The Language Problem in the World in Nigel Vincent's Why English is Not Enough

Nigel Vincent recently gave a talk at Stony Brook University regarding the topic of “Why English is Not Enough”. In this beginning of his speech, Vincent discussed that there is a large language problem in the world -» where one can struggle by not knowing English, but also struggle by only knowing English. A prominent idea brought at the start are the similarities between the usage of language within the United States and the United Kingdom. Both countries deal with the prominence of English, where most people believe that it is fine to speak that single language.

This remains a true fact; many countries have English as a language spoken by the majority and used as a “backup“ for many non-natives. However, there remains the problem of some places that simply don’t possess a large group of English speakers. If people from the U.S/U.K were to visit these places, how would they possibly communicate with this “only English” mindset?

Additionally, another factor that both countries share is the deterioration of importance of language in school systems.

International groups are prominent in both countries, but the role of language simply seems to decline over the years, leading to an ironic lack of diversity. Vincent also brings up a point where organizations are interested in hiring those who are bilingual, or multilingual in general This opinion is shared by most, as knowing multiple languages shows a sense of proficiency and intelligence in the person. However, this point is ironic, when considered with the point above; employers are looking for people who speak a variety of speeches, but a majority of people in both the United States and the United Kingdom hold English as the only language they should be fluent in.

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With this, employers are left hiring those outside of these countries, leaving the U.S/U.K both jobless and lacking proficiency.

Lastly, Vincent brings up an essential problem when one is limited by only speaking and knowing English. He shows the audience an example, with the recent tragedy of the Charlie Hebdo shootings and the media reponings about it. Spread as a worldwide tragedy, the news was spread by all types of media, with all countries across the Earth. However, in this case, the United States and France are brought up as the main sources of the news. Because these two countries are so different in politics and general culture, the way that this news was brought up was totally different in each area Someone who grew up in the United States, with no knowledge of French culture, would not understand how the media portrayed this particular event in France. This brings up the idea of being culturally unaware, where someone is completely oblivious to how other countries View happenings of the world -» how utterly different different points of view can be.

This idea is tied into the main topic Vincent brings up in the talk, where if people were educated with non—English culture/languages, they would be more prone to understanding how different people in the world saw events like this one. Overall, I really enjoyed listening to this talk. I know several people who share this idea that English is the only language needed to survive in the world, and I hope that showing this video to them will change their minds. Although English remains a very prominent, well»known speech, knowing other languages and about other cultures greatly assists many. With the knowledge of different types of speeches and areas, people are able to communicate more easily and develop a stronger bond. I would love to hear more of Vincent’s talks, as I truly believe that this one was very inspiring and essential to hear; I believe that if this was shown to more people, they would change their English-only stance.