english as a global language

[une etoile]

What gives a language global influence and makes it a world language?

[Gast]

I think that depends on its spreading. See: There are about 1 billion Chinese people who speak Chinese as their mother tongue but only about 500 million people who speak English as a native language.
Hardly anybody learns Chinese but many people learn English. So you will always find someone who speaks English.

So I think a language that can help you everywhere in the world.

[Rinoa89]

thats true. English seems to be such a popular language to learn. Kind of a good and bad thing for me.

[Gast]

Why could it bad? I think English is one of the easiest languages.
(At least much easier than German, Russian, French or Latin, I think.)
btw: Are you really from Wisconsin?

[Cliff]

I think English is one of the easiest languages.

What makes English an easy language?

[Rinoa89]

Yes, im realy from wisconsin, but I say it might be a bad thing because when I go into the job market and I apply in a foriegn country outside of the states, when I put down that I speak English onto a job application, "Yeah, you and about everybody else, buddy."
Im not exactly the most marketable person, knowing english, because so does everybody else.

[raincat]

@Cliff: One possible reason: Nouns are easy to decline. But on the other hand there are terribly many tenses ...

[Gast]

The English language has only ONE word order (S-P-O), that's what makes it so easy to learn.
You don't have to learn so many forms... So it doesn't took so much time to learn it.
Of course you must be able to speak some more "exotic" languages than English if you want to be "unique" and to be able to get jobs in foreign countries. But you will be understood everywhere in the world if you speak English. And that's the most important thing, I think .