Intercultural Communication: A Text with Readings Book

How English became the Global language ? Crystal argues it's the power no more. The powerful technologies, culture, economy, alongside the British empire in the past, are the key factors of English to dominate the world . The problem with Crystal is that he describes the English language phenomenon regardless of its dangerous consequences on the other languages in terms of the linguistic identity and multilingualism. Moreover, those who argue for the linguistic imperialism position are'naive' and 'ideals, in which they don't realize the new role of English which has nothing to do with the present politics any longer, he argues. Among those who argue against the unethical role English has been playing is Robert Phillipson in his book Linguistic Imperialism 1992. To better understand the other half of the truth it is good to read Phillipson's position.