Global Communication

Globalization is upon us today. Because of modern technology, people across the world are able to communicate with each other almost instantaneously. As a whole, the human race is becoming less and less separated by physical boundaries as we become connected virtually. But just because we have the ability to communicate worldwide, does not mean that our communication is perfect. We still have the barriers of language and culture that prevent proper communication, if not prevent it entirely. These aren’t barriers that should be destroyed, but rather ones that we must studied and understood so that we can navigate through them to achieve proper communication. Learning the languages of other cultures can broaden ones horizons, as well as his/her ability to communicate with a whole section of people that would be otherwise blocked by these barriers. But this communication can still be complicated and may never be achieved if one is unable to surpass his/her own cultural barriers to communicate outside on one’s own community.

People around the globe find it difficult to communicate outside their own communities even though technology has eliminated the physical barriers. This difficulty is caused by differences in the way we communicate, such as language we speak or the cultural norms that we follow. Wei Zhang is a student from China studying abroad in the US and he has experienced some of these barriers first hand.”I have lived in China for 20 years (and) now I have come to the US experiencing (a) totally different environment.” “Human beings (are) naturally used to staying together and keeping their own tradition. When they meet a new community they feel threatened” (Zhang) When people don’t understand another culture’s traditions and norms, they can sometimes feel a sense of hostility or feel offended by the actions that would be commonplace in a culture outside their own. But sometimes it is simpler than that; sometimes it is just a matter of the very way we communicate. People sometimes have difficulty communicating outside their own community “because they not only speak different languages, but also because of other factors such as what gestures are accepted in either (community).” (Karla Albrecnt) Language has become the major barrier in communication around the world, and it is a barrier that defines the edges of our communities.

“Our language identifies who we are, our culture and our heritage.” (Mike Cemstock) Because of this we form groups of communities that include the people that are like us; look like us, act like us and especially speak like us. For this reason we see language as a big separator of people, we distance ourselves from people with dialects or accents we don’t understand. Karla Albrecht described an example of here in the Minnesota where we are from the same culture yet different parts of the state speak very differently; we have a wide range of accents including country, northern and city. These three groups of people are in most cases not going to communicate well with one another because they bring along with them a whole different history of life and values based on that language. One’s Language is a part of them, it is not lost or forgotten, it defines who you are and where you came from. Language is a powerful thing and like mentioned previously it tends to separate groups of people. "Language is a means of communication between people. Language is not only a vehicle for the expression of thoughts, perceptions, feelings and emotions, and values features of a community; it also represents a basic expression of social identity."(Zhang) “Not only does language create several communications among people but also it makes bilateral relation between different groups and societies.” (Sarikhani, 1) For this reason there is an increasing need to teach different languages to the younger generations, so they can understand and tolerate the differences in other people. In fact some communities have taken it a step further and make it mandatory to teach second languages to students in school.

Wei Zhang described learning English in his school as a huge importance. He stated “We have English classes everyday and plenty of English teachers. They are doing this to help students communicate with people all around the world, and because China is becoming more open a lot of good jobs will require English.” That same thought is just alike here in the United States. “Having the knowledge of a second language will not only help out communicating with other employees in the job field but also definitely contribute to a resume and the number of Jobs offered to you.” (Comstock) As can be seen, a second language seems to benefit a person greatly, but do we have enough resources to allow every student to learn a second language. The U.S. department of education shows that only 44% of American high school students are enrolled in foreign language classes, of those students, 69% are enrolled in Spanish and 18% in French. (San Fernando, 1) Is this because of limited teachers or does the U.S. just not care as much about teaching second languages? Karla Albrecht says, yes we do have enough teachers. She would just like to see them beginning to teach at a younger age. Children are a lot keener on learning new things and catch on better in comparison to teenagers and adults. There are plenty of people jobless today that the government should look into this need for students to learn a second language and do something about it, such as get more people teaching second languages because it can greatly broaden the horizons of a student’s thinking.

Learning and knowing another language changes peoples’ ways of thinking. People may be interested to know and read about the other communities and cultures, but the language barrier sometimes makes it hard for them to do so. Learning and knowing another language helps people to study abroad in different cultures. For example, Wei Zhang’s studying abroad in the US from China. “I started learning English since elementary school. In the process of learning English, I got a chance to know the culture of another community.” (Zhang) Knowing and learning English helped him to decide to further his education in United States of America. After he came to US, he learned how to communicate with people from a different culture. Communicating with others from a different cultural community improved his way of thinking and understanding.

“It is evident that the questions raised by globalization for language teaching are both complex and diverse.” (David Block) Some people say the reason why people always learned languages is for economic reasons. Some commentators have suggested that languages are coming to be treated more and more as economic commodities, and that this view is displacing traditional ideologies in which languages were primarily symbols of ethnic or national identity. Therefore it is more important to make second language learning mandatory in elementary or secondary schools. It will be helpful to the coming generations to understand and accept cultural differences between communities and how important that language is for that community. As we see in the above example, learning English in elementary school helped Wei Zhang to further his understanding and ease some of the difficulties in communicating with others outside of his own community. Global communication is becoming more prevalent and necessary as time goes by and so navigating the barriers of language and culture in global communication is becoming a major necessity.

Works Cited

Albrecnt, Karla. Writing Assignment, English 191 Section 21

Comstock, Mike. Writing Assignment, English 191 Section 21

Zhang, Wei. Writing Assignment, English 191 Section 21

Block, David. “Globalization and Language Teaching.” London:Routledge,2002.

Sarikhani, Robabe "Language and American Social Identity." Language and American Social Identity. 30 Jan. 2008. EzineArticles.com. 29 Sep 2009 <http://ezinearticles.com/? Language-and-American-Social-Identity&id=956774>.

San Fernando Valley Business Journal, . "The importance of learning foreign languages.." AllBusiness.com (2006): 1. Web. 26 Sep 2009. <http://www.allbusiness.com/north-america/ united-states-california/3928108-1.html>.