More than 1 billion people are believed to speak some form of English. For every native speaker, there are at least three non-native speakers. English has become the universal language of business and commerce. Jacques Chirac, a former president of France, famously walked out of a 2006 EU meeting because someone, a fellow Frenchman, insisted on speaking English "because that is the language of business". English, it seems, has even invaded football pitches. The Brazilian referee for the recent England-United States match at the FIFA World Cup reportedly studied a lexicon of English-language obscenities.
With so many people using English, we wonder whether it is time to streamline English spelling. Might it make communication easier? Would it help avoid confusion? The Australians, rather maddeningly, spell "labour" as the British do, but their Labor Party is spelt without a "u". Should the world adopt American English or British English? "Center" or "centre"? "Favorite" or "favourite"? "Defense" and "offense" or "defence" and "offence"?
The ever-growing global spread of English, in general, has no visible barrier in sight. The advantages of streamlining international communication by making it more uniform (and thus more reliable) would feed this surge. At each point of adoption, a decision has to be made: What flavour of English do we use? In the days of the British empire, this decision was made for the new speakers, but in the present time, new adopters have a choice, one independent of history and past cultural ties. American English's time has arrived. It is not just in critical areas of communication (such as airline radio communications) that uniformity is an advantage.
In this lesson learn about the English language, the American usage of English, basic facts about the language and why American English is muscular and flexible, not insular.
