language and globalization essay

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Globalisation and the English language

Read more articles on the english language.

Why has English taken over academia?

Why has English taken over academia?

If English is globally squeezing out teaching in local languages, the fault isn't with the language but with economics. Anna Kristina Hultgren and Elizabeth J. Erling explain.

Level: 1 Introductory

Is English squeezing out local languages in Uganda?

Is English squeezing out local languages in Uganda?

English is the official language of Uganda - but this shouldn't be at the expense of other languages, argues Judith Nakayiza and Medadi Ssentanda.

Is Brexit going to unseat English as the lingua franca?

Is Brexit going to unseat English as the lingua franca?

With the monoglot Brits no longer trotting in to Brussels, will English start to loosen its grip on the EU - and beyond?

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  • Originally published: Friday, 4 July 2014
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The Effects of Globalisation on Languages and Cultural Diversity

Photo Credit: Yogendra Singh/Pexels

Photo Credit: Yogendra Singh/Pexels

Part of the difficulty of advocating linguistic rights as the facilitator of other human rights, like the freedom of socio-economic choices, lies in the fact that a language-based community cannot be free of complexity due to religion, gender, cultural and class-based differences within its circumference.

In other words, ethnic, linguistic, class, religious and gender groups have no fixities, since these are also internally divided. The constant malleability of modern ethnicity implies that which of our multiple identities takes precedence over the other ones will depend on the particular context.

In the global era, the fragmentations within and between nation-states expedite the process, where the preference for rootedness weighs heavily against the will to promote unity through majoritarianism. However, the rootedness to our national, ethnic, and even religious ambiance is produced and projected through language, and our languages are constructed through the corresponding identities in turn.

In other words, languages construct our worldviews as well as remain viable through them. This is why struggles over cultural identity are, in effect, struggles over the social prerogative to make people view themselves in a certain way, to define social divisions, and to organize and disorganize groups.

language and globalization essay

Indeed, individuals can unite in social movements as well as energize institutions to utilize their underused potentials for establishing that human rights should be wieldy for bringing about positive social changes. This is because the human rights framework operates by convincing people that their fundamental rights are secure, even though they do not enjoy the complete protection and/or actualization of their rights.

This clearly suggests that even the system governed by a rights framework is ultimately an administration that cannot absolutely guarantee human dignity and freedom, which is why adversarial views are required for exerting considerable pressure on the system to remain just and inclusive.

This further proves that solid motivation has to be in place for people to exercise their agency for social change. This becomes manifest in a country that inherits a multilingual and multicultural environment the politics of which is determined according to the ideologies and policies maintained by the dominant group.

In other words, politics determine the identity, inclusion, and exclusion of a language community in state matters based on the existing power relations. In this way, authorities in multilingual settings choose to empower or disempower speakers of a language based on the politico-cultural hegemony of the state.

Cultural gloablisation

While the rights-based discourse is adjusted, resisted, and changed according to the state hegemony for ensuring linguistic inclusion in multilingual settings, the negative impact of globalization on languages builds up. In accordance with the ardent language activist Tove Skutnabb-Kangas’ essay entitled, ‘Linguistic Diversity, Human Rights and the “Free” Market,’ included in Language: A Right and a Resource (1999),  I contend that globalization is gradually diminishing the planet’s cultural affluence since languages are disappearing at the fastest speed in human history.

In terms of mother-tongue speakers, the writer further explains that the most formidable languages like English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, and/or Bengali comprise only between 0.1 and 0.15% of the world’s spoken voices, though they represent nearly 50% of the world’s population. Interestingly, the mid-sized languages like French, Italian, Hungarian and about 300 such languages are spoken by small communities of a million speakers and more. If you’re still interested to learn Spanish, then clase de grupo en español is the one for you.

This means that half of the world’s spoken languages depend on collectives of 10,000 speakers or less. Due to representing less than 0.2 % of the world population, small languages are vulnerable languages at present. Put differently, more than 25% of the world’s languages represent only 0.2 % of speakers, and over half of today’s languages are prone to be defunct within the next hundred years due to the lack of interest in nurturing them. At the same time, Skutnabb-Kangas presents a more disheartening estimate that makes it seem plausible that over 90% of the world’s spoken languages may be extinct by the year 2100.

Globalization

We have to ask the difficult question whether only a few big languages being around in the nearest possible future is a welcome phenomenon or not. The answer suggests that the notion of linguistic human rights, which demands that all children will generally have the opportunity to be educated in their parents’ languages in schools, is not a universally acknowledged idea. If you want you or your children to learn one or more languages for better communication, just visit https://sisd.ae/ .

If this right cannot be guaranteed, though, linguicism will be effectuated to increase unequal power-sharing and unfair access to socio-cultural resources among linguistic groups. Against this backdrop, Skutnabb-Kangas illustrates that the question of linguistic currency is determined by the free market preference for systematization, which stands in direct contrast against its advertised ideologies of dynamism and freedom of choice.

The urge for building a smoother world thus leads towards the disastrous goal of creating monolingual and mono-cultural economic system so that the exclusively English speaking club is capable of materializing a McDonaldized planet, so to speak. Undoubtedly, the postmodernist certitude embedded in the strategy is caricaturish due to the fact that the McDonaldized earth does not contribute towards humans’ sustenance of an integrated life.

Instead, their identity, security, and freedom depend on an environment that fails to guarantee their cultural rights along with their socio-economic survival. In order to make markets govern societies, therefore, people cannot be compelled to change their language. Consequently, Skutnabb-Kangas views linguistic human rights not simply as ethical or cosmopolitan demands; but more importantly, as locally appropriate corrective measures against the jejunely universalizing tendencies of globalization.

This is why we need to emphasize the fact that human rights can mediate disputed political claims only when individuals and social groups agree to formulate collectivities that have shared visions about life, society, and cultural patterns.

Without the shared ground, the marginalized groups can feel culturally alienated from the mainstream, and as a result argue for separate political existence. This explains why we must search for potent avenues of protecting cultural and language rights at national, regional, and global levels.

To reiterate, the preservation of cultural rights will not happen on autopilot because of which organizations like UNESCO must come forward in safeguarding the concept of cultural heterogeneity as a historical reality of our planet.

Cultural

I stress the untapped potential of mitigating conflicts occurring from diverse cultural groups that is accumulated in organizations like UNESCO, which possesses ‘a mandate provided by its Constitution to contribute to the promotion of all human rights,’ as Bhaswati Mukherjee puts it in ‘Role of UNESCO in Human Rights Implementation’ included in International Human Rights Monitoring Mechanisms: Essays in Honour of Jakob Th. Möller (2009).

Therefore, my reasons for expecting more effective role from the institution are derived from its principles of operation. Unlike human rights treaties, UNESCO Conventions cannot depend on autonomous monitoring bodies. The institution’s 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression bestowed rights on independent states to construct suitable strategies for protecting their cultural diversities.

Despite the nation-states’ preference for keeping ‘the supervision of the treaty in their own hands,’ it is realistically ‘possible that new insights or changing perspectives may eventually find their way into revised Operational Guidelines,’ explains Yvonne Donders in ‘Cultural Human Rights and the UNESCO Convention: More than Meets the Eye?,’ which is incorporated into Globalization, Culture, and Development: The UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity (2015).

Notably, UNESCO’s Committee on Conventions and Recommendations examines complaints regarding human rights violations in the educational and cultural sectors. Therefore, familiarity with the organization’s different mechanisms will hopefully advance justice, rule of law, and autonomy of disadvantaged human beings.

What the ReOpen Protests Reveal About White Masculinity

Eu pledges to raise €20bn annually to boost biodiversity.

Rehnuma Sazzad

Rehnuma Sazzad

Dr Rehnuma Sazzad is a Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies and Associate Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, and an Associate Tutor at the School of Literature, Drama and Creative Writing, University of East Anglia. She is an Associate Editor and a Reviews Editor of Journal of Postcolonial Writing, and an Editorial Advisory Board Member for English: Journal of the English Association. Her first monograph, EDWARD SAID'S CONCEPT OF EXILE: IDENTITY AND CULTURAL MIGRATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST (2017), creates a portrait of redoubtable intellectual practice in today’s world by adding new depths to discourses of resistance, home and identity. She has published various pieces on postcolonial and world literatures (e.g. The International Journal of Human Rights 2021, Interventions: International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 2016, and Interdisciplinary Literary Studies 2015). She is currently completing her second monograph reflecting on linguistic nationalism in decolonized South Asia, DYNAMICS AMONG MOTHER LANGUAGE, MOTHERLANS, AND LIBERATION STRUGGLE: DECOLONIZATION OF SOUTH ASIA IN PERSPECTIVE. She is also co-editing a volume, Édouard Glissant’s SEARCH FOR NEW HORIZONS OF RELATION: VISIONS OF TRANSCULTURAL ARCHIPELAGO.

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language and globalization essay

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IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND EDUCATION: A CHALLENGE TO NATIONAL IDENTITY

Profile image of Dr masroor khanam

2021, Habibia Islamicus

This paper aims at how the roots of national vernaculars and cultures directly strengthen the psychological and historical research. This is an internal and external study of history from another point of view, so the educational aspect is based on knowledge of the national culture. It is also a link between reading and writing skills in national culture, which is a typical rule for any nation.

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language and globalization essay

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With the increased fragmentation of people and capital around the globe, and the increased connectivity brought about by the deterritorialized social networks, it has become more difficult to conceive of culture in foreign language study without falling into reductionist stereotypes or tourist representations of foreign reality. While linguists have linked culture to discourse and ways of thinking, foreign language educators have not really started to confront the global realities with which they are preparing their students to engage. It is no longer sufficient to teach the L2 of some national monolingual native speaker attached to a homogenous national C2 culture. The target has now become the multilingual multicultural speaker who knows how to “operate between languages” (MLA, 2007) and navigate between various cultures. But whose languages and whose cultures? Culture today has been reframed as historicity and subjectivity (Hanks, 2000). This article will examine the historical a...

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This version is made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the reference above. See http://opus.bath.ac.uk/ for usage policies. Please scroll down to view the document.

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Modern research and teaching of writing should be taken into account due to its important role in the process of cross-cultural communication. Cross-cultural communication in writing involves individual and collective identification with the phenomena of culture and cultural attitudes in the written texts of different styles and genres. Under the cross-cultural communication we understand the interaction of at least two communication partners belonging to different cultural societies. In a written communication channel the circle of communicants is unlimited. Therefore, in the process of production the rules of communication and behavior are being rendered through the interaction of different national consciousness. In order to study the mechanisms of the references' implementation of linguistic phenomena to the concepts of culture, there should be conducted a discursive analysis of written texts of certain styles and genres. Besides, it should be provided with criteria for cultural conditioning of language use, as well as socio-cultural settings of texts based on the ratio of the universal and nationally-specific languages. Among the parameters of international cooperation of communicants and the style-forming role, along with their individual, social and activity-related characteristics, are also – according to the modern theory of the style – functional-communicative area in which the relevant text is produced and perceived, the kind of attitude of the subject of speech to the communication partner, and relationship to the means of expression – the language. The number and the content of highlighted parameters are not the same in different authors' texts and in different cultures. Awareness of culture, its reinterpretation is fixed by the knowledge of modern realities, by the correct verbal behavior and possession of cultural contexts of their written implementation. Language system includes the part of speech units, which reflect the facts of national culture. From to methodical perspective, the revealed features allow to develop the students' ability of cultural and linguistic introspection, to teach the culture of writing. The research of cultural identity of essays gives us the opportunity to consider the ratio of the values of linguistic units with the concepts of universal and national cultures., the circle of communicants, a discursive analysis, international cooperation of communicants, reinterpretation of culture, verbal behavior, cultural context, cultural and linguistic introspection, culture of writing, concepts of universal and national cultures.

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This chapter examines how late modernity encourages new approaches to language education as a result of increased degrees of mobility, transnationalism, and neoliberalism. As many societies become detraditionalized, links between languages, cultures, and places are no longer in reciprocal relationships. Instead, the learning and teaching of languages is increasingly related to diasporic affiliations, intercultural identities, global cosmopolitanism, and translingual practices, all of which challenge modernist visions of language. Research reveals that language learners who are embedded in transnational and diasporic flows often invest in language practices that are not conventionally valued in the realm of education, including language associated with popular culture and truncated communicative repertoires, rather than national, standardized varieties of languages. Heritage language learners contest monolithic representations of their heritage languages as located in their parents’ or grandparents’ countries of origin, and learners of English as an international language who study in center nations challenge native-speaker norms. On the other hand, Indigenous language educators and learners express a strong attachment to place as a means of self-preservation and local epistemologies in the face of globalization. The chapter ends with a brief discussion of neoliberalism in language education, noting that despite the potential emancipatory nature of late modernity, flows are still characterized by inequities since they are still governed by the Global North and enacted in ways that perpetuate center-periphery disparities reminiscent of earlier periods of modernity.

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World History Project - Origins to the Present

Course: world history project - origins to the present   >   unit 7, read: introduction to globalization.

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language and globalization essay

First read: preview and skimming for gist

Second read: key ideas and understanding content.

  • What late twentieth-century trends, according to the author, led people to create the term “globalization”?
  • What are some historical trends that accelerated globalization before the late twentieth century?
  • What are some impacts of globalization in terms of migration and economics?
  • What are some positive impacts of globalization, according to the author?
  • What are some negative impacts of globalization, according to the author?

Third read: evaluating and corroborating

  • What does globalization look like from your perspective? How does it affect your family and community? Do you think it has been a good thing for you? Why or why not?
  • Globalization looks very differently studied through each of the three course frames. Pick one of the three course frames and describe the effects of globalization on your home town or neighborhood using only that frame narrative. How would your results have been different if you had chosen a different frame?

Introduction to Globalization

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  • Globalisation Essay

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Essay on Globalisation

Globalization means the integration of economies and societies through the flow of information, ideas, technology, goods, services, capital, finance, and people. The true meaning of Globalization in a broad sense is connecting in all areas of human life. It is the process by which other companies or organizations enhance their international reputation or start operating internationally. 

Globalization began thousands of years ago when people and companies bought and sold in distant lands. In the Middle Ages, Central Asia was connected to China and Europe via the famous Silk Road. After World War II and the last two decades, governments of many countries have adopted free-market economies. They have greatly increased their own production potential and created countless new opportunities for international trade and investment. New routes and means to transport goods have been discovered, which has allowed the people to expand their business easily and efficiently. 

The government has reduced all trade barriers and concluded new international agreements to promote trade in goods, services and investment. This profitable action has created opportunities for international trade. In foreign markets, companies with these new opportunities set up new factories and establish production and marketing relationships with foreign partners. Hence, Globalization is defined as an international industrial and financial enterprise.

Overview of Globalization

Globalization means the assimilation of economics and societies through the flow of information, ideas, technologies, goods, services, capital, finance, and people. The real meaning of Globalization in a broad sense is connectivity in all aspects of human life. It is the process where the businesses or other organizations expand international authority or start operating on an international scale.

How the Existence of Globalization Came Into Being?

Globalization had started many thousands of years ago when people and corporations were buying and selling across lands at great distances. In the middle age, Central Asia connected with China and Europe through the famed Silk Road. After the Second World War II and during the last two decades, the governments of many countries have adopted free-market economic systems. They increased their own productive potential immensely and created innumerable new opportunities for international trade and investment.

The governments have reduced all barriers to commerce and established new international agreements to promote trade in goods, services and investments. These beneficial measures gave rise to opportunities for global trade. With these new opportunities in the foreign markets, corporations established new factories and started production and marketing alliances with foreign partners. Hence, Globalization is defined as an international industrial and financial business structure.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The frontiers of the state with increased confidence in the market economy and renewed policies in the private capital and resources, a process of structural adjustment spurred by the studies and with the support of the World Bank and other international organizations have started in many of the developing countries. Globalization has also brought in new opportunities to developing countries. Greater access to developed country markets and technology transfer has promised to improve their productivity and higher standards. 

At the same time, Globalization has also created challenges like growing inequality across and within nations, instability in the financial market and environmental deterioration. Globalization is a fascinating exhibition that can be understood as a global system of competition and connectivity. It has created tough competition among countries and global corporations.

Impact of Globalization in India

The British Colonial rule had destroyed the self-sufficient economy of India and left India to be the poorest Independent country. Our first Prime Minister gave preference to a mixed economy to boost the economic condition of the country. Public sectors were set up along with the private enterprises, but because of the socialistic model of the economy, the new strategy did not produce profitable results. Due to this, a number of public sectors became sick and the growth rates of production began to fall. 

During that time, the poverty of the people in India was increasing at an alarming rate and because of low domestic savings and acute balance of payment crisis, there was no adequate capital for investment. During that time of crisis, Prime Minister PV Narsimha Rao introduced the policy of liberalization, privatization to overcome the financial situation. 

India opened up to Globalization after the economic policy of 1991 came into force. Mounting debts and pressure from the International Monetary Fund drove the nation to go global. The process of Globalization has been an integral part of the recent economic growth of India. Globalization has played a very significant role in the growth of export, leading to the expansion of the job market in India. One of the major sectors of Globalization in India has been in the growth of outsourced IT and Business Process Outsourcing services. There has been an incredible increase in the number of skilled professionals in India employed by domestic and foreign companies to cater service to the customers globally, especially in the USA and Europe. 

There was not a doubt that Globalization in India brought a monumental change in the living standards of the people. People in India realized many benefits from Globalization. The establishment of multinational companies generating billions of jobs and access to umpteen numbers of brands and an increase in the forex reserves of the country took India to a higher platform globally. Despite this monumental change in the economy of the country, India also faced the challenges of severe competition from the foreign market and the domestic producers started fearing marginalization and pulverization because of the better quality products produced by the foreign producers.

Globalization had both desirable and undesirable consequences for India and the world. Even though it has accelerated progress in some countries, it has also widened the gap between the rich and the poor.

The impact of Globalization has been both positive and negative on the entire world, but we can surely hope for more advancement in the global economy due to this process.

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FAQs on Globalisation Essay

1. How Did Globalization Help India to Improve the Economic Conditions?

Globalization generated umpteen employment opportunities for the people of India by establishing multinational companies. The policy of liberalization and privatization invited foreign traders to do business with India. This has increased the inflow of men, money, material, labor, technology, etc., from foreign countries to India. People have access to foreign brands and the living standards have improved drastically.

2. How is Globalization a Threat to Domestic Producers?

The domestic producers fear marginalization and pulverization because of the entry of foreign and better quality products.

3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of Globalization?

With increasing confidence in market economies and new policies on private capital and resources, many developing countries are beginning to adapt to developments with the support of the World Bank and other international institutions involved in research and development. Globalization also offers new opportunities for developing countries. Greater access to markets in developed countries and the transfer of technology will increase their productivity and demand.

At the same time, Globalization has created challenges such as increasing inequality between and within countries, instability of financial markets and environmental degradation. Globalization is an interesting exhibition that can also be seen as a system of competition and international relations. This has created intense competition between countries and international companies. 

4. What do you mean by Globalization?

Globalization means the integration of economies and societies through the flow of information, ideas, technology, goods, services, capital, finance, and people. The true meaning of Globalization in a broad sense is a connectedness in all areas of human life. It is the process by which other companies or organizations enhance their international reputation or start operating internationally. Globalization has its own benefits and drawbacks. We can learn more about Globalization and how to write an essay on it in detail on the Vedantu website, which has all the necessary materials that students need in order to write an essay on Globalization. 

5. How can Globalization help India improve its economic situation?

In our present times, Globalization has been a boon to many people as it not only allows companies to expand their business but also makes things accessible for everyone. In a simple sense, we can say that it helps in connecting people with the world. Globalization has created many job opportunities in India through the creation of multinational companies. Policies of liberalization and privatization have encouraged foreign traders to trade with India. This has increased the number of people, money, materials, labor, technology and so on—inflows from abroad to India. People have access to foreign brands and the standard of living has improved significantly.

6. How does Globalization threaten domestic producers?

Domestic producers are afraid of marginalization and due to the entry of foreign and better quality products into the market. Globalization can be associated with increasing income and wealth inequality. Many of the world's poorest people lack access to basic technologies and public goods. They are excluded from treatment. Some critics of globalization point to the loss of economic and cultural diversity as international multinational giants and brands dominate domestic markets in many countries. Globalization can hinder competition if international companies with dominant brands and high technology gain a foothold in key markets, be it telecommunications, the automotive industry, and so on.

7. What are the main industries that have grown tremendously because of Globalization?

The integration of national economies into the global economy is one of the most important developments of the last century. This process of integration, often referred to as Globalization, has manifested itself in a tremendous increase in cross-border trade.

The outsourcing business has grown exponentially due to Globalization. The main industries resulting from Globalization are trade and commerce. Automobile companies, clothing manufacturers and transportation, are the three main industries taken over as a result of Globalization.

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✍️Essay on Globalisation: Samples in 100, 150 and 200 Words

language and globalization essay

  • Updated on  
  • Oct 25, 2023

Essay on Globalisation

Globalisation means the combination of economies and societies with the help of information, ideas, technology, finance, goods, services, and people. It is a process where multinational companies work on their international standing and conduct operations internationally or overseas. Over the years, Globalisation has had a profound impact on various aspects of society. Today we will be discussing what globalisation is and how it came into existence with the essay on globalisation listed below.

Table of Contents

  • 1 How Globalisation Came Into Existence?
  • 2 Essay on Globalisation in 100 Words
  • 3 Essay on Globalisation in 150 Words
  • 4 Essay on Globalisation in 200 Words

How Globalisation Came Into Existence?

For all those unaware, the concepts of globalisation first emerged in the 20th century. Here are some of the key events which led to the development of globalisation in today’s digital world.

  • The ancient Silk Route as well as the maritime routes led to the exchange of goods, ideas and culture in several countries. Although these were just trade routes, but later became important centres for cultural exchange.
  • Other than this, the European colonial expansion which took place from the 15th to the 20th century led to the setting up of global markets where both knowledge and people were transferred to several developing countries. 
  • The evolution and exchange of mass media, cinema and the internet further led to the widespread dissemination of cultures and ideas.

Also Read: Essay on the Importance of the English Language for Students

Essay on Globalisation in 100 Words

Globalization, the interconnectedness of nations through trade, technology, and cultural exchange, has reshaped the world. It has enabled the free flow of goods and information, fostering economic growth and cultural diversity. However, it also raises challenges such as income inequality and cultural homogenization. 

In a globalized world, businesses expand internationally, but local industries can suffer. Moreover, while globalization promotes shared knowledge, it can erode local traditions. Striking a balance between the benefits and drawbacks of globalization is essential to ensure a more equitable and culturally diverse global community, where economies thrive without leaving anyone behind.

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Essay on Globalisation in 150 Words

Globalization is the process of increasing interconnectedness and interdependence among countries, economies, and cultures. It has transformed the world in various ways.

Economically, globalization has facilitated the flow of goods, services, and capital across borders. This has boosted economic growth and reduced poverty in many developing nations. However, it has also led to income inequality and job displacement in some regions.

Culturally, globalization has resulted in the spread of ideas, values, and cultural products worldwide. While this fosters cultural exchange and diversity, it also raises concerns about cultural homogenization.

Technologically, globalization has been driven by advances in communication and transportation. The internet and smartphones have connected people across the globe, allowing for rapid information dissemination and collaboration.

In conclusion, globalization is a complex phenomenon with both benefits and challenges. It has reshaped the world, bringing people closer together, but also highlighting the need for responsible governance and policies to address its downsides.

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Essay on Globalisation in 200 Words

Globalization, a multifaceted phenomenon, has reshaped the world over the past few decades. It involves the interconnectedness of economies, cultures, and societies across the globe. In this essay, we will briefly discuss its key aspects and impacts.

Economically, globalization has led to increased international trade and investment. It has allowed companies to expand operations globally, leading to economic growth in many countries. However, it has also resulted in income inequality and job displacement in some regions.

Culturally, globalization has facilitated the exchange of ideas, values, and traditions. This has led to a more diverse and interconnected world where cultures blend, but it can also challenge local traditions and languages.

Socially, globalization has improved access to information and technology. It has connected people across borders, enabling global activism and awareness of worldwide issues. Nonetheless, it has also created challenges like cybercrime and privacy concerns.

In conclusion, globalization is a double-edged sword. It offers economic opportunities, cultural exchange, and global connectivity, but it also brings about disparities, cultural tensions, and new global challenges. To navigate this complex landscape, the world must strive for responsible globalization that balances the interests of all stakeholders and promotes inclusivity and sustainability.

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The movement of goods, technologies, information, and jobs between countries is referred to as globalisation. 

Globalization as a phenomenon began with the earliest human migratory routes, or with Genghis Khan’s invasions, or travel across the Silk Road.

Globalisation allows wealthy nations to access cheaper labour and resources, while also providing opportunity for developing and underdeveloped nations with the jobs and investment capital they require.

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Malvika Chawla

Malvika is a content writer cum news freak who comes with a strong background in Journalism and has worked with renowned news websites such as News 9 and The Financial Express to name a few. When not writing, she can be found bringing life to the canvasses by painting on them.

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Essay on Globalization for Students and Children

500+ words essay on globalization.

Globalization refers to integration between people, companies, and governments. Most noteworthy, this integration occurs on a global scale. Furthermore, it is the process of expanding the business all over the world. In Globalization, many businesses expand globally and assume an international image. Consequently, there is a requirement for huge investment to develop international companies.

Essay on Globalization

How Globalization Came into Existence?

First of all, people have been trading goods since civilization began. In the 1st century BC, there was the transportation of goods from China to Europe. The goods transportation took place along the Silk Road. The Silk Road route was very long in distance. This was a remarkable development in the history of Globalization. This is because, for the first time ever, goods were sold across continents.

Globalization kept on growing gradually since 1st BC. Another significant development took place in the 7th century AD. This was the time when the religion of Islam spread. Most noteworthy, Arab merchants led to a rapid expansion of international trade . By the 9th century, there was the domination of Muslim traders on international trade. Furthermore, the focus of trade at this time was spices.

True Global trade began in the Age of Discovery in the 15th century. The Eastern and Western continents were connected by European merchants. There was the discovery of America in this period. Consequently, global trade reached America from Europe.

From the 19th century, there was a domination of Great Britain all over the world. There was a rapid spread of international trade. The British developed powerful ships and trains. Consequently, the speed of transportation greatly increased. The rate of production of goods also significantly increased. Communication also got faster which was better for Global trade .

Finally, in 20th and 21st -Century Globalization took its ultimate form. Above all, the development of technology and the internet took place. This was a massive aid for Globalization. Hence, E-commerce plays a huge role in Globalization.

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Impact of Globalization

First of all, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increases at a great rate. This certainly is a huge contribution of Globalization. Due to FDI, there is industrial development. Furthermore, there is the growth of global companies. Also, many third world countries would also benefit from FDI.

Technological Innovation is another notable contribution of Globalization. Most noteworthy, there is a huge emphasis on technology development in Globalization. Furthermore, there is also technology transfer due to Globalization. The technology would certainly benefit the common people.

The quality of products improves due to Globalization. This is because manufacturers try to make products of high-quality. This is due to the pressure of intense competition. If the product is inferior, people can easily switch to another high-quality product.

To sum it up, Globalization is a very visible phenomenon currently. Most noteworthy, it is continuously increasing. Above all, it is a great blessing to trade. This is because it brings a lot of economic and social benefits to it.

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Essay on Globalisation

List of essays on globalisation, essay on globalisation – definition, existence and impact (essay 1 – 250 words), essay on globalisation (essay 2 – 250 words), essay on globalisation – in india (essay 3 – 400 words), essay on globalisation – objectives, advantages, disadvantages and conclusion (essay 4 – 500 words), essay on globalisation – for school students (class 6,7,8,9 and 10) (essay 5 – 600 words), essay on globalisation (essay 6 – 750 words), essay on globalisation – for college and university students (essay 7 – 1000 words), essay on globalisation – for ias, civil services, ips, upsc and other competitive exams (essay 8 – 1500 words).

The worldwide integration of people, services and interests is what globalisation is all about. Since the last decade, there has been a tremendous focus on globalisation with everyone trying to have a reach at even the remotest locations of the world. This has probably been possible due to the advancement in technology and communication.

Audience: The below given essays are especially written for school, college and university students. Furthermore, those students preparing for IAS, IPS, UPSC, Civil Services and other competitive exams can also increase their knowledge by studying these essays.

The word ‘Globalization’ is often heard in the business world, in corporate meetings, in trade markets, at international conferences, in schools, colleges and many other places. So what does globalization symbolize? Is it a new concept or did it exist earlier? Let’s see.

Definition:

Globalization refers to the integration of the world nations by means of its people, goods, and services. The statement – ‘ globalization has made the world a small village ’ is very true.

Countries inviting foreign investment, free trade and relaxation in the visa rules to allow seamless movement of people from one country to another are all part of globalization.

In a nutshell, globalization has reduced the distance between nations and its people.

Many among us refer to the current period that we live in as ‘The Era of Globalization’ and think that the process of globalization has started only recently. But the real fact is that globalization is not a new phenomenon . The world was moving towards globalization from a very long time. The term globalization was in existence since mid-1980s. But it was only from the early 21 st century that globalization picked up momentum due to the advancements in technology and communication.

Impact of Globalization:

Globalization has more positive outcomes than the negative ones. The impact of globalization on the developing countries such as India, China and some African countries are overwhelming. Foreign investments have created a lot of employment opportunities in the developing countries and have boosted their economy. Globalization has also enabled people to interchange their knowledge and culture.

Conclusion:

Although the world is not completely globalized, we can very well say that globalization is the best way to achieve equality among nations.

In simple words, globalization means the spreading of a business, culture, or any technology on an international level. When the boundaries of countries and continents matter no more, and the whole world becomes one global village in itself. Globalization is an effort to reduce the geographical and political barriers for the smooth functioning of any business.

There are four main factors that form the four pillars of globalization. These are the free flow of goods, capitals, technology, and labors, all across the world. Although, many of the experts that support globalization clearly refuse to acknowledge the free flow of labor as their work culture.

The international phenomenon of global culture presents many implications and requires a specific environment to flourish. For instance, it needs the other countries to come to a mutual agreement in terms of political, cultural, and economic policies. There is greater sharing of ideas and knowledge and liberalization has gained a huge importance.

Undoubtedly, globalization helps in improving the economic growth rate of the developing countries . The advanced global policies also inspire businesses to work in a cost-effective way. As a result, the production quality is enhanced and employment opportunities are also rising in the domestic countries.

However, there are still some negative consequences of globalization that are yet to be dealt with. It leads to greater economic and socio-cultural disparities between the developed and the developing countries. Due to the MNC culture, the small-scale industries are losing their place in the market.

Exchanges and integration of social aspect of people along with their cultural and economic prospects is what we term as Globalization. It is considered as a relatively new term, which has been in discussion since the nineties.

Initial Steps towards Globalization:

India has been an exporter of various goods to other countries since the earlier times. Hence Globalization, for India, is not something new. However, it was only around in the early nineties that India opened up its economy for the world as it faced a major crisis of severe crunch of foreign exchange. Since then, there has been a major shift in the government’s strategies while dealing with the PSUs along with a reduction in the monopoly of the government organisations perfectly blended with the introduction of the private companies so as to achieve a sustainable growth and recognition across the world.

The Measurement of Success:

The success of such measures can be measured in the form of the GDP of India which hovered around 5.6% during the year 1990-91 and has been now around 8.9% during the first quarter of 2018-19. In fact, in the year 1996-97, it was said to have peaked up to as high as 77.8%. India’s global position is improved tremendously due to the steady growth in the GDP thus furthering the impact of globalization on India. As on date, India is ranked as the sixth biggest economy in the world. This globalization leading to the integration and trade has been instrumental in reducing the poverty rate as well.

However, given the fact that India is the second most populated country of the world, after China, this growth cannot be considered as sufficient enough as other countries such as China have increased their growth rates at much faster pace than India. For instance, the average flow of FDI in India, over the past few years has been around 0.5% of the GDP while for countries such as China it has been around 5% and Brazil has had a flow of around 5.5%. In fact, India is considered among the least globalized economy among the major countries.

Summarily, there has been a tremendous increase in the competition and interdependence that India faces due to Globalization, but a lot is yet to be done. It is not possible for a country to ignore the developments and globalization occurring in the rest of the world and one need to keep the pace of growth at a steady rate or else you may be left far behind.

The twentieth century witnessed a revolutionary global policy aiming to turn the entire globe into a single market. The motive of globalization can broadly define to bring substantial improvement in the living condition of people all around the world, education, and shelter to everybody, elimination of poverty, equal justice without any race or gender consideration, etc. Globalization also aims to lessen government involvement in various development activities, allowing more direct investors/peoples’ participation cutting across border restrictions thus expected to reap reasonable prosperity to human beings.

Main Objectives of Globalization:

The four main aspects of globalization are; Capital and Investment movements, Trade and Transactions, Education and Spread of knowledge, along with Migration and Unrestricted Movement of People.

In simpler terms, globalization visualizes that one can purchase and sell goods from any part of the world, communicate and interact with anyone, anywhere in the world and also enables cultural exchange among the global population. It is operational at three levels namely, economic globalization, cultural globalization, and political globalization. Right from its inception, the impact of globalization has both advantages and disadvantages worldwide.

Advantages of Globalization:

As the word itself suggests, this policy involves all the nations across the globe. The lifting of trade barriers can have a huge impact especially in developing countries. It augments the flow of technology, education, medicines, etc., to these countries which are a real blessing.

Globalization expects to create ample job opportunities as more and more companies can extend their presence to different parts of the world. Multinational companies can establish their presence in developing countries. Globalization gives educational aspirants from developing and underdeveloped countries more quality learning opportunities. It leads not only to the pursuit of best higher education but also to cultural and language exchanges.

Globalization also enhances a faster flow of information and quick transportation of goods and services. Moreover one can order any item from anywhere merely sitting at home. Another plus point of globalization is the diminishing cultural barriers between nations as it offers free access and cultural interactions . Also, it has been observed that there is a considerable reduction of poverty worldwide due to globalization . In addition to this, it also enables the effective use of resources.

Disadvantages of Globalization:

Globalization turned out to be a significant threat to the cottage and small-scale industries as they have to compete with the products of multi-national companies. Another dangerous effect of globalization is the condition of weak sections of the society, as they are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. The situation leads to the domination of economically rich countries over emerging countries and the increase of disparity.

The actions of multi-national companies are deplorable and always facing criticism from various social, government and world bodies as they are incompetent in offering decent working conditions for the workers. Irrational tapping of natural resources which are instrumental in causing ecological imbalance is another major accusation against multi-national companies.

Globalization is also blamed to have paved the way for human trafficking, labor exploitation and spread of infectious diseases too. In addition to all these, if any economic disaster hit a country and if they subsequently suffer from economic depression, its ripples are felt deeply in other countries as well.

Despite all its disadvantages, globalization has transformed the entire globe into a single market irrespective of its region, religion, language, culture, and diversity differences. It also leads to an increase in demand for goods, which in turn calls for more production and industrialization. Our focus should be to minimize the risks and maximize the positive outcome of global policy, which in turn can help for a sustainable long-standing development for people all around the world.

Introduction:

Globalization is the procedure of global political, economic, as well as cultural incorporation of countries . It lets the producers and manufacturers of the goods or products to trade their goods internationally without any constraint.

The businessman fetches huge profit as they easily get low price workforce in developing nations with the concept of globalization. It offers a big prospect to the firms who wish to deal with the global market. Globalization assists any nation to contribute, set up or amalgamate businesses, capitalize on shares or equity, vending of services or products in any country.

How does the Globalization Work?

Globalization benefits the international market to the entire deliberate world like a solitary marketplace. Merchants are spreading their extents of trade by aiming world as a worldwide community. In the 1990s, there was a limit of importing some goods that were already mass-produced in India such as engineering goods, agricultural products, toiletries, food items, etc.

But, in the 1990s the rich countries pressurize the WTO (World Trade Organization), World Bank (affianced in improvement financing activities), and IMF (International Monetary Fund) to let other nations spread their trades by introducing market and trade in the deprived and emerging countries. The process of liberalization and globalization in India began in the year 1991 below the Union Finance Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh.

After numerous years, globalization has fetched major uprising inside the Indian marketplace when international brands arrived in India such as KFC, PepsiCo, Mc. Donald, Nokia, IBM, Aiwa, Ericsson, etc., and began the delivery of an extensive variety of quality goods at low-cost rates.

The entire leading brands presented actual uprising of globalization at this time as a marvellous improvement to the economy of an industrial sector. Rates of the quality goods were also getting low owing to the cut-throat war happening in the marketplace.

Liberalization and globalization of the businesses in the Indian marketplace is submerging the quality of imported goods but influencing the local Indian businesses badly in large part causing the job loss of illiterate and poor labors. Globalization has remained a goldmine for the customers, but it is also a burial ground for the small-scale manufacturers in India.

Positive Influences of Globalisation:

Globalization has influenced the education sectors and students of India predominantly by making accessible the education material and enormous info on the internet. Association of Indian universities with the overseas universities has fetched a massive modification in the education business.

The health industries are too influenced enormously by the globalization of health observing electronic apparatuses, conventional drugs, etc. The trade globalization in the agricultural sector has provided a range of high-quality seeds possessing disease-fighting property. But, it is not beneficial for the underprivileged Indian agriculturalists owing to the reason of expensive seeds as well as agricultural equipment.

Globalization has given an enormous rebellion to the occupation sector by increasing the growth of trades related to the handloom , cottage, artisans and carving, carpet, jewellery, ceramics, and glassware, etc.

Globalization is definitely required by the people and nation to progress and turn into an established society and country. It benefits in expanding our visualization and thoughts. It also aids in endorsing the philosophy that we fit in a huge crowd of persons, i.e., the humankind. Once the two nations congregate, they flourish by sharing their beliefs, thoughts, opinions, customs, and behaviors. People come to know new things and also acquire a chance to discover and get acquainted with other values.

Globalization has provided many reasonably priced valued goods and complete economic welfares to the emerging nations in addition to the employment. But, it has also given growth to the crime, competition, terrorism, anti-national activities, etc. Thus, along with the pleasure it has supplied some grief too.

Globalization is a term that we hear about every now and then. Question is; do we really know what it is all about? Globalization is defined as the process of integration and interaction among people, cultures and nations who come together in order to get things done easily through contact. Globalization began with the migration of people from Africa to different parts of the world. Global developments have been achieved in various sectors through the different types of globalization. The effects of globalization have been felt in every part of the world and more people continue to embrace it. Globalization has some of its core elements that help in the process.

Types of Globalization:

Globalization does not just transform a sector unless the strategies are related to that specific sector. The first type of globalization is financial and economic globalization whereby interaction takes place in the financial and economic sectors especially through stock market exchange and international trade. The other type is technological globalization which involves the integration and connection of different nations through technological methods like the internet. Political globalization transforms the politics of a nation through interactions with adoption of policies and government that cut across other nations. Cultural globalization is basically the interaction of people from different cultures and sharing. Ecological globalization is the viewing of the earth as one ecosystem and sociological globalization is on equality for all people.

Elements of Globalization:

Globalization works with characteristic elements. Trade agreements is one of the components that significantly benefits the economic and financial globalization. These trade agreements have been designed to promote and sustain globalization by preventing barriers that inhibit trade among nations or regions. Another element is capital flow that is concerned with the measures of either a decline or a rise in domestic or foreign assets. Migration patterns is a socio-economical and cultural element that monitors the impacts of immigration and emigration actively. The element of information transfer involves communications and maintains the functioning of the markets and economies. Spread of technology is an element of globalization that facilitates service exchanges. Without these elements, globalization would have faced many challenges, which would even stagnate the process of globalization.

Impacts of Globalization:

The impact of globalization is felt differently among individuals but the end result will be either positive or negative. Globalization has impacts on the lives of individuals, on the aspects of culture, religions and education. The positive impacts of globalization include the simplification of business management through efficiency. In business, the quality of goods and services has increased due to global competition. Foreign investment has been facilitated by globalization and the global market has been able to expand. Cultural growth has been experienced through intermingling and accommodation. Interdependence among nations has developed and more people have been exposed to the exchange program between nations. Improvement of human rights and legal matters has improved through media and technology sharing. Poverty has been alleviated in developing countries due to globalization and also employment opportunities are provided. Through technology, developments have been positively influenced in most parts of the world.

Although globalization has positive impacts, the negative impacts will remain constant unless solutions are sought. One of the negative effects of globalization is job insecurity for some people. Through globalization, more innovations are achieved, for e.g., technology causes automation and therefore people get replaced and they lack jobs. Another negative impact is the frequent fluctuation of prices of commodities that arises from global competitions. On the cultural side, the fast food sector has become wide spread globally, which is an unhealthy lifestyle that was adopted due to globalization. Also, Culture has been negatively affected for people in Africa because they tend to focus more on adopting the western culture and ignore their cultural practices.

Possible Solutions to the Negative Impacts of Globalization:

Globalization has impacted the society negatively and some of the solutions might help to mitigate the impacts. When adopting cultures from other people, it is important to be keen on the effects of the culture on the people and the existing culture being practiced. For example, Africans should not focus more of the western culture such that they ignore their own culture.

In conclusion, it is evident that globalization results in both negative and positive consequences. The society should embrace the positive and mitigate the negative impacts. Globalisation is a dynamic process which involves change, so flexibility among people is a must.

The buzzword befitted to describe the growth of Modern Indian economy is ‘Globalization’. But what exactly is Globalization? Globalization can be defined as integrating the economy of a country with the rest of the countries of the world. From the Indian perspective, this implies encouraging free trade policies, opening up our economy to foreign direct investment, removing constraints and obstacles to the entry of multinational corporations in India, also allowing Indian companies to set up joint ventures abroad, eliminating import restrictions, in-short encouraging Free Trade policies.

India opened its markets to Global Trade majorly during the early Nineties after a major economic crisis hit the country. New economic reforms were introduced in 1991 by then Prime Minister Shri. P V. Narasimha Rao and Finance Minister at the time, Dr. Manmohan Singh. In many ways, the new economic policies positively contributed to the implementation of the concept of Globalization in India.

It’s Impact:

1. Economic Impact :

Globalization in India targets to attract Multinational Companies and Institutions to approach Indian markets. India has a demography with a large workforce of young citizens who  are in need of jobs. Globalization has indeed left a major impact in the jobs sector. Indian companies are also expanding their business all over the world. They are driving funds from the bigwigs of the Global economy.

The Best example in today’s time is OYO Rooms, a budding Indian company in the hospitality sector. OYO Rooms recently made headlines when it declared to raise a fund close to $1 Billion from Japan’s Soft Bank Vision Fund. Globalization has also led the Indian Consumer market on the boom. The Giant of FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) sector WALMART is also enthusiastic and actively investing in the India market.

2. Socio-Cultural impact on the Indian Society:

The world has become a smaller place, thanks to the social networking platforms blooming of the internet. India is a beautiful country which takes immense pride in “Unity in Diversity” as it is home to many different cultures and traditions. Globalization in India has left a lasting impression on the socio-cultural aspect of Indian society.

Food chains like McDonald’s are finding its way to the dining tables. With every passing day, Indians are indulging more and more in the Western culture and lifestyle. But Globalization in India has also provided a vibrant World platform for Indian Art, Music, Clothing, and Cuisine.

The psychological impact on a common Indian Man: The educated youth in India is developing a pictorial identity where they are integrating themselves with the fast-paced, technology-driven world and at the same time they are nurturing the deep roots of Indian Culture. Indians are fostering their Global identity through social media platforms and are actively interacting with the World community. They are more aware of burning issues like Climate Change, Net neutrality, and LGBT rights.

Advantages:

India has taken the Centre Stage amongst the Developing Nations because of its growing economy on the World Map. Globalization in India has brought tremendous change in the way India builds its National and International policies. It has created tremendous employment opportunities with increased compensations.

A large number of people are hired for Special Economic Zones (SEZs), Export Processing Zones (EPZs), etc., are set up across the country in which hundreds of people are hired. Developed western countries like USA and UK outsource their work to Indian companies as the cost of labour is cheap in India. This, in turn, creates more employment. This has resulted in a better standard of living across the demographic of young educated Indians. The Indian youth is definitely empowered in a big way.

Young lads below the age of 20 are now aspiring to become part of global organizations. Indian culture and morals are always strengthening their roots in modern world History as the world is now celebrating ‘International Yoga Day’ on 21st June every year. Globalization in India has led to a tremendous cash flow from Developed Nations in the Indian market. As a positive effect, India is witnessing the speedy completion of Metro projects across the country. Another spectacular example of newly constructed High-end Infrastructure in the country is the remarkable and thrilling ‘Chenani-Nashri Tunnel’, Longest Tunnel in India constructed in the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Globalization has greatly contributed in numerous ways to the development of Modern India.

Disadvantages:

As there are so many pros we cannot turn a blind eye to the cons of Globalization which are quite evident with the Indian perspective. The worst impact is seen in the environment across Indian cities due to heavy industrialization. Delhi, the capital of India has made headlines for the worst ever air pollution, which is increasing at an alarming rate.

India takes pride in calling itself an Agriculture oriented nation, but now Agriculture contributes to fragile 17% of the GDP. Globalization in India has been a major reason for the vulnerable condition of Indian Farmers and shrinking Agriculture sector. The intrusion of world players and import of food grains by the Indian Government has left minimal space for Indian farmers to trade their produce.

The impact of westernization has deeply kindled individualism and ‘Me factor’ and as a result, the look of an average Indian family has changed drastically where a Nuclear family is preferred over a traditional Joint family. The pervasive media and social networking platforms have deeply impacted the value system of our country where bigotry and homophobia are becoming an obvious threat.

One cannot clearly state that the impact of Globalization in India has been good or bad as both are quite evident. From the economic standpoint, Globalization has indeed brought a breath of fresh air to the aspirations of the Indian market. However, it is indeed a matter of deep concern when the Indian traditions and value system are at stake. India is one of the oldest civilizations and World trade has been the keystone of its History. Globalization must be practiced as a way towards development without compromising the Indian value system.

Globalisation can simply be defined as the process of integration and interaction between different people, corporations and also governments worldwide. Technology advancement which has in turn advanced means of communication and transportation has helped in the growth of globalisation. Globalisation has brought along with it an increase in international trade, culture and exchange of ideas. Globalisation is basically an economic process that involves integration and interaction that deals also with cultural and social aspects. Important features of globalisation, both modern and historically are diplomacy and conflicts.

In term of economy, globalisation involves services and goods, and the resources of technology, capital and data. The steamship, steam locomotive, container ship and jet engine are a few of the many technological advances in transportation while the inception of the telegraph and its babies, mobile phones and the internet portray technological advances in communications. These advancements have been contributing factors in the world of globalisation and they have led to interdependence of cultural and economic activities all over the world.

There are many theories regarding the origin of globalisation, some posit that the origin is in modern times while others say that it goes way back through history before adventures to the new world and the European discovery age. Some have even taken it further back to the third millennium. Globalisation on a large-scale began around the 1820s. Globalisation in its current meaning only started taking shape in the 1970s. There are four primary parts of globalisation, they are: transactions and trade, investments and capital movement, movement and migration of people and the circulation of knowledge and information. Globalization is subdivided into three: economic globalisation, political globalisation and cultural globalisation.

There are two primary forms of globalisation: Archaic and Modern Globalisations. Archaic globalisation is a period in the globalisation history from the period of the first civilisations until around the 1600s. Archaic globalisation is the interaction between states and communities and also how they were incepted by the spread by geography of social norms and ideas at different levels.

Archaic globalisation had three major requirements. First is the Eastern Origin idea, the second is distance, the third is all about regularity, stability and inter-dependency. The Silk Road and trade on it was a very important factor in archaic globalisation through the development of various civilisations from Persia, China, Arabia, Indian subcontinent and Europe birthing long distance economic and political relationships between them. Silk was the major item from China along the Silk Road; other goods such as sugar and salt were also traded.

Philosophies, different religious beliefs and varying technologies and also diseases also moved along the Silk Road route. Apart from economic trade, the Silk Road also was a means of cultural exchange among the various civilisations along its route. The cultural exchange was as a result of people’s movement including missionaries, refugees, craftsmen, robbers, artists and envoys, resulting in religions, languages, art and new technologies being exchanged.

Modern globalisation can be sub-divided into early modern and Modern. Early modern globalisation spans about 200 years of globalisation between 1600 and 1800. It is the period of cultural exchange and trade links increasing just before the modern globalisation of the late 19 th century. Early modern globalisation was characterised by Europeans empires’ maritime of the 16 th and 17 th centuries. The Spanish and Portuguese Empires were the first and then we had the British and Dutch Empires. The establishment of chartered companies (British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company) further developed world trade.

Modern Globalisation of the 19 th century was as a result of the famed Industrial Revolution. Railroads and steamships made both local and international transportation easier and a lot less expensive which helped improve economic exchange and movement of people all over the world, the transportation revolution happened between 1820 and 1850. A lot more nations have embraced global trade. Globalisation has been shaped decisively by the imperialism in Africa and in Asia around the 19 th century. Also, the ingenious invention in 1956 of the shipping container has really helped to quicken the advancement of globalisation.

The Bretton Woods conference agreement after the Second World War helped lay the groundwork for finance, international monetary policy and commerce and also the conception of many institutions that are supposed to help economic growth through lowering barriers to trade. From the 1970s, there has been a drop in the affordability of aviation to middle class people in countries that are developed. Also, around the 1990s, the cost of communication networks also drastically dropped thus lowering the cost of communicating between various countries. Communication has been a blessing such that much work can be done on a computer in different countries and the internet and other advanced means of communications has helped remove the boundary of distance and cost of having to travel and move from place to place just to get business done.

One other thing that became popular after the Second World War is student exchange programmes which help the involved students learn about, understand and tolerate another culture totally different from theirs, it also helps improve their language skills and also improve their social skills. Surveys have shown that the number of exchange students have increased by about nine times between 1963 and 2006.

Economic globalisation is differentiated from modern globalisation by the information exchange level, the method of handling global trade and expansionism.

Economic Globalisation:

Economic globalisation is just the ever increasing interdependence of economies of nations worldwide caused by the hike in movement across borders of goods, services, capital and technology. Economic globalisation is basically the means of increasing economic relationships between countries, giving rise to the birth of a single or global market. Based on the worldview, Economic globalisation can be seen as either a negative or positive thing.

Economic globalisation includes: Globalisation of production; which is getting services and goods from a source from very different locations all over the world to gain from the difference in quality and cost. There is globalisation of markets; which is the coming together of separate and different markets into one global market. Economic globalisation includes technology, industries, competition and corporations.

Globalisation today is all about less developed countries and economies receiving FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) from the more developed countries and economies, reduction in barriers to trade and to particular extent immigration.

Political Globalisation:

Political globalisation is going to on-the-long-run drop the need for separate nation or states. Institutions like the International Criminal court and WTO are beginning to replace individual nations in their functions and this could eventually lead to a union of all the nations of the world in a European Union style.

Non-governmental organisations have also helped in political globalisation by influencing laws and policies across borders and in different countries, including developmental efforts and humanitarian aid.

Political globalisation isn’t all good as some countries have chosen to embrace policies of isolation as a reactionary measure to globalisation. A typical example is the government of North Korea which makes it extremely difficult and hard for foreigners to even enter their country and monitor all of the activities of foreigners strictly if they allow them in. Citizens are not allowed to leave the country freely and aid workers are put under serious scrutiny and are not allowed in regions and places where the government does not want them to enter.

Intergovernmentalism is the treatment of national governments and states as the major basic factors for integration. Multi-level governance is the concept that there are many structures of authority interacting in the gradual emergence of political globalisation.

Cultural Globalisation:

Cultural globalisation is the transmission of values, ideas and meanings all over the world in a way that intensify and extend social relations. Cultural globalisation is known by the consumption of different cultures that have been propagated on the internet, international travel and culture media. The propagation of cultures helps individuals to engage in social relations which break regional boundaries. Cultural globalisation also includes the start of shared knowledge and norm which people can identify their cultures collectively; it helps foster relationships between different cultures and populations.

It can be argued that cultural globalisation distorts and harms cultural diversity. As one country’s culture is inputted into another country by the means of globalisation, the new culture becomes a threat to the cultural diversity of the receiving country.

Globalisation has made the world into one very small community where we all interact and relate, learn about other cultures and civilisations different from ours. Globalisation has helped improve the ease of doing business all around the world and has made the production of goods and services quite easy and affordable. Globalisation isn’t all good and rosy as it can be argued that Globalisation is just westernisation as most cultures and beliefs are being influenced by the western culture and belief and this harms cultural diversity. Nevertheless, the good of globalisation outweighs the bad so globalisation is actually a very good thing and has helped shape the world as we know it.

Economics , Globalisation

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Effects of Globalization

Definition of globalization, drivers of globalization.

Globalization is defined as interaction among different countries in order to develop global economy. It entails political, technological, cultural and political exchanges which are facilitated by infrastructure, transport and communication. Some of the traditional international theories of globalization include Ricardian theory of international trade, Heckscher-Ohlin model and Adam Smith’s model (Scholte, 2005).

For globalization to take place, it must be driven by certain factors. The first factor that drives globalization is competitiveness in the market, which focuses on aspects such as global competitors, interdependence among countries and high two-way trade. The second factor that drives globalization is the government.

The government drives globalization through regulation of marketing activities, provision of technical standards that are compatible and elimination of restrictions imposed on trade and investment procedures. The third factor that drives globalization is cost.

Cost in globalization deals with efficiency in sourcing activities, world economies and emerging technological trends. The fourth factor that drives globalization is market, which covers ordinary needs of customers, channels of world markets and marketing techniques that can be transferred to different regions.

Globalization is associated with both positive and negative effects. Its first positive effect is that it makes it possible for different countries to exchange their products. The second positive effect of globalization is that it promotes international trade and growth of wealth as a result of economic integration and free trade among countries.

However, globalization is also associated with negative effects. Its first negative effect is that it causes unemployment. Since companies compete with their rivals in the market, sometimes they are forced to sack some of their employees in order to reduce salary costs and instead maximize profits. This is common in developing countries, where large numbers of unemployed people live in urban areas.

The second negative effect of globalization is that it promotes terrorism and criminal activities because people, food and materials are allowed to move freely from one country to the other. Individuals with evil intentions take advantage of this freedom and carry out terrorism activities and other crimes (Negative Effects of Globalization, 2013).

Negative Effects of Globalization. (2013). Web.

Scholte, J. (2005). Globalization: A Critical Introduction. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

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  • Essay On Globalisation

Globalisation Essay

500+ words essay on globalisation.

Globalisation can be defined as a process of integration of the Indian economy with the world economy. Globalisation has been taking place for the past hundred years, but it has sped up enormously over the last half-century. It has increased the production and exchange of goods and services. Globalisation is a positive outcome of privatisation and liberalisation. Globalisation is primarily an economic process of interaction and integration associated with social and cultural aspects. It is said to be an outcome of different policies to transform the world towards greater interdependence and integration. To explain, in other words, Globalisation is a concept or method of interaction and union among people, corporations, and governments universally.

The top five types of globalisation are:

1. Cultural globalisation

2. Economic globalisation

3. Technological globalisation

4. Political globalisation

5. Financial globalisation

Impact of Globalisation on the Indian Economy

After urbanisation and globalisation, we can witness a drastic change in the Indian economy. The government-administered and established economic policies are imperative in planning income, investment, savings, and employment. These economic policies directly influence while framing the basic outline of the Indian economy.

Indian society is critically impacted by cross-culture due to globalisation, and it brought changes in different aspects of the country in terms of political, cultural, economic and social.

However, the main factor is economic unification which contributes maximum to a country’s economy into an international economy.

Advantages of Globalisation

Labour access: Due to globalisation, nations can now access a broader labour pool. If there is any shortage of knowledgeable workers in any developing nation, they can import labour from other countries. On the other hand, wealthier countries get an opportunity to outsource their low-skill work to developing nations with a low cost of living to reduce the cost of goods sold and move those savings to the customers.

High standard of living: After Globalisation, the Indian economy and the standard of living have increased. The change can be observed in the purchasing behaviour of an individual, especially those associated with foreign companies. Hence, most cities are upgraded with a better standard of living and business development.

Resource Access : The primary reason for trade is to gain access to the resources of other countries. It would have been impossible to produce or manufacture luxurious goods if the flow of resources across countries was not permissible—for example, Smartphones.

Impact of Globalisation

Globalisation in terms of economy is associated with the development of capitalism. The introduction of Globalisation has developed economic freedom and increased the living standard worldwide. It has also fastened up the process of offshoring and outsourcing. Due to outsourcing, transnational companies got an opportunity to exploit medium and small-sized enterprises intensively at a low price worldwide. As a kind of economic venture, outsourcing has increased, in recent times, because of the increase in quick methods of communication, especially the growth of information technology (IT).

Privatization of public utilities and goods, such as security, health, etc., are also impacted by Globalisation. Other goods, such as medicines or seeds, are considered economic goods and have been integrated into recent trade agreements.

This essay on Globalisation will help students to understand the concept more accurately. Students can also visit our BYJU’S website to get more CBSE Essays , question papers, sample papers, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions on Globalisation Essay

What are the benefits of globalisation.

Globalisation gives countries access to foreign cultures and technological innovation from more advanced countries. It provides improved living standards to people. The global exposure it gives has resulted in the emergence of new talent in multiple fields.

What are the main elements of globalisation?

Principle elements of globalisation are international trade, foreign investment, capital market flows, labour migration, and diffusion of technology.

What are the different types of globalisation?

Political, economic and cultural globalisation are the main types of globalisation.

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language and globalization essay

Can You Lose Your Native Tongue?

After moving abroad, I found my English slowly eroding. It turns out our first languages aren’t as embedded as we think.

Credit... Artwork by PABLO DELCÁN

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By Madeleine Schwartz

Madeleine Schwartz is a writer and editor who grew up speaking English and French. She has been living in Paris since 2020.

  • May 14, 2024

It happened the first time over dinner. I was saying something to my husband, who grew up in Paris where we live, and suddenly couldn’t get the word out. The culprit was the “r.” For the previous few months, I had been trying to perfect the French “r.” My failure to do so was the last marker of my Americanness, and I could only do it if I concentrated, moving the sound backward in my mouth and exhaling at the same time. Now I was saying something in English — “reheat” or “rehash” — and the “r” was refusing to come forward. The word felt like a piece of dough stuck in my throat.

Listen to this article, read by Soneela Nankani

Other changes began to push into my speech. I realized that when my husband spoke to me in English, I would answer him in French. My mother called, and I heard myself speaking with a French accent. Drafts of my articles were returned with an unusual number of comments from editors. Then I told a friend about a spill at the grocery store, which — the words “conveyor belt” vanishing midsentence — took place on a “supermarket treadmill.” Even back home in New York, I found my mouth puckered into the fish lips that allow for the particularly French sounds of “u,” rather than broadened into the long “ay” sounds that punctuate English.

My mother is American, and my father is French; they split up when I was about 3 months old. I grew up speaking one language exclusively with one half of my family in New York and the other language with the other in France. It’s a standard of academic literature on bilingual people that different languages bring out different aspects of the self. But these were not two different personalities but two separate lives. In one version, I was living with my mom on the Upper West Side and walking up Columbus Avenue to get to school. In the other, I was foraging for mushrooms in Alsatian forests or writing plays with my cousins and later three half-siblings, who at the time didn’t understand a word of English. The experience of either language was entirely distinct, as if I had been given two scripts with mirroring supportive casts. In each a parent, grandparents, aunts and uncles; in each, a language, a home, a Madeleine.

I moved to Paris in October 2020, on the heels of my 30th birthday. This was both a rational decision and something of a Covid-spurred dare. I had been working as a journalist and editor for several years, specializing in European politics, and had reported across Germany and Spain in those languages. I had never professionally used French, in which I was technically fluent. It seemed like a good idea to try.

When I arrived in France, however, I realized my fluency had its limitations: I hadn’t spoken French with adults who didn’t share my DNA. The cultural historian Thomas Laqueur, who grew up speaking German at home in West Virginia, had a similar experience, as the linguist Julie Sedivy notes in “Memory Speaks,” her book about language loss and relearning her childhood Czech. Sedivy cites an essay of Laqueur’s in which he describes the first time he learned that German was not, in fact, a secret family language. He and his brother had been arguing over a Popsicle in front of the grocery store near his house:

A lady came up to us and said, in German, that she would give us a nickel so that we could each have a treat of our own. I don’t remember buying a second Popsicle, but I do remember being very excited at finding someone else of our linguistic species. I rushed home with the big news.

My own introduction to speaking French as an adult was less joyous. After reaching out to sources for a different article for this magazine with little success, I showed the unanswered emails to a friend. She gently informed me that I had been yelling at everyone I hoped to interview.

Compared with English, French is slower, more formal, less direct. The language requires a kind of politeness that, translated literally, sounds subservient, even passive-aggressive. I started collecting the stock phrases that I needed to indicate polite interaction. “I would entreat you, dear Madam ...” “Please accept, dear sir, the assurances of my highest esteem.” It had always seemed that French made my face more drawn and serious, as if all my energy were concentrated into the precision of certain vowels. English forced my lips to widen into a smile.

But going back to English wasn’t so easy, either. I worried about the French I learned somehow infecting my English. I edit a magazine, The Dial, which I founded in part to bring more local journalists and writers to an English-speaking audience. But as I worked on texts by Ukrainians or Argentines or Turks, smoothing over syntax and unusual idioms into more fluid English prose, I began to doubt that I even knew what the right English was.

Back in New York on a trip, I thanked the cashier at Duane Reade by calling him “dear sir.” My thoughts themselves seemed twisted in a series of interlocking clauses, as though I was afraid that being direct might make me seem rude. It wasn’t just that my French was getting better: My English was getting worse.

For a long time, a central question in linguistics was how people learn language. But in the past few decades, a new field of study called “language attrition” has emerged. It concerns not learning but forgetting: What causes language to be lost?

People who move to new countries often find themselves forgetting words in their first language, using odd turns of phrase or speaking with a newly foreign accent. This impermanence has led linguists to reconsider much of what was once assumed about language learning. Rather than seeing the process of becoming multilingual as cumulative, with each language complementing the next, some linguists see languages as siblings vying for attention. Add a new one to the mix, and competition emerges. “There is no age at which a language, even a native tongue, is so firmly cemented into the brain that it can’t be dislodged or altered by a new one,” Sedivy writes. “Like a household that welcomes a new child, a single mind can’t admit a new language without some impact on other languages already residing there.”

As my time in France hit the year mark and then the two-year mark, I began to worry about how much French was changing my English — that I might even be losing some basic ability to use the language I considered closest to my core. It wasn’t an idle concern. A few years earlier, when living in Berlin, I found the English of decades-long expats mannered and strange; they spoke more slowly and peppered in bits of German that sounded forced and odd. As an editor, I could see it in translators too: The more time people spent in their new language, the more their English prose took on a kind of Germanic overtone. Would the same thing happen to me?

language and globalization essay

Even languages that seem firmly rooted in the mind can be subject to attrition. “When you have two languages that live in your brain,” says Monika S. Schmid, a leader in the field of language attrition at the University of York, “every time you say something, every time you take a word, every time you put together a sentence, you have to make a choice. Sometimes one language wins out. And sometimes the other wins.” People who are bilingual, she says, “tend to get very, very good at managing these kinds of things and using the language that they want and not having too much interference between the two.” But even so, there’s often a toll: the accent, the grammar or a word that doesn’t sound quite right.

What determines whether a language sticks or not? Age, Schmid says, is an important factor. “If you look at a child that is 8, 9 or 10 years old, and see what that child could do with the language and how much they know — they’re basically fully fledged native speakers.” But just as they are good language learners, children are good language forgetters. Linguists generally agree that a language acquired in early childhood tends to have greater emotional resonance for its speaker. But a child who stops speaking a language before age 12 can completely lose it. For those who stop speaking a language in childhood, that language can erode — so much so that when they try to relearn it, they seem to have few, if any, advantages, Schmid says, compared with people learning that language from scratch. Even a language with very primal, deep connections can fade into the recesses of memory.

In her book, Sedivy cites a study conducted in France that tested a group of adults who were adopted from Korea between the ages of 3 and 8 . Taken into French homes, they quickly learned French and forgot their first language. The researchers compared these adults with a group of monolingual French speakers. The participants born in Korea could not identify Korean sentences significantly better than the French control group. Intimate moments of childhood can be lost, along with the language in which they took place.

Researchers have stressed that a first language used through later years can be remarkably resilient and often comes back when speakers return home. But even adults who move to a new country can find themselves losing fluency in their first language. Merel Keijzer, a linguist at the University of Groningen who studies bilingualism, surveyed a group of Dutch speakers who emigrated as adults to Australia. A classic theory of linguistic development, she told me, argues that new language skills are superimposed on older ones like layers of an onion. She thus expected that she would find a simple language reversion: The layers that were acquired later would be most likely to go first.

The reality was more complicated. In a paper Keijzer wrote with Schmid, she found that the Dutch speakers in Australia did not regress in the way that she predicted. “You saw more Dutch coming into their English, but you also saw more English coming into their Dutch,” she says. The pattern wasn’t simple reversion so much as commingling. They “tended to just be less able to separate their languages.” As they aged, the immigrants didn’t go back to their original language; they just had difficulty keeping the two vocabularies apart.

In “Alfabet/Alphabet: A Memoir of a First Language,” the poet Sadiqa de Meijer, who was born in Amsterdam, discusses her own experiences speaking Dutch in Canada. She worries that her language has become “amusingly formal” now that she doesn’t speak it regularly. A friend tells her that she now sounds “like a book.” Unless she is in the Netherlands, she writes: “Dutch is primarily a reading language to me now. The skill of casual exchanges is in gradual atrophy.” Her young daughter does not want to speak Dutch. “Stop Dutching me!” she says. For De Meijer, “people who speak a language they learned after early childhood live in chronic abstraction.”

This state of abstraction was one that I feared. On some level, the worry felt trivial: In a world where languages are constantly being lost to English, who would complain about a lack of contact with the language responsible for devouring so many others? The Europeans that I interviewed for work deplored the imperial nature of English; the only way to have their ideas heard was to express them in a language imposed by globalization. But what I missed was not the universal English of academics nor the language of peppy LinkedIn posts but the particular sounds that I grew up with: the near-rudeness of the English spoken in New York and its rushed cadence, the way that the bottoms of words sometimes were swallowed and cut off, as if everyone already knew what was being suggested and didn’t need to actually finish the thought. I missed the variegated vocabulary of New York, where English felt like an international, rather than a globalized language, enriched with the particular words of decades of immigrants. I began to listen to “The Brian Lehrer Show” on WNYC, a public-radio station in New York, with strange fervor, finding myself excited whenever someone called in from Staten Island.

The idea that my facility with English might be weakening brought up complicated feelings, some more flattering than others. When a journalism student wrote to ask if I would be a subject in his dissertation about “the experiences of nonnative English-speaking journalists” in media, I took the email as a personal slight. Were others noticing how much I struggled to find the right word?

A change in language use, whether deliberate or unconscious, often affects our sense of self. Language is inextricably tied up with our emotions; it’s how we express ourselves — our pain, our love, our fear. And that means, as Schmid, the language-attrition expert at the University of York, has pointed out, that the loss of a language can be tied up with emotion too. In her dissertation, Schmid looked at German-speaking Jews who emigrated to England and the United States shortly before World War II and their relationship with their first language. She sent questionnaires asking them how difficult it was for them to speak German now and how they used the language — “in writing in a diary, for example, or while dreaming.”

One woman wrote: “I was physically unable to speak German. ... When I visited Germany for 3 or 4 days in 1949 — I found myself unable to utter one word of German although the frontier guard was a dear old man. I had to speak French in order to answer his questions.”

Her husband concurred: “My wife in her reply to you will have told you that she could and did not want to speak German because they killed her parents. So we never spoke German to each other, not even intimately.”

Another wrote: “I feel that my family did a lot for Germany and for Düsseldorf, and therefore I feel that Germany betrayed me. America is my country, and English is my language.”

Schmid divided the émigrés into three groups, tying each of them to a point in Germany’s history. The first group left before September 1935, that is, before the Nuremberg race laws. The second group left between the enactment of those laws and Kristallnacht, in November 1938. The last group comprised those who left between Kristallnacht and August 1939, just before Germany invaded Poland.

What Schmid found was that of all the possible factors that might affect language attrition, the one that had a clear impact was how much of the Nazi regime they experienced. Emigration date, she wrote, outweighed every other factor; those who left last were the ones who were the least likely to be perceived as “native” speakers by other Germans, and they often had a weaker relationship to that language:

It appears that what is at the heart of language attrition is not so much the opportunity to use the language, nor the age at the time of emigration. What matters is the speaker’s identity and self-perception. ... Someone who wants to belong to a speech community and wants to be recognized as a member is capable of behaving accordingly over an extremely long stretch of time. On the other hand, someone who rejects that language community — or has been rejected and persecuted by it — may adapt his or her linguistic behavior so as not to appear to be a member any longer.

In other words, the closeness we have with a language is not just a product of our ability to use it but of other emotional valences as well. If language is a form of identity, it is one that may be changed by circumstance or even by force of will.

Stories of language loss often mask other, larger losses. Lily Wong Fillmore, a linguist who formerly taught at the University of California, Berkeley, once wrote about a family who emigrated to California several years after leaving China’s Canton province in 1989. One child, Kai-fong, was 5 when he arrived in the United States. At this point in his life, he could speak and understand only Cantonese. While his younger sister learned English almost immediately and made friends easily, Kai-fong, who was shy, did not have the same experience in school. His classmates called him “Chi, chi, chia pet” because his hair stuck out. Boys mocked the polyester pants his grandmother sewed for him. Pretty soon, he and his classmates were throwing rocks at one another.

Once Kai-fong started learning English, he stopped speaking Cantonese, even to members of his own family. As Wong Fillmore writes: “When Grandmother spoke to him, he either ignored her or would mutter a response in English that she did not understand. ... The more the adults scolded, the more sullen and angry Kai-fong became.” By 10, he was known as Ken and no longer understood Cantonese well. The family began to split along linguistic lines. Two children born in the United States never learned Cantonese at all. It is a story, Wong Fillmore writes, “that many immigrant families have experienced firsthand.”

The recognition in linguistics of the ease with which mastery of a language can erode comes as certain fundamentals of the field are being re-examined — in particular, the idea that a single, so-called native language shapes your innermost self. That notion is inextricable from 19th-century nationalism, as Jean-Marc Dewaele, a professor at the University of London, has argued. In a paper written with the linguists Thomas H. Bak and Lourdes Ortega, Dewaele notes that many cultures link the first words you speak to motherhood: In French, your native language is a langue maternelle, in Spanish, lengua materna, in German, Muttersprache. Turkish, which calls your first language ana dili, follows the same practice, as do most of the languages of India. Polish is unusual in linking language to a paternal line. The term for native language is język ojczysty, which is related to ojciec, the Polish word for father.

language and globalization essay

Regarding a first language as having special value is itself the product of a worldview that places national belonging at the heart of individual life. The phrase “native speaker” was first used by the politician and philologist George Perkins Marsh, who spoke of the importance of “home-born English.” It came with more than a light prejudicial overtone. Among Marsh’s recommendations was the need for “special precautions” to protect English from “becoming debased and vulgarized ... by association with depraved beings and unworthy themes.”

The idea of a single, native language took hold in linguistics in the mid-20th century, a uniquely monolingual time in human history. American culture, with its emphasis on assimilation, was especially hostile to the notion that a single person might inhabit multiple languages. Parents were discouraged from teaching their children languages other than English, even if they expressed themselves best in that other language. The simultaneous acquisition of multiple tongues was thought to cause delays in language development and learning. As Aneta Pavlenko, a linguist at Drexel University and the University of York, has noted, families who spoke more than one language were looked down on by politicians and ignored by linguists through the 1970s. “Early bilinguals,” those who learned two languages in childhood, “were excluded from research as ‘unusual’ or ‘messy’ subjects,” she writes. By contrast, late bilinguals, those who learned a second language in school or adulthood, were treated as “representative speakers of their first language.” The fact that they spoke a second language was disregarded. This focus on the importance of a single language may have obscured the historical record, giving the impression that humans are more monolingual and more rigid in their speech than they are.

Pavlenko has sought to show that far from being the historical standard, speaking just one language may be the exception. Her most recent book, a collection of essays by different scholars, takes on the historical “amnesia” that researchers have about the prevalence of multilingualism across the globe. The book looks at examples where multiple languages were the norm: medieval Sicily, where the administrative state processed paperwork in Latin, Greek and Arabic, or the early Pennsylvania court system, where in the 18th and 19th centuries, it was not unusual to hold hearings in German. Even today, Pavlenko sees a split: American academics working in English, often their only language, regard it as the standard for research. Europeans, obliged to work in English as a second language, are more likely to consider that fluency in only one language may be far rarer than conflict among multiple tongues.

According to Dewaele and his colleagues, “the notion of a single native language, determined entirely by the earliest experiences, is also not supported by neurology and neuroscience.” While there are many stories about patients who find themselves speaking their first language after a stroke or dementia, it’s also common for the recovered patients to use the language they spoke right before the accident occurred.

All of this has led some linguists to push against the idea of the “native” speaker, which, as Dewaele says, “has a dark side.” It can be restrictive, stigmatizing accents seen as impure, or making people feel unwelcome in a new home. Speakers who have studied a language, Dewaele says, often know its grammar better than those who picked it up with their family. He himself prefers the term “first-language user” — a slightly clunky solution that definitively decouples the language you speak from the person you are.

Around the time I realized that I had most likely become the No. 1 WNYC listener outside the tristate area, I started to seek out writers who purposefully looked away from their “native” language. Despite the once commonly held belief that a writer could produce original works only in a “mother tongue,” wonderful books have been written in acquired, rather than maternal, languages. Vladimir Nabokov began to write in English shortly before he moved to the United States. French was a vehicle for Samuel Beckett to push his most innovative ideas. “It’s only in Italian that I feel I’m at the center of myself,” Jhumpa Lahiri, who started writing in Italian in her 40s, said in a recent Paris Review interview. “It’s only when I’m writing in Italian that I manage to turn off all those other, judgmental voices, except perhaps my own.”

Could I begin to think about different languages not as two personas I had to choose between but as different moods that might shift depending on circumstance? Aspects of French that I used to find cold began to reveal advantages. The stiff way of addressing strangers offered its own benefits, new ways in which I could conserve personal privacy in a world that constantly demanded oversharing. My conversations in French changed, too: I was finally talking to others not as a child but as an adult.

The author Yoko Tawada, who moved to Germany from Japan in her early 20s, works on books in both Japanese and German; she writes fluidly in both languages. Tawada’s most recent novel to be translated into English, “Scattered All Over the Earth,” explores a future in which Japan is sunken underwater, lost to climate change. A Japanese speaker, possibly the last on earth, looks for a man who she hopes shares her language, only to find that he has been pretending to be Japanese while working at a sushi restaurant.

Using new languages, or even staying within the state of multilingualism, can provide distinct creative advantages. Tawada plays with homonyms and the awkwardness that comes from literal translation. What emerges in her work is not a single language but a betweenness, a tool for the author to invent as she is using it, the scholar Yasemin Yildiz has noted. Yildiz quotes an essay by Tawada called “From the Mother Language to the Language Mother,” in which a narrator describes the ways that learning German taught her to see language differently: Writing in the second language was not a constraint, but a new form of invention. Tawada calls her typewriter a Sprachmutter, or “language mother” — an inversion of the German word for mother tongue. In a first language, we can rarely experience “playful joy,” she writes. “Thoughts cling so closely to words that neither the former nor the latter can fly freely.” But a new language is like a staple remover, which gets rid of everything that sticks and clings.

If the scholarly linguistic consensus once pushed people toward monolingualism, current research suggesting that language acquisition may shift with our circumstances may allow speakers of multiple languages to reclaim self-understanding. In Mirene Arsanios’s chapbook “Notes on Mother Tongues: Colonialism, Class and Giving What You Don’t Have,” Arsanios describes being unsure which language to speak with her son. Her mother, from Venezuela, spoke Spanish, her father, from Lebanon, spoke French; neither feels appropriate to pass on. “Like other languages originating in histories of colonization, my language always had a language problem, something akin to the evacuation of a ‘first’ or ‘native’ tongue — a syntax endemic to the brain and to the heart.”

Is the answer a multitude of languages or a renunciation of one? “Having many languages is my language’s dominant language,” she writes. She must become comfortable with the idea that what she is transmitting to her son is not a single language but questions and identities that are never quite resolved. At the end of the text, she describes speaking with her son “in a tongue reciprocal, abundant and motherless.”

The scholars I talked to stressed that each bilingual speaker is unique: Behind the general categories is a human life, with all its complications. Language acquisition and use may be messier than was envisioned by rigid distinctions of native and nonnative and, at the same time, more individual.

My own grandmother, my mother’s mother, grew up speaking German in Vienna in what was itself a multilingual household. Her mother was Austrian and her father, born in what is now Serbia, spoke German with a thick Hungarian accent. She and her family moved throughout Europe during World War II; to Budapest, Trieste, Lille and eventually escaped through Portugal on a boat carrying cork to New York.

When they arrived in the United States, her mother did not want her to speak German in public. “She felt the animosity to it,” my grandmother recently told me. But my grandmother still wished to. German was also the language of Schiller, she would say. She didn’t go out of her way to speak German, but she didn’t forget it either. She loved German poetry, much of which she still recites, often unprompted, at 95.

When I mentioned Schmid’s research to her, she was slightly dismissive of the idea that her own language use might be shaped by trauma. She said that she found the notion of not speaking German after World War II somewhat absurd, mostly because, to her ear, Hitler spoke very bad German. She berated me instead for not asking about her emotional relationship to French, which she spoke as a schoolgirl in Lille, or Italian, which she spoke in Trieste. Each was the source of memories that might wax and wane as she recalled the foreign words.

Recently, she reconnected with an old classmate from her childhood in Vienna, who also fled Europe during the war, after she recognized her friend’s picture in The New York Post. They speak together in English. Her friend Ruth, she notes, speaks English with a German accent, but does not speak German anymore.

Madeleine Schwartz lives in Paris, where she is founder and editor in chief of The Dial, a magazine of international reporting and writing. She was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 2023 and teaches journalism at Sciences Po Paris.

Read by Soneela Nankani

Narration produced by Tanya Pérez

Engineered by Brian St. Pierre

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