66
Cross-Cultural Communication
It is generally phonetic, although it does include a number of difficult
pronunciations. It does not, however, have
the difficulties associated
with several- tone languages, such as Thai, Korean or Chinese.
A number of English words have become universal, for example, airport,
passport, hotel,
telephone, tennis, golf, stop and jeans.
Those who learn English acquire knowledge of British culture, literature,
values and lifestyle. These have been actively promoted by the British
Council and the BBC World Service.
The dominance of English is reflected in the
fact that the teaching of
English in schools in non- English- speaking countries is increasingly seen
as a ‘lifestyle’ subject, second only to the mother tongue, and is being
introduced in primary schools for pupils as young as five.
In 2006, a British Council report predicted that
the number of people learn-
ing English in the world would increase to two billion by 2020. English
language tuition, including courses, teaching materials and books, is most
likely
to increase with China, Eastern Europe and Latin America being the
main growth areas. The demand for online courses is also increasing with
the development of digital programmes.
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