The Legacy of Language and Power

The Legacy of Language and Power

Language determines how a nation-state is powerful depending on how other states speak it. For instance, the English language is widely spread worldwide. Other indigenous languages have been wiped out by the English dialect. Colonial powers introduced their indigenous language in their process of colonisation. In our contemporary learning institutions, students are forced to learn a foreign language at the expense of their indigenous ones. Most people find it necessary to learn the dominant language in various social groupings to enhance communication amongst themselves. International students, especially in colleges and universities, struggle to adjust their indigenous language to help them survive in a foreign country. No law supports a common language to all people across the world, but circumstances find many people learning foreign languages. It is necessary for stakeholders to come up with an amicable solution to address the issue of the language barrier.

Individuals should learn a foreign language but not to forget about their indigenous one. It is imperative to learn as many foreign languages as possible since it increases the rate of sociability among people. Some languages are viewed as inferior while others are considered as superior and therefore are locked down upon. For equality, all languages should be respected by everybody regardless of the world region. In many learning institutions, students, as well as lecturers, might land into punishment for speaking their native languages. The society should encourage people to promote their indigenous language to eradicate the inferiority complex suffered by individuals. There is widespread colonisation of languages in contemporary society since individuals are coerced to communicate in foreign languages. International institutions require students to know the indigenous language of the nation-state where the institution is situated. Every culture of a person should be recognised without prejudice.

Power of language key contributor to racial segregation among people in a given society. Lecturers in international learning institutions are tempted to teach how some languages are dominant while others are not. The language issue has orchestrated a lot of conflict in major international colleges and universities. As far as people are advised to speak their local dialect, others feel comfortable when speaking only the foreign language. Assimilation has led to many people to adopt only the foreign languages. Individuals view themselves as more superior than the others when they speak a foreign language. The article asserts that some people don’t like being associated with their local language culture. Native languages are dying out because of the feeling that speaking a foreign language is a sign of superiority in society.

The quest for language dominance in school has created a lot of hatred and racial segregation among students. Arguably, some schools enact policies that exclude specific language speaking students from taking part in school activities. International students might also be punished for speaking their native language. Individuals face a lot of challenges in the job market since most employers set their policies which require job seeking persons to be proficient in a particular language. The language inequality hinders an individual from securing employment opportunities.  Seemingly, language culture is a limiting factor in our modern world. It is necessary for individuals to be conversant with many languages to assist him or her in traversing across the globe. English supremacy makes the world a difficult place to live, and therefore one should learn it as well as other languages to survive anywhere in the world.