PROGRAMME ONE: TRADE

Trade examines how the process of international trade has taken English on to the world stage. At their corporate headquarters in Atlanta, Coca Cola executives mull over the marketing strategy for their Shanghai factories, while local staff at Virgin Atlantic in China have to master English to deal with passenger bookings. At the Harvard Business School, a professor speculates that English has banished nationhood in favour of global branding. Around the world business has come to depend on English as the lingua franca of international trade and as the language grows so does its aspirational pull.

Trade features Coca Cola, Virgin Atlantic, Harvard Business School, International Air Traffic Control, Bloomberg Financial Markets, BT Mahindra, language schools around the world.

PROGRAMME ONE: ADDITIONAL SEQUENCES

David Crystal Interview

In a wide ranging interview, Professor David Crystal, world renowned authority on the English Language and series advisor, discusses many of the topics raised by the series.

Tokyo Classified

Scottish expatriate, Mark Devlin, set up an English language magazine in Tokyo to help other ex-patriots living in Japan. But it has become popular with young Japanese.

The Thomson Foundation

The Thomson Foundation has been running courses for broadcast journalists for many years. At their base in Cardiff, Wales, they attract journalists from all around the world.

OLSET, South Africa

The Open Learning Systems Education Trust (OLSET) expands on its innovative programme of English language teaching.

National Maritime Museum, London

Robert Blyth of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich explains how trade was responsible for the global spread of the English language.

Air Traffic Controllers School

Air Traffic Controllers go through extensive training in the formalized English language of the skies at the National Air Traffic Services’ college in the UK.

Data Processing Centre, India

World Network Services was among the first international companies to set up offices in India, taking advantage of the high level of education and English language fluency.

English In China

The Chinese government are taking steps to introduce the English language to as many people as possible in China.

PROGRAMME TWO: CULTURE

Culture looks at the phenomenal appeal of English as a vehicle for artistic expression. From Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London to American Rap music, via Star TV in Hong Kong, English is asserting itself as the language of cultural communication. Tele-evangelist Pat Robertson employs the power of satellite television to spread the gospel to the world from the Christian Broadcasting Network studios. A young Indian director launches his English language film, “Bollywood Calling”, at the London Film Festival and in Tokyo, Japanese pop group Babamania only perform in English. The success of the language is taking the cultural world by storm.

Culture features Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, BBC World Service, Channel [V], church services in Atlanta and Johannesburg, John Kani of the Market Theatre Johannesburg, and The British Library.

PROGRAMME TWO: ADDITIONAL SEQUENCES

Christian Broadcasting Network

Pat Robertson of CBN expands on how English has helped him spread the word of God throughout the world.

Anglican Church, South Africa

The Archbishop of Cape Town explains how English is used as a common language to draw together all the languages of South Africa.

English In India

Broadcaster Mark Tully argues that although English has brought many benefits to India, it should not be to the detriment of Hindi.

English Literature In India

Professor Harish Trivedi talks about the initial interaction between English and Indian literature but how the scales have now tipped in the balance of English.

South African Literature

Nobel Prize Winning author Nadine Gordimein, explains how writing in English enabled her books to find an audience while banned under the South African Apartheid regime..

Indian Films In English

Indian director Nagesh Kukunoor, discusses his decision to make movies in English in the hope of reaching international audiences.

English In Japan

Mariko Fujiwara of the advertising agency, Hakuhodo Institute of Life & Living, explains how English has started to make in-roads into Japanese life, particularly in product names and music.

Gaelic Broadcasting, Scotland

Scotland’s minority language is fighting to retain its place in everyday life and broadcasting is seen as an important way to keep the language alive.

PROGRAMME THREE: POLITICS

Politics examines the role of English as the medium of international political discourse and diplomacy and its adoption by those seeking freedom and justice. From Bunker Hill to Silicon Valley, the English language shapes the political landscape of modern day America. And its revolutionary heritage is echoed in the fiercely contested language debates that still rage, whether it’s between new immigrants and the political establishment or the struggles of Native Americans to preserve their own endangered languages. In South Africa, with its eleven official languages, English has become a key element in bringing together former opponents. While in India, English vies with the indigenous language, Hindi, as the language of government.

Politics features The Star newspaper Johannesburg, CNN, BBC Africa Bureau, FW de Klerk, The Shanghai Daily newspaper, Big Apple Greeters, European Parliament, and the Hupa Valley Reservation language project.

PROGRAMME THREE: ADDITIONAL SEQUENCES

The American Revolution

Bill Fowler of the Massachusetts Historical Society looks at some of the documentation associated with the founding of the United States of America.

Language Development In America

Bill Kretzschmar of the University of Georgia explores how the English language has changed in the United States.

Political Broadcasting In America

Professor Thomas Patterson of Harvard University examines some of the changes in political broadcasting that have led to changes in the way English is used.

The Future of English In America

Geoff Nunberg, Principal Scientist at PARC, analyses the perceptions of bilingualism and questions the possible fragmentation of the English language.

National Broadcasting In Japan

NHK, the national broadcaster in Japan, spends considerable time and effort translating news into English for the benefit of its viewers.

The Hindu Newspaper, India

Reporters at The Hindu newspaper seem to have no trouble switching from Hindi to English when covering stories.

Legal System, South Africa

George Bizos of the Legal Resource Centre in Johannesburg explains the importance of good translators in a country with 11 official languages.

Afrikaans & English

F W de Klerk acknowledges the importance of the English language whilst expressing his concern that it may threaten Afrikaans.

Lingua Franca, South Africa

Milton Nkosi of the BBC Africa Bureau explains the importance of having a lingua franca in South Africa but points out the difficulties of accurate translations.

PROGRAMME FOUR: THE FUTURE

Over 70% of the world’s scientific research is now recorded in English and science accounts for the fastest growing area of the already immense English vocabulary. This programme travels from Xerox Parc in Silicon Valley to Electronics City in Bangalore, to explore the way that technological advance and English have become inextricably linked. New media and the Internet have produced a boom in English, but will this ubiquity continue? Will the development of translation machines make the need for a common language obsolete and, as more and more people grow up bi-lingual, will the monolingual English speakers be left behind?

Future also features Xerox Parc, Infosys, British Telecom’s research centre at Adastral Park, digital libraries, Oxford English Dictionary, South Africa’s multi-lingual soap opera Isidingo and the Welsh Language Board.

PROGRAMME FOUR: ADDITIONAL SEQUENCES

The Internet

As the Internet continues to grow, new software that converts roman characters into other symbols is enabling more languages to be represented.

Science In India

Most scientific journals are published in English, which can cause extra difficulties for scientists, who are not native speakers of English.

English Dictionaries

The Oxford English Dictionary and the Encarta World English Dictionary explain their histories and philosophies.

South African English

South African English has absorbed so many terms from Afrikaans and other African languages that a separate dictionary has been created.

International Broadcasters

CNN and the BBC discuss the importance of using clear, unambiguous English when broadcasting around the world.