Dankook Blog

A lingua franca is any language widely used beyond the population of its native speakers. The de facto status of lingua franca is usually "awarded" by the masses to the language of the most influential nation(s) of the time. Any given language normally becomes a lingua franca primarily by being used for international commerce, but can be accepted in other cultural exchanges, especially diplomacy. Occasionally the term "lingua franca" is applied to a fully established formal language; thus formerly it was said that French was the lingua franca of diplomacy.

HERE IS THE ENGLISH SPEAKING WORLD

English

English is the current lingua franca of international business and air traffic control, and has displaced French as the lingua franca of diplomacy since World War II. It arguably was advanced by the role of English-speaking countries, in particular the United States, in the aftermath of the war.

The modern trend to use English outside of English-speaking countries has a number of sources. Ultimately, the use of English in a variety of locations across the globe is a consequence of the reach of the British Empire. But the establishment of English as an international lingua franca after World War II was mostly a result of the spread of English via cultural and technological exports from the United States. English is also regarded by some as the global lingua franca owing to the economic hegemony of most of the developed Western nations in world financial and business institutions. The de facto status of English as the lingua franca in these countries has carried over globally as a result.

A landmark recognition of the dominance of English in Europe came in 1995 when, on the accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden, English joined French and German as one of the working languages of the European Union. Many Europeans outside of the EU have also adopted English as their current lingua franca. For example, English serves as a lingua franca in Switzerland, which has four official languages (German, French, Italian, plus Romansch, spoken by a relatively small minority). High German is also spoken by many Swiss citizens, but the relatively high foreign-born population (21% of residents) ensures the dominance of English.