Searching for a Global language: A Debate in the Global English Era

5 INTRODUCTION The recent phenomenon of globalization has changed the world. Distances have become shorter and relations among different countries have been eased thanks to the development of transportations and communication media, which have become cheaper and instantaneous. In this world one language, namely English, has become the vehicle through which people can communicate even coming from different corners of the planet. Today English is the language used in international communication, trade, international relations, tourism, science, air traffic, sport and music. English enjoys a predominant position due to many historical, political, economic and cultural reasons, such as the expansion of the former British Empire and the U.S. power in world economy and politics. Learning this language appears to be a necessity for everyone who wants to get involved in any action of international relevance. However, the need to find a way to communicate with people who do not share the same cultural and linguistic background has not emerged in recent years. Indeed, in a world where multilingualism has always been in existence, many solutions have been proposed over the centuries to assure mutual comprehension, but the problem is not an easy one to solve. The aim of this work is to investigate some of the languages which have been adopted by people as tools for international communication throughout history; especially by analyzing the role of English, which is the contemporary world lingua franca. At the times of the Greek Empire, the language which imposed itself upon the others as vehicle of international communication was Greek. It was then followed by Latin, French, Spanish,