VCE English Language 2025 Unit 2 AOS 2: 'Englishes in Contact' Essay Plan

Introduction Sentence.

Since the 17^th century and the beginnings of British colonialism, the English language has spread across the globe at a rapid rate, becoming the language of international trade, industrialism and technology. Today, 90% of European countries use English as their corporate language, and it is used as the dominant or official language in over 75 territories.

Benefits Paragraph Topic Sentence.

The English language has created opportunities for greater intercultural understanding as the language acts as a bridge between speakers of other languages interacting in the workforce, in politics and in international tourism.

Airspeak Evidence.

The widespread use of aviation English, or ‘airspeak’, for example, allows pilots all around the world with different language backgrounds to communicate easily in case of an emergency in foreign airspace. Lexemes taken directly from English, such as ‘Roger’, ‘Wilco’, ‘Mayday’ and ‘Airfoil’ are instantly recognisable words that ensure that radio communication can occur easily between pilots and air traffic controllers speaking different languages, as they can all use airspeak for mutual understanding.

Mistranslation Linking Sentence.

Additionally, the spread of English internationally helps to reduce the occurrence of translation errors. If a greater portion of the world’s population can comprehend English, the need for translation into their native languages is reduced, and along with it the chance of significant translation errors.

Jimmy Carter Evidence.

An example of such an error is the interpretation of former US President Jimmy Carter’s speech during a visit to Poland in 1977, in which the phrase ‘I left the United State this morning’ was translated in Polish to ‘I left the United States never to return.’ This innaccurate translation caused widespread confusion in Poland, and the incident garnered international attention. 

Benefits Paragraph Summary Sentence.

The influence of English has benefitted the international community by reducing the need for translation between languages and leaving less room for miscommunication in international diplomacy and in the workforce.

Minority Language Loss Introduction Sentence.

However, the encroachment of English upon minority languages poses a threat to these languages and the unique ideas and worldviews that its speakers can express. By cementing English as the global Lingua Franca, the number of minority languages being spoken will be reduced, and the world’s population will gradually become limited to only the words and ideas that exist in English.

Untranslatable Words Evidence.

Untranslatable words, for example, are foreign language lexemes that have no direct equivalent in English. The Inuit word ‘Ik suarpok,’ is an untranslatable noun that denotes the frustration and annoyance felt when waiting for someone to arrive. Although this idea can be expressed through English using multiple words, the individual word itself when used it its original language expresses worldviews and connotations that are absent in the explanation of the concept in English. These worldviews would likely be lost with the Inuit language, along with its native speakers’ ability to express their ideas effectively.

Unique Worldview Linking Sentence.

Moreover, the structure of different languages, including grammar and word order, demand the speaker to express certain ideas to form a correct sentence. As such, its speakers will adopt a unique worldview due to their consciousness of certain aspects of the world around them. 

Guugu Yimithirr Example.

For example, in the Guugu Yimithirr language of Northern Australia, direction is expressed no using egocentric terms such as ‘left’, ‘right’ and ‘forward’ as it is in English, but always through cardinal points, ‘North’, ‘South,’ ‘East,’ and ‘West’. This language element in particularly unique, as it demands the speaker to be permanently conscious of their orientation to use a direction in a sentence. For example, if a speaker of Guugu Yimithirr wanted to direct a person facing North to move their right leg forward, they would have to say ‘move your East leg North.’

Minority Language Loss Summary Sentence.

The spread of English is hastening the demise of minority languages such as those of the Canadian Inuit and Aboriginal Australians, and thus heightening the risk of losing the unique perspectives and worldviews that these languages can express.

Standard English Introduction Sentence.

However, it is clear that developments in the 21st century are doing much to challenge the authority of Standard English. Uniformity is hard to maintain, especially for a language that has established itself in almost every corner of the globe, as new Englishes emerge to put pressure on Standard English.

Indian English Evidence.

Indian English, for example, differs little from the Standard in its core grammar, but often variates its use of determiners, inserting and removing them incorrectly. For example, the determiner ‘the’ may be removed from the sentence ‘Let’s go to city.’ However, in the sentence ‘They can be a help to the humanity,’ the determiner is included where it would not be used in Standard English. These differences may be minor, but they contribute to the number of differences between the dialects that will result in communication between the dialects becoming mutually unintelligible.

Standard English Linking Sentence.

Furthermore, significant pressure on the Standard is coming from computer mediated communication. With the internet now widely used for social networking and informal communication, newer varieties of English are getting a new written function and identity. TikTok is one platform where non-standard dialects of English can be heard by Standard English speakers.

Singlish Evidence.

Singaporean TikToker Jayn Rajendran uses Singlish in her popular videos about school and life in Singapore. One of her tiktoks reflecting on life in a Singaporean school contained the sentence ‘Go downstairs and buy lah.’ This sentence is unique as it contains the expressive Singaporean discourse particle ‘lah’, and also omits the object ‘it’ that would be present in Standard English grammar. A Standard English speaker may be confused by the accent and vocabulary used in these videos, and struggle to understand the video without subtitles.