The global youth culture is not only spending money on western goods and services, they are also learning English as a Second Language.

This year teenagers around the world will spend one hundred billion dollars on personal items. This is their allowance for them to freely spend. You are probably thinking that most of it is in the hands of American kids but it's not. Actually most of this money, about sixty five percent of it, comes from outside of America. This newest generation of teenagers is part of the global youth culture. Their style of music, dress and dance traverse the globe. You can see teenagers sitting and drinking Coca Cola in Thailand listening to hip hop music on their iPods. The same music, dress and dance will be found in Tanzania as well. Of course there are some adaptations for climates and religious beliefs. The head scarves are found in most Islamic countries and denim jeans are lined with flannel for warmth but the style is the same. Even though most of the teens in the world would say they do not like America for some reason the American pop culture dominates all others. But like the American teen demographic, the global teen market breaks down into basic subgroups like aspirers and traditionalists. Music is the common thread woven through all these widely spread groups of teenagers. Some of them understand the lyrics of the songs thanks to English being the Lingua Franca of the world. Many times even if you can 't understand the lyrics you will recognize the tune because the lyrics have been translated or adapted and rerecorded with the same music. Almost all of them have had English lessons in public schools. The European Union has English classes in elementary schools with most students being at the intermediate level by the eighth grade. In the rest of world, second language education starts in middle school continuing through high school. In most communities there are also private language schools that target this demographic. Of course the British have a heavy influence there since their programs are sponsored by their government but most are owned by locals. Some of them learn English with free lessons online. An internet café is found on many street corners in big cities around the world. After music the World Wide Web is probably the second biggest influence on teens. Most of the information on the internet is in the English language but Chinese is catching up rapidly. Tapping into the global teen market to influence and benefit from this generations affluence is the question. While there needs to be global advertising campaigns and the same time the grassroots movement needs to be moving in harmony with it in order to capture the hearts, minds and wallets of this new and affluent generation.