See what a high band reads like.

P1The ascendancy of English as the world's lingua franca provokes sharply divergent reactions. Some lament that its march is hollowing out other tongues; others hail it as an unrivalled instrument of international understanding. In my view, though the anxiety is well founded, the dividends of a shared global language outweigh its hazards.

P2There is real substance to the pessimistic reading. As English entrenches itself as the default medium of commerce, scholarship and the internet, lesser-spoken languages are edged to the periphery, and some are vanishing outright as the young forsake them for a tongue that promises wider opportunity. Because language is the vessel of culture, memory and identity, the attrition of linguistic diversity amounts to a genuine impoverishment of our common heritage.

P3Nonetheless, the merits of a universal language are formidable. A shared medium lets people of utterly disparate origins trade, pursue joint research and settle disagreements, propelling the diffusion of knowledge in ways unimaginable were every exchange to await translation. For the individual, command of English unlocks education and employment the world over. Crucially, embracing English need not entail forsaking one's mother tongue; the overwhelming majority of speakers are bilingual, wielding English as a pragmatic second language while nurturing their own at home.