Hermann Schmidt

G lobalization designates the way that important spheres of life are
becoming oriented toward worldwide developments, predomi-
nantly in the economy. The motor driving these developments may
be found above all in information and communication technolo-
gies, television, and in the expansion, streamlining, and cost cut-
ting experienced by international air travel.

Globalization means worldwide communication that is quick
and easy to carry out by telephone, fax, and the Internet, both ana-
log and digital. In order to take part, the very minimal requirement
is mastery of English, the Internet's lingua franca. Foreign-language
learning (not just of English) is therefore an important precondi-
tion for participating in globalization.

It is in the free, worldwide movement of finance, services, goods,
and persons that globalization manifests itself. Freedom and free-
dom of movement are therefore the preconditions for globalization.
As long as the world's states were divided into two blocs and a bloc-
free group, there was a growing internationalization of trade and
business, but no globalization. The barriers between the states of the
different blocs were too impervious. Globalization had a starting

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