Which English?
I wonder why they teach British English in schools.
It is commonsensical that the lingua franca (common language) of the world be the language of the most influential countries. When France was in its heyday, the French language enjoyed its own influence, with countless French words being adopted into other languages. Even though the achievements of modern France cannot compare to those of its past, France has a strong history of national pride, especially concerning French. The remnants of this tradition can be seen in today's diplomatic circles. Thus, the United Nations and its satellite organizations, for example, use French as one of its two official languages. The other is English.
Britain reached the height of its power during its Industrial Revolution. Toward the end of the 19th century, Germany and the US began to catch up and Britain started lagging behind in terms of growth. As far as industrial nations go, Britain waned in power in the 20th century.
I know very little about the history of foreign language pedadogy. It is not impossible that English as a foreign language started being taught when it was the leading world power. (In this case, I am not talking about the case of colonies, but preference by Britain's neighbor countries.) If English started being taught widely only in the 20th century, however, I do not know why it would be British English. It could be that the rest of Europe remembered its previous glory or that it simply didn't wish to offend a close neighbor by teaching a different dialect.
The alternative is, predictably, American. While my personal opinion is biased, my puzzlement over this issue is practical. There are far more native speakers of American English than British English. Most of the media that gets distributed in Europe is from America. Why not teach it in schools?
(And, of course, it sounds better.)
It is commonsensical that the lingua franca (common language) of the world be the language of the most influential countries. When France was in its heyday, the French language enjoyed its own influence, with countless French words being adopted into other languages. Even though the achievements of modern France cannot compare to those of its past, France has a strong history of national pride, especially concerning French. The remnants of this tradition can be seen in today's diplomatic circles. Thus, the United Nations and its satellite organizations, for example, use French as one of its two official languages. The other is English.
Britain reached the height of its power during its Industrial Revolution. Toward the end of the 19th century, Germany and the US began to catch up and Britain started lagging behind in terms of growth. As far as industrial nations go, Britain waned in power in the 20th century.
I know very little about the history of foreign language pedadogy. It is not impossible that English as a foreign language started being taught when it was the leading world power. (In this case, I am not talking about the case of colonies, but preference by Britain's neighbor countries.) If English started being taught widely only in the 20th century, however, I do not know why it would be British English. It could be that the rest of Europe remembered its previous glory or that it simply didn't wish to offend a close neighbor by teaching a different dialect.
The alternative is, predictably, American. While my personal opinion is biased, my puzzlement over this issue is practical. There are far more native speakers of American English than British English. Most of the media that gets distributed in Europe is from America. Why not teach it in schools?
(And, of course, it sounds better.)