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Is English a friend or an enemy?
Many countries are struggling with the tension between educating their people in indigenous languages vs. teaching them global trade languages, especially English. When students at the Phnom Penh Institute of Technology were told they would be taught French instead of English, 1,000 of them threatened to burn French flags. Three fourths of the world's mail and four-fifths of its electronic information is in English. Business leaders, doctors, scientists, inventors and diplomats use English in global networks. Staunch deemphasizers of English such as Malaysia are now seeing the need to engage in international discourse and are beginning to promote the teaching of English. Asians, in particular, are contributing to English as a language with Singlish and Chinglish varieties. Renewed interest in English could have a profound impact on the missionary enterprise as more Christians become involved in teaching English in World A.