Sudan needs English to build bridges between North and South

2/2/2011

In this article they talk about how the two halves of the country need a neutral language to communicate with each other. The South has already declared that they want to be a separate country and have chosen English as their language. The North uses Arabic which the South doesn’t like, but the North is going to use English as a second language. Police, Military, and leaders of the country are all pushing to put English classes in place so they can use English to communicate between North and South so they can both work together to stop human trafficking and other issues faced by both sides. Both sides also agree that English is the language of the internet and a key tool in building a better economy and country. I think they have the right idea in using a common language to bridge the gap between these two counties that were in a civil war up until 2005. I don’t know if the English language is a big part in building an economy though, but they might know or mean something that I am missing. I agree with their reasoning for adopting a language to communicate with each other. It makes me think about the U.S. and Mexican border where authorities used to work together to stop drug, human, and gun trafficking before the drug cartels too over. All in all I found the article interesting

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/jan/11/tefl-sudan