Beyond Babel : The Rise of World English

This website has been created to provide background and support to the television series Beyond Babel, the only programme to have attempted a global survey of the spread of the English language.
The series had considerable success when it was first broadcast and the interest it provoked, led us to go on to produce an enhanced DVD version. This DVD has continued to be in demand by students of English, Universities and Libraries around the world and this site is intended to be a one- stop shop where you can download scripts, explore the content through original sources and for the first time, buy the DVD on-line.
We hope to use the site to create a user driven on-line directory of websites and other resources which relate to the topic of world English.
If you have comments and suggestions please send them through.

You Tube Channel Re-Launch

The Beyond Babel You Tube Channel has just been relaunched. The new and improved Channel now includes a wide selection of clips from the series as well a examples of the Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, Russian and Spanish versions of the series taken from the DVD. Some of the new material appears on this sites Media section.

Britsh Council Adopts Babel

In response to the many e-mails requesting information and related material to Beyond Babel, I have decided activate the blogging element of this website and to offer occasional posts here.
Since this site was launched back in January 2009, The British Council has adopted Beyond Babel as a teaching tool for India and China. Initially distributed to to participants of China-India ELT event in May 2009, six thousand DVD copies of the series are being distributed in Council offices throughout India and China. This follows in the continued adoption of Beyond Babel as a teaching resource in Universities around the world.