"English is the property of its users native and non-native, and all English speakers need training for effective international communication" (1987:xi).
Do you agree?
Do you agree?
Whose property?
The reality of course is that English is not the property of anyone. There are certain self-professed 'authorities', like the Oxford and Cambridge teaching systems. Also organisations like NATO have adopted a simpler vocabulary in order to aid communication between individuals from different NATO countries communicating in English under very stressful circumstances.
As a sentence, I would disagree with the above sentence, because there are going to be local groups of 'Native' speakers who will never use English for international communication. Similarly for 'non-native' speakers. Does it really matter if people in China use a form of English that is totally unitelligible to anyone, other than other Chinese people using that form of English? There are enough Chinese people who speak a form of English to develop their own community.
As a sentence, I would disagree with the above sentence, because there are going to be local groups of 'Native' speakers who will never use English for international communication. Similarly for 'non-native' speakers. Does it really matter if people in China use a form of English that is totally unitelligible to anyone, other than other Chinese people using that form of English? There are enough Chinese people who speak a form of English to develop their own community.
Does it really matter if people in China use a form of English that is totally unitelligible to anyone, other than other Chinese people using that form of English?
If they onlly use it intranationally, it doesn' matter at all.
If they onlly use it intranationally, it doesn' matter at all.