English speakers in the world including those who are in the inner circle, outer circle and expanding circle had reached to 380 millions of people since 2001. The finding shows how influential English Language is. Gradually, English become the international lingua franca, “utilized outside of the country or countries of its origin.”( Subject Area – English Language Essays) The Lingua Franca There are both pros and cons of English becoming the international lingua franca.
English is the best candidate language for lingua franca. Many countries take English as the second language, students learn English under the educationsystem mandatorily. In this way, the percentage of the population had the standard level of understanding of English, which is a non-native language, is unprecedentedly large. Also, there are so many English Language media immersing in the world, for example movies, pop music, the American TV programmes and the internet etc. The high level of invasion of the Anglophone societies’ culture creates a platform for learners to enhance their English abilities, just by sitting in front of the computer. Learning English is as easy as this without having to go to an English speaking country. Under the fact that English is widespread in comparison to the most other languages, there is no doubt that English is the most suitable to be the international lingua franca.