While I was in London this week, I found myself in the lobby of the British Council — an agency of the British government that promotes British culture all over the world. The entire lobby was given over to an exhibit called “The English Effect,” which exemplified a lot of the kind of thinking that we have been talking about in class. The exhibit triumphantly offers statistics about the number of people learning English the world over (nearly 2 billion now), and the growing number of companies that require all employees to speak English (Renault, Nokia, etc.)

Here’s the website for “The English Effect”: http://www.britishcouncil.org/english/english-effect-exhibition-london

Have a look at it and let me know what you think. Is this a form of imperialism? Or is it simply a country justifiably celebrating its major export?