It is also not uncommon when we go abroad to a country that speaks a language that is completely alien to us, we learn and use their language. We do not expect them to accommodate to us or to speak in a language that we would understand. When we travel, we will want to be immersed in their culture, feel the life they are living. For example, when one travels to Japan, he will try to pick up some conversational Japanese so it would be easier to communicate to the locals. It is no shock to us that the Japanese take pride in their language and English is just a foreign language to them. They belong to the Expanding Circle in Katchru’s Concentric Circle Model, which refers to the speakers who learns English to communicate with native speakers (Katchru & Nelson, 2006). A closer example would be when tourists visit Malaysia, be it for work or leisure purposes, they try to learn our language and even attempt in our variety of English which is better known as Manglish. …show more content…
We should turn away from thoughts of language superiority as all languages are equal. Language superiority will only dislocate very many people from their natural roots and unique cultures that will eventually stop us from building a diverse community.
We may have heard that a certain language, be it English or Mandarin is better than any other languages. Though it might be true to a certain extent that a particular language, say English is much more useful and appropriate to be used in formal contexts like in a work environment, government organizations, etc, but we cannot say it is better than other languages. Useful, yes but definitely not better. As explained above, language is closely related to culture and identity. That also means that language brings its speakers together, uniting them and certainly reflecting their