international language for foreigners, it's
easy to get assistance and help in every part of world. You can test it by
online travel. Any travel booking site you can find will have English as a
booking option.
English skills will also help you in any business venture you choose to
follow. If you visit some offices, companies, governmental organizations, or
even math or engineering companies, you will see the importance of English. Any
big company will hire their professional staff after getting to know whether
the people they are hiring are good at English or not. Companies who want to
function at an international level only consider their staff well educated if
they are good English speakers, writers, and readers.
Knowing
English opens job and employment opportunities in many countries and markets.
Multilateral institutions and agencies in the four United Nation cities of New
York, Vienna, The Hague and Geneva recruit professionals with multilingual
skills but also expect the candidates to have good English-speaking skills. The
Commonwealth of Nations, made up of 50-plus countries that were former British
colonies or dependencies, also offers numerous employment opportunities to
those who understand and communicate in English.
Resources Make Learning English Easy
Although many people think that it is very difficult and confusing,
English is actually the easiest language of the world to learn because there
are so many resources available. As soon as you decide you want to learn, there
are thousands of resources on the Internet and in bookstores. I'm not just
talking about lessons and grammar books. You can supplement traditional
learning materials with children's TV shows and books. I suggest watching as
much TV as you can, in English with English subtitles, and you will pick up conversational
English in no time.
The Nature
of English Teaching in Indonesia
Although English has been globally
spread, in Indonesia, English is considered a foreign language where it is
commonly taught in schools similar to other subjects such as mathematics,
Biology, and Physics. It is not used as language instruction both in education
and other activities such as business and governance (Philipson, 1992).
So, English teachers in Indonesia should work hard to provide students
with various language exposures in the classroom. The students can not get
inputs of English use in daily communication. They find less exposure to the
English through advertisements or American movies they watch but these
exposures are not enough to make them proficient in using English. English
teaching in the classroom is the key factor to the success of students in
learning English.
The teaching
of English in Indonesia is associated with the influence of English to our
culture. As Mondiano (2001) points out, the teaching of a foreign language may
affect the structure of values of students. Their first language also can be
mixed up by the presence of a new language they learnt. More over, the spread
of English is believed to be the agent of
Americanism. It means, when
students are learning English, they will also learn about the culture
comes along with English, in this case American culture. This statement is
without intention to ignore the cultural influence of other English speaking
countries like Australia and British.
English
teaching and learning also contribute a slang language to Bahasa Indonesia and
it is accelerated by global communication where teenagers can watch a bunch of
entertainments from other countries on TV. “MTV generation”, we often call the
group of young people in Indonesia which use a slang language. The new language
used by this group is a combination of English and Bahasa Indonesia (Heaney,
2005). For example, some phrases such as so what gitu lho…….or please deh……that
are now commonly used in their community, are derived from mixture of English
and Indonesian language.
Both English
and its culture are a unity which means the learning of English may influence
the culture of its learner. There is pride among young people to use English in
their casual communication, although its use is in the form of a slang
language. The way they speak will influence the way they behave which for some
level it will affect their culture. Their hairstyles are like American young
men with blond color and the way they are dressing is western oriented fashion.
Although there is confusion whether it is the phenomenon of globalization or
the impact of English, obviously both of them may have the same result on
degrading our culture.
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