Although English is a language that is learned by many people all over the world and has, at least at present, a great deal of cultural prestige and provides opportunities for people all around the world to better their lives, it is notable and somewhat remarkable that English does not have any official institute that governs English usage. This fact may not seem remarkable to monolingual English speakers, but as someone who has learned other languages, national and even regional languages frequently have institutes that set official standards for the language, including what words are considered to be acceptable, what letters and sounds exist within a language, and in general seek to preserve the high standards of official languages in the face of the slang that threatens the good use of language all over the world. To be sure, English is a very decentralized language that has always had a complex heritage as being formed in the contact between a group of related dialects of obscure West German tongues and such languages as Welsh, Danish and Norwegian, Norman French, and the languages it has met all over the world where it was brought by English settlers and their descendants.

What is it that one seeks through the establishment of an institute for the English language? For one, a certain degree of standardization of the language and its grammar and spelling is sought, as well as an official clearinghouse to update learning materials in a language to ensure that when people in foreign countries learn English that they are able to understand English in standard usage and also make themselves understood. Similarly, the learning of the English language can be encouraged through the development and free proliferation of useful teaching plans to help English teachers and learners around the world. In addition to this, the learning of English can be helped by the exploration of the barriers that exist in language learning between the native language of learners and the target language of English, so that special attention can be paid to mastering sounds and grammatical structures that are present in English but not present in native languages that students would start from. Even the establishment of consistent basic English standards to provide for an easy entry into English learning and mastery would be useful for many learners.

Examples of language institutes for other languages are not hard to find, and it would not be hard at all for a proposed English language institute to seek for greater standardization of the English language for the education of both native speakers and learners from all around the world. To be sure, there are several issues that such an institute must deal with. For one, there are numerous standards of English that exist around the world, including both national as well as regional dialects, and different levels of mastery that are required for formal education or business use. It seems difficult for an English-language institute to exist without the collaboration of people from many countries, as well as partnerships between public and private interests, but although such a task seems daunting, the desire of people to learn English all over the world makes the development of such an institution all the more vital because it can get a great deal of widespread support for its efforts. After all, the same qualities that make a language easier to understand for foreign language learners are the same things that police a language internally from the sort of pollution that comes from an overindulgence in creating slang that lowers the standards of native speakers and that quickly becomes obsolete while also increasing the ambiguity and difficulty of understanding others and being understood. In helping level the playing field for those who want to learn our language to better their own lives, we make the language better for ourselves as well.