Several days ago I was badly late for dinner with Sigourny Luz, the Australian actor who shares my house with me, and my younger son, Jake Lyall, who is an actor in California, but was visiting.
I had been kept by an event for the young at the English Speaking Union about speech-making. It dealt not only with how to make a speech, but also how to assess any speeches they may be called upon to judge. And, what with all this coming my way, I found myself, as ever, feeling incredibly lucky for having English as my native tongue.
It’s so easy reading the books of what used to be the empire and with the news and so many films coming from across the Atlantic. Also, even apart from these admirable enjoyments, there’s the likelihood that in most of the places where they speak different languages, there will be one person, at least, who is paid to cope with the English language. We are, on the whole, understood wherever we go.
Although Mandarin and Spanish are now, in fact, the two most common languages in the world, English is still seen by many as being the most influential. It is, according to scholars such as cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, the language that connects the most people worldwide. English is probably as universal as it is likely to get. We don’t run the world any more, but we may as well be grateful that so many people still use our language.
I was late for that dinner, but I employed my recently brushed- up skills and gave a polished speech to make my apologies – and my companions both understood me perfectly.
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