Speaker
Rupert Herington is a Senior Teaching Fellow at the University of Leeds Language Centre. He works with students from a wide-range of countries as director of the English component of the International Foundation Year programme. Through his regular travels overseas to promote the University of Leeds, he encounters English in use in different countries.
Date: Tuesday 18th May 2010
Abstract
English is widely used in many parts of the world either as a first language or a primary foreign language. It is also the lingua franca for some sectors such as aviation. Why has this occurred and how did the influence of English spread to different parts of the globe? In this talk I will provide some of the reasons why English is so widely used around the world and why it has been adopted as an important means of communication. Throughout the talk, I will provide examples I have collected to illustrate how English is being used in a variety of countries.