Beyond Babel. Program 2. Culture

With the advent of the 21st century came the unstoppable global spread of English as the universal language. “Beyond Babel” explores the reasons behind this phenomenal growth through four separate programs: Trade, Culture, Politics, Future. In this second program, the issue of the English language and its influence upon a country’s culture is discussed. Britain’s past colonial exploits has left an indelible imprint on many of her colonies with the spread of the English language through religion and literature. With globalised media bombardment 24 hours a day in every conceivable form, religious broadcasts are seen and heard world-wide in English. American tele-evangelist Pat Robertson uses satellite television to spread the gospel to over 165 countries. African Americans have developed their own English dialect through the Baptist Church and black music (rap and hip hop) and in South Africa, black and white actors collaborate in theatre performance using Shakespearean English in an African way to highlight issues of apartheid. Black South Africans use English as a weapon to fight the “white master”. In India, as a result of British colony influence, the universities teach English literature (Shakespeare, Byron etc) and English is considered as an Indian language, particularly from the youth point of view - it is “uncool” to speak Hindi. Even young Bollywood filmmakers are moving away from traditional Hindi and using English in their films. Shows Tokyo as an example of the western influence that has invaded Asia, highlighting fashion, music and the global club culture where English is “the” language. Narrated by Hugh Quarshie.