Global English
A language becomes a global language because of the power of the people who
speak it, it's nothing to do with the structure of the language.
It's all to do with power but power means different things at different times.
English first became international due to political and military power, the power of
the British Empire.
In the 17th century the power of the industrial revolution which meant that the
language of science and technology became English predominantly.
Then the economic power, the money always speaks.
The language spoken in the 19th century was English because America and Britain
between them had the money markets of the world.
Finally, cultural power emerges in the early 20th century, English is the language of
the vast majority of inventions that make modern society the way it is.
So English has found itself in the right place at the right time over the past four
hundred years.
World Englishes
David Crystal talks about the fact that in the various countries where English has
come to, various versions of it have developed.
An example is the English spoken in South Africa, it contains ten thousand different
words from British English.
So when British natives go to places where English is spoken other than British, they
don't understand it at all.
