"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken". -Oscar Wilde

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

English and its Varieties


Oral communication is the more used method of communication. To communicate with speech, language is essential. In my opinion language is part of someone’s identity because it represents your culture. But the same language in different countries may vary mostly because of the political influences that country had.

We went to a conference on February 4, 2015 about a study in the varieties of English in the United States, England, Puerto Rico, and Malta. The results of the study were that Puerto Rico’s English is influenced by the English in the United States and that Malta’s English has more of a British influence. Another result that the researchers found was that Malta and Puerto Rico’s English have more in common than United States and England. This last result is very curious because Malta and Puerto Rico doesn't have any connections, but in the contrary the United States and England have had political relations. The similarities in Malta and Puerto Rico’s English are probably because the main languages in both countries are romance, Italian and Spanish. The researcher gave examples of phrases that in Malta and Puerto Rico has different meanings. He also explained that phrases used in one country can vary if they are spoken or written.  

English is the globally accepted language in the business world because is a language that represents a majority. With the results driven from the study by the expert we can assume that every person that speaks English speak it with some varieties and that depends of the cultural or political influences that person has. These differences don’t have a big effect on understanding each other because it mostly has one original base.

As a business student I believe that knowing many languages can and will open you many doors of opportunities in your professional journey also expanding your knowledge will enhance your internal journey, you will fly higher and further.  Because I live in Puerto Rico I am very blessed that I can speak, read, and write in Spanish, my main language, and in English my second language.



In conclusion, with the findings of the research we understood that one same language can vary from country to country and that depends mainly of cultural and political influences. We can see language as a journey because it changes throughout countries and their history. It’s like a journey because when you travel culture changes from country to country. 

3 comments:

  1. You are totally right, we are blessed that we are taught two languages as we grow, which will help us open more doors when it comes to landing a job. We are fortunate that our main language is spanish because of the similarities to other languages which helps us learn more languages along the way.

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  2. The variation in one same language is quite incredible! When you speak spanish in Chile some words that are considered okay here can be considered offensive there. We are fortunate to have 2 languages taught and sometimes even 3 or 4.

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  3. Language definitely goes hand to hand with culture. Is part of a culture, especially to those countries that speak mostly native language that barely any outsider knows, like Estonian.

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