It's important for those of us who grew up speaking English to be aware of how much of a burden having to learn English can be.

We Anglophones often think of learning a foreign language as a delightful adventure, a means of personal growth, and the discovery of new ways of understanding the world.

Now think of the receptionist or salesperson whose international employer has mandated that each employee must achieve a certain level of English language competence. For them, English language learning can be something like having to master some hideously bug ridden software application, with no authoritative helpline, instructors and technicians who are often puzzled by the application themselves, and a continual blizzard of updates.

English still rules the world, but that’s not necessarily OK. Is it time to curb its power? | Michele Gazzola | The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/27/english-world-power-language-linguistic-justice

#EnglishLanguage #LanguagePlanning #EFL