ENGLISH AS WORLD LANGUAGE

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 184, 2 May 1929, Page 3

ENGLISH AS WORLD LANGUAGE

“MAINLY USED FOR FOREIGN LETTERS” In an interview with the Stockholm newspaper, “Nya Dagligt Allehanda,” Professor Zachrisson, of Upsala University, recently expressed the view that English would soon be raised to the rank, honour, and dignity of a world language. Inspired by this, the paper has been making some interesting “practical” inquiries on its own account. It has sounded representative men in banking, commerce, industry, the wireless, gramophone and kinema worlds, telephone and telegraph operators, police, taxi drivers, tram conductors, and a host of others. The result “summarised” in a five-column article is distinctly flattering to English. Import and export firms and industrial men in practically all branches say that certainly English has the greatest prospects of becoming a world language. In 65 out of 100 cases English is the language in which their foreign business has to be conducted. German takes a good second place, but, while foreigners may use any language they like in writing to Sweden, a Swedish business man would, when writing to foreigners, always use English except to a correspondent resident in Germany. In the motor trade the favoured language is English—or “English and American in fine combination.” German is used extremely little, French even less.

English is most prominent in the film trade, but German is also used by some European producers, including some Russian and many French films. The speaking film, wireless and television wireless are referred to as the strongest means of propaganda for English as a world language. In Sweden gramophone records in English make the greatest appeal; Americans stand in a class by themselves for gramophone music and good gramophone voices. English has made great headway at the Stockholm high schools in recent years, especially among students of language for language sake, natural science, math .i. ”iics, astronomy, physics, and chemistry. At the Stockholm Commercial High School English has long been predominant, and practically the same applies to the Technical High School. Book dealers inform the newspaper that the greatest demand is for English and American literature, and at

the Public Library an “incredible inquiry” for English and American books is reported—modern American, classic English. The newspaper’s inquiries in other fields all point in the same direction— English is the inevitable world language of the future. But Swedish will remain in Sweden for the special use of Swedes.—Exchange.