英语演讲全世界的通用语言theenglishlanguage英语语言mr.chairman,adjudicators,ladiesandgentlemen,goodafternoon.thearrivaloftheyear1999hasbroughtwithanearperfectopportunitytotakealookbackatthelastonethousandyears,assessman’ssuccessesandfailures,andlookforwardwithourpredictionsofthethirdmillennium.alreadythisafternoonyou’veheardmanyassessmentsandyou’veheardavarietyofpredictions.avarietysovast,rangingfromlewiscarol’sdepictionofcelebratorylife,totheirishcelebrationofdeath.sovastavarietythatit’sdifficulttofindanycommongroundamongstthecontestantsheretoday.perhapstheonlythingthatweallshareisthatweareindeeddiscussingmillennia,theoldandthenewandtheturnofthemillennium,andwe’realldiscussingitinthesamelanguage.afewhundredyearsagotohaveheldaneventlikethisitwouldhavebeenimperativethatwewereallfluentinanumberofdifferenttongues,fortheapproachofcombatingthelanguagebarrierwassimplytolearnmanydifferentlanguages.ofcoursepeoplebackthenhadanulteriormotivethatwastoensurethatdifferentlanguagesheldtheirdifferentsocietiesorpositions,oraskingcharlesvofspainputit,“ispeakspanishtogod,italiantowomen,frenchtomenandgermantomyhorse.”todayourapproachissomewhatdifferent.insteadoftryingtovastlyspreadourverbalabilityacrosstheboard,we’vechosenrathertofocusit,concentratingonourabilitytomasteroneparticularlanguage,theenglishlanguage.timemagazinerecentlysuggestedthatbytheturnofthemillennium,englishwillbethelinguafrancaforonequarteroftheworld’spopulation.alreadytodaysixtypercentsoftheworld’stelevisionandradiobroadcastsareproducedanddeliveredinenglish.seventypercentsoftheworld’smailaddressedinenglish.anditisthelanguageofchoiceforalmosteverybiteofcomputerdatasentacrosstheglobe.butwhyenglish?therearenoclearlinguisticreasonsforitssuggestedglobaldominance,certainlythegrammariscomplicated,thespellingpeculiarandthepronunciationeccentric,tosaytheveryleast.onewouldneedonlylookthroughthedictionarytofindthevastlistofamusingparadoxesintheenglishlanguage—quicksandthatworksslowly,aboxingringthatisinfactsquareandaguineapigthat’sreallyneitherfromguineanorisitapig.doesn’titseemoddthatonecanmakeamendsbutnotoneamend.orgothroughtheannalsofhistorybutnotoneannal.thereason,ladiesandgentlemen,issimple.englishisstrange,butnowherenearasstrangeassomeofouralternatives.perhapsishouldgiveyouafewidiomaticexamples.inenglishwesay“onceinabluemoon”.theitalianchooseinstead“everydeathofapope”.irishdoesn’tlikeour“dropdead”,replacingitratherwiththeslightlymoreobscure“youshouldlieintheearth.”andifyouwantedtotellsomeoneoffinspanishourrelativelyobvious“goflyakite”wouldbebetterservedbythephrase“gofryasparagus”.english’sprimaryadvantageisthatofflexibility.ontheonehandithasthelargestvocabularyofallmodernlanguages,allowingus,asitsusers,tosayexactlywhatwewantinexactlythewordswechoosetouse.ontheother,globalizationhasinsuredtheintroductionofabusinessenglish,asortoftrimmeddownvarietyofthelanguagewe’veallcometoknowandlove.it’sinterestingtoknowthatthesimplelistofjusttenwords,wordslike“a”,“and”,“have”and“the”,combinedtoformonequarterofallthoseeverusedinmoderncommunication.perhapstherealtestiswilltheglobaladoptionofenglishasamasterlanguageinsuretheeradicationofanymisunderstandingsthathappentoday?theanswerisnotassimple.russellhovenonceasked“howmanypeoplespeakthesamelanguageevenwhentheyspeakthesamelanguage?”butonecanonlyhopethat...
