Course Development as Lingua Franca & Challenges Posed by Mandarin Chinese

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English Language: Course of Development as Lingua Franca and Challenges Posed by Mandarin Chinese
Lingua franca is a linguist term for a language used to communicate across borders with nations and races having their vernacular languages. Ever since the advent of globalization, and even before that, it has been an irrefutable reality that English is the perfect medium of communication across the globe. The successful promotion of English during the reign of the British empire; additionally, American technological, financial, and economic dominance over global trade and finance are two crucial factors that necessitated the worldwide adoption of English. However, other aspects of English, including linguistic pliability and its ability to assimilate socio-cultural elements of the native language and societies, are also significant contributors to its global popularity. Moreover, the wide range of communication strategies adopted by speakers of English as a second language is also established as English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) (Lewandowska 30).
Nevertheless, there are some rivals for this position of English, and Mandarin Chinese is the topmost contender on account of China’s growing global economic and social influence and the increase in the number of learners of Mandarin Chinese. Nevertheless, it is a general agreement amongst linguists that despite China’s emergence as a global power, the establishment of Mandarin Chinese as lingua franca will be limited to China or East Asia, most on account of various linguistic, social, and cultural barriers (Plumb 48). Therefore, this paper aims to discuss the substantial causes of the global popularity of English and the prospects of Mandarin Chinese as a candidate for the next lingua franca of the world.
English colonialism was an offshoot of the Renaissance spirit of discovery and curiosity, and the unprecedented sea voyages that were undertaken during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries led to the expansion of the British Empire in North America, West Indies, South Asia as far as Singapore and Malacca (Woodward 16). Consequently, Britain established a worldwide network of colonies and protectorates, and in these regions and territories, the growing influence of English authorities necessitated the native population to adopt the British linguistic elements for ease of communication. It is crucial to understand the gradual process through which English occupied a central place in the medium of communication as in the beginning, vernacular language and socio-cultural elements hesitated to adopt English linguistic elements.
Nevertheless, sensing the significance of the English language in global trade and quality education, the elites of the natives began to stress the more than frequent use of the English language not only in business and official dealings but also incorporated it as a medium of education (Buchanan). In the sub-continent and Africa, scholars and philosophers played a vital role in spreading English as a medium of instruction. Consequently, most of the former British colonies still use English as an official medium of communication. English is the official national language even in some colonies, includ...