English as Lingua Franca

         English as lingua franca has been great for me. It is why I am in the United States. As a child in Morocco we watched American television and wanted to know what the people were talking about. There was always one person who spoke some English to tell us what was going on. I wanted to be that person. I was sure that the translator was not telling us the truth and for sure, he wasn’t. It is a little like when a reporter says that a person he or she is interviewing in the Middle East is saying they hate America and want to see it destroyed when in reality they are saying that the cameraman is putting his car too close to the well. 

      There has to be one language that ties the world together. I wish it was Arabic, but it is English because it was the English Empire that covered all the earth. It is too much trouble to make everyone learn all the languages of the world. I believe that God made the distribution of resources uneven so that people would have to mix. That way we can learn more than if we stay only in our own community. Every culture has something very important to contribute to civilization. One tribe can teach us how to fish, another how to use wood effectively and another how to survive in ice or without water resources like the tribes in the Kalahari. Every group learns how to survive in their environment and what they learn can help others. Also, by looking for resources outside our own environment we are blessed with spices and seeds that allow people to be healthy. Pepper and tomatoes are not indigenous to the entire world. Vegetables started in one part of the world and through trade they are now found everywhere they can grow. At the same time, the traders have to be able to communicate that some plants are healthy and others are poison. This is where a lingua franca is a good thing. 

      The problem with a lingua franca is when we do not appreciate the native languages, cultures and people and try to turn them all into the same person. Towns in America are cropping up all over the world as developers from the U.S. go and set up neighborhoods and shopping in other countries, essentially exporting the American architecture, city planning, and culture. What is the point in traveling to China, Brazil or Casablanca if you will be eating at McDonalds and staying at the Marriott? 

      I am not opposed to a language of commerce, but I am opposed to the loss of language and other cultural diverse artifacts. Diversity is how the world became modernized. It is not one culture that developed everything in the world. It came from people traveling and sharing ideas, concepts, and resources. Every life should be celebrated, not extinguished. Globalization is fine if it honors cultural diversity instead of trying to turn every hamlet from San Franciso to Bombay to Shanghia to London to New York into matching villages.