Writing Resources
An international language refers to a language in widespread use as a foreign language or second language Richards et al 1992 p 234 Over the years the English language has reached a status of the international language and has played an important role around the world for economic education scientific and entertainment exchange between nations and particularly between people and commonly is characterized as a lingua franca According to Crystal 1997 today more people use English than has used any other language in the history of the world Additionally almost 380 million people have English as a first language but more than a billion people use it as a second language Even if people from different backgrounds such as cultural and linguistic meet they need to communicate using a particular language as the lingua franca English is now a world lingua franca used by people in almost every part of the world Graddol 2006 states that The English language finds itself at the center of the paradoxes which arise from globalization It provides the lingua franca essential to the deepening integration of global service based economies It facilitates transnational encounters and allows nations institutions and individuals in any part of the world to communicate their world view and identities Yet it is also the national language of some of the most free market economies driving economic globalization and is often seen as representing particular cultural economic and even religious values p 66
