Why do you want to learn English?
This question is the first thing you should be asking yourself, and you should know that the authenticity of your answer determines not only the quality of your learning experience but also the rewards.
Most people have their reasons for learning English. Some people do it to appear more professional. Some learn English to be able to travel to different countries. However, very few people have an idea about the effect that English can have on human consciousness, global interconnectivity, and the way we see ourselves in the world.
English is a universal language. The popularity of English should not be seen as cultural imperialism but as a part of globalization. English is not only widely used language by businesses, tourism, and diplomacy, but it also is capable of opening your mind to newer perspectives.
This new perspective is called Global Citizenship. It comprises of processes, skills, character traits, and attitudes that come together to form an identity beyond geographic and political borders.
Although we are not free of borders in the physical sense, we have the power, the responsibility, and the opportunity to enrol ourselves in an already existing international community. This process extends our field of awareness and provides a better, unified, peaceful way of solving global problems.
There are many problems with the world, and if we are to make any changes, we must be willing to expand our worldview to include other cultures. We should be able to come together and celebrate our differences while knowing that what unites us as human beings is way stronger than what sets us apart.
Here are four ways in which English helps us build a global perspective:
Communication is the Key
The first and foremost advantage of learning Spoken English is that it will allow you to communicate with people from different cultures. This way, communication will transform your perspective by offering a segway into human connection and relationship.
Once you connect with people from other cultures, you are subjected to the naked reality behind their practices and forced to challenge your own beliefs and stereotypes. This connection makes it incredibly hard to project your fear and misconceptions onto others and leads you to a realization that people from other religions, cultures, and backgrounds are not as different as you presumed.
Moreover, your conception of people from external groups starts to dissolve, and you start looking at them as not so different than you.
You Recognize the Multiplicity and the Unity
Since such a large number of people all around the world speak English, fluency would help you acquire direct experience and understanding of all the different cultures that you come across. As you come across people from different backgrounds, you tend to lose all the stereotypes that have been fed to you and embrace new ideas.
In the beginning, you would feel like the people from different backgrounds are weird, but soon you would realize that they are the same. The realization might come sooner or later depending on your age and maturity; however, once it comes, you will want to keep going.
This process will also prepare you to appreciate the uniqueness of other cultures as well as yours.
The more you connect with people outside the political, geographic, and conceptual borders of your nation, culture, and religion, the more you will realize that humanity is the most common and the strongest denominator between us.
Good Information Catalyzes New Perspective
English can offer you access to exponential information sources. There is nothing more important than a large variety of information from a vast number of sources, and no other language can offer you quantity and quality information that English does.
A large number of documents, readable, and other information about a variety of topics about the world are present in the English language. As you read, listen, watch and learn about the world and your country through different mediums, you realize that you have been fed with misinformation your entire life.
In simple terms, the people who control the information control the masses. It has been known that 98 per cent of corporate mass media in any country is controlled by a small group of rich, powerful, and politically connected people who manipulate the information to suit their agenda.
With the current mindset and some important factors to speak fluent English, you can access a whole new realm of information that will help catalyze your worldview and enrich your knowledge about the world and humans. You can also cross-check the information you are getting by going through different sources such as online English speaking course.
Be the Change You Wish to See in the World
When you are being subjected to various information from around the world, you need to keep an unbiased view of the situation of the world.
To be a global citizen, your attitude towards life and your perspective towards the world need to be in the line of global awareness.
Embody your message, allow your knowledge to serve as a vehicle for what you identify as the truth and be a force of change for other people to learn that truth.