The Relevance of English in International Diplomacy

General Use of English Language

From an European perspective, though it be, apart from economic and political factors, one of the reasons why English is widely adopted as a second language is that it is relatively easier to learn hence it is accessible to both Romance (French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese etc) and Germanic (Dutch, German, Scandinavian etc).

While English language is not an official language of many countries, it is often taught as a second language around the world and those who hold a great command in English are usually highly regarded in their societies. For an example, Professor Wole Soyinka of the Nigerian society. Both British and American government sponsor and subsidize English-for-foreign-language-speaker courses (e.g TOEFL exams) all over the globe and these spurs up individual interest of people to learn the language. English is also studied as a foreign language in countries where it is not used generally as a medium of communication. In Japan, almost all junior high, high school students and colleges study English. In China, English language lessons are popular TV programmes. About two hundred and fifty million Chinese (more than the population of the U.S.A) use English language and because it is so widely spoken, it is often referred to as a “global language” – the linqua franca of the modern era.

English is an international language of news and information in the world. Publication of books, even those published in other languages, often have abstract in English. English is also commonly used in sciences for example in 1997, the citation index reported that 95% of it’s articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries. Even in tourism, English language is generally used hence, English language is important in international travels because much of the information countries send out about themselves outside of their border, is in English language. English is spoken in hotels and tourist attractions, at airports and in shops that tourist frequent. Tours are always almost available in English and even in countries where few people speak English language on the street, people who work as tourist guides, to tourist, generally speak English to avoid the use of interpreters.

In countries with many indigenous languages, as in the case of Nigeria, the English language is used mainly as a neutral language in order to avoid giving one of the many indigenous languages too much prestige and importance over others.

International Diplomacy

According to the Longman Active Study Dictionary (2000), the meaning of; international “is” connected with or involving more than one country while Diplomacy “is” the activity of dealing with political relations between countries. Therefore from the above definition, international Diplomacy can be said to be the activity of relating between more than one country.

Having seen the many advantages of English language all over the world, it will be noteworthy to add that English speaking Nations (and nation who use English language in international diplomacy) has enormous economic, scientific and cultural advantages over those who use other languages. It therefore will also be worthwhile to say that for an advantage to be secured in international Diplomacy, the understanding, knowledge and use of English language is always of great importance. English language is the language which a French-speaking Belgian and a Dutch-speaking Belgian, a French-speaking Swiss and a German-speaking Swiss, a native of Tokyo and a native of Seoul, an Igbo-speaking Nigerian and an Ibibio-speaking Nigerian, will use to speak to each other and transact business together hence, it is a “unity language” and unity is required in diplomacy.

Conclusion

In several countries, English is the sole or dominant language. Most of these countries are former British colonies. In other countries English is widely used, for example it is widely used in Hong – Kong, Singapore, Nigeria, the Philippines and Malaysia. In such countries, it is often used as a means of communication between people who have different native languages. English language is a major language of international business, science, professions and diplomacy.