IELTS Writing Task 2: Global English & Local Languages

Question. The growing use of English as a global language may lead to the disappearance of some local languages. Is this a positive or negative development?

Band 9 model answer

As English spreads as the world’s common language, some fear that smaller languages will vanish. On balance, I consider this a negative development, because language loss also erases culture.

It is true that a shared global language brings benefits. English allows scientists, traders and travellers from different nations to cooperate easily, and for individuals it opens doors to education and better-paid work.

However, when local languages fade, communities lose far more than words. Each language carries unique literature, humour and ways of seeing the world; when Bengali children grow up unable to read Tagore in the original, a cultural inheritance is weakened. Diversity of language, like biodiversity, has value in itself.

In conclusion, although a global language is useful, the loss of local languages is a serious cultural cost, making this trend, on the whole, a negative one.