Friday, 5 December 2008

In my opinion, culture and language are very important to every human being. Indeed, these are things that bring people together, the need to feel that you belong to a culture shared by a community is inherent in each of us. It involves a set of values and ways of life that are characteristic of a particular group of people and that make them unique and different to other groups. There is no doubt that being part of a culture gives you a sense of identity,which is vital for everyone.Indeed, identity is something that is imbued with great meaning and that is enormously important for the well-being of a person . It is a concept that is widely referred to in literature for example. Authors often allude to the issue of loss of identity and its negative consequences . So, I think that there is a tendency in human nature to struggle for one's identity.When I say identity, it encompasses the sense of belonging to a culture and speaking a language. This is the reason why I doubt that the English language will ever be able to dominate and replace all languages .However, we cannot deny that English is spoken all over the world .Moreover, the English language has led inevitably at the same time to the diffusion of the American culture . There are countless examples around us which prove that the world has become hugely Americanised . Indeed the result of the expansion of English has been the expansion of a culture which seems to have become worldwide: everyone goes to Mac Donald's, listens to English songs, watches the BBC. We have become so deeply emerged into this culture that we should feel in quite another world should it be removed from us. However, even though nobody cannot deny the fact that we are involved in this culture and that English seems to reign supreme, it appears that people cannot detach themselves from their own culture . It is something that people want to preserve, notwithstanding the spread of the English culture . With regards to that, it should be noted that in some countries today,certain people are reacting violently against the English language and culture. Indeed, this originates in this constant fear present in each person of losing his culture and as a result his identity.To conclude, I would say that I disapprove of the idea that the world will end up becoming an homogenous culture ruled by English.

No comments: