the future of English

[une etoile]

i think there is no reason to believe that any other language will appear within the next 50 years because the position of English has arises from a particular history which no other language can!

[une etoile]

I'm working straight on a paper "English as a global language", that's why i'm raising so many questions.

[wenlily80]

I don't think english would be the only language in the furture. Let's starts with the netherlands. There you can have english TV programs, english books, and almost every people can speak very good english. But still their mothertonge is NOT ENGLISH. The same for germany.

In asian countries, there are no so many people who can understand english. You may argure that perhaps in 20 years things will be changed. But that is not the point. Even they can speak good english, still they have their own culture.

If we consider the dialect in Germany, for example Saarlandisch, do you think that in 100 years people in Saarland can not speak Saarlandisch, simple because that they can speak perfect english?

[Rinoa89]

Simply speaking, I am not sure how much longer English will have domination over the earth. America is the reason, at least I beleive, that English is so wide spread and popular. Well, I have a very good feeling that America does not have long. If you were to pay attention closly to American news, we are following in almost the exact same steps as the Roman Empire. Hiring the poor to join the military, overly obsessed with entertainment. There's other examples. Now, this is a complex situation covering very delicate variables, but, if Amerca should fall as a super power of the world, then English would fall as the world's mother tongue. That's not to say that's the truth though, In a very many good years, English could be more spoken then the mother tongue of the country. Maybe only keeping the mother tongue to traditional matters. Example: Japan uses the roman numerical system: 1 2 3 4 5. But they will use Japanese numbers for traditional events, formal and important letters, and other important documents. This is a possibility. I was trying to be delicate in my English, If you either want me to explain more of my ideas, tell me, or if this was too complex tell me and ill explain it better

[raincat]

Hi, Rino

Your point of view is very interesting. I'm not sure, if America is the original reason for the wide spread of English. Guess it had started with the colonisation of countries by England but I don't now it for sure. Nevertheless I can follow your theory. Also interesting your comparison with the Roman Empire and how you see the situation from inside of the U.S.

@une etoile: Thanks for giving your reasons for your surveys ...

[zixuen]

Sorry, i don't agree with you because if your mother language is not english, your children must know how to speak your mother language because you won't speak english to your chlidren except some especially reasons.
on the otherhand, there are lots of cultures which can't be totaly understood in english especially the cultures in asia, such as China ,korean, Japan ,Thailand and so on.
i dare to say that it is impossible for any people to explain Chinese cultures clearly in english.
Since there is a lot of big differents between english and the languages in asia, it is impossible for english to replace the languages in Asia, especially Chinese.
even english is much much comon than chinese, but the China has 13billions population and they speak chinese. Also, there is a lot of people who are non-Chinese but learn chinese. Then how can English become the only language on the earth in the future?

[raincat]

Dear zixuen

there are lots of people who don’t believe English will become the one and only language in the future. As you already said – there are so many cultural differences (fortunately!) to consider and being reflected in a national language. I don’t think at all that any national language will get replaced by English in the future.

Kind regards/raincat

P.S. May I ask if your name has got a special meaning like many of the Chinese names?

[zixuen]

Dear zixuen

there are lots of people who don’t believe English will become the one and only language in the future. As you already said – there are so many cultural differences (fortunately!) to consider and being reflected in a national language. I don’t think at all that any national language will get replaced by English in the future.

Kind regards/raincat

P.S. May I ask if your name has got a special meaning like many of the Chinese names?

My name has some meanings for me....
even english is the most popular language in the world, but you know..? there are 13billions population who is the native speaker and speak chinese.
of course, i totally agree that english is becoming more popular and there is no language can replace the position of English in the future but i don't agree that english will be the only language in the world.
Do you know the language and word of China has over than 5000 years history?
and the population of China is improving and their mother language is Chinese, not English.
Even Chinese learn English, but it is impossible that Chinese can't speak Chinese because Chinese is their mother language.
Since the stucture of Chinese is totally different from English and it is impossible for anyone to use English to realize Chinese. And also, the Chinese culture is being spreaded and more and more people are learning Chinese. So i think Chinese will not never disappear on the earth.
Beside China ,the population of India is also improving and the population of India is 10billions now.
In short, i think English is the international language but it will never be the only language in the world.

[theinterpreter]

hi etoile, stern, star, estrella, swjosd,
good question. English is on the increase around the globe.
Former Soviet countries all introduced English at school, even Russia itself. The same applies to the Balkans and countries in Eastern Europe. It is the number one "lingua franca" in the world and will stay that way, because English has a grammar with a fairly simple structure, there are no cases, verbs don't change much. Nevertheless it can't be that easy, otherwise people would not commit so many errors. English has a variety of synonyms meaning more or less the same, there can be a lot of false friends.
But Spanish and Chinese are on the increase in the world, even Arabic, as Islam spreads south and eastwards.
I think Chinese doesn't pose a serious threat to English either. Although China made a giant leap towards being the new super power in economy, the "lingua franca" in economy in the future will be English, as the businessmen and CEOs around the world speak English.
In Europe, English is undoubtedly the "language most frequently spoken" as English has about 30% Latin origin and 50% Germanic origin, so most people living in Europe can identify with English fairly quickly, vocab can be acquired quickly.

felix

[Cliff]

English has about ... 50% Germanic origin

I think you confused something here. English as we know it today is basically derived from French and Latin. The number of words of Germanic origin is less than 10 percent.

[StrinG-SorcereR]

Hi everybody,

Very interesting theories...
Actually we all know that all Romanic languages (including English, French, German, Spanish etc.....) have their origin in Latin. But do not reflect that America will fall as a "Global Power" because of the same reason as Rome has done many centuries ago. It might look like it yet, but how do you expect a "fall" of America ? If it will become like you expected, just imagine what happened to Rome after its doom! I also think that especially in Europe the United Kingdom is the main factor and reason for the fact that English is the international and especially economic language. Just think of the stock market !

I just think that it will stay quiet the same, however, i guess that English's (is that possible )
importance will at first increase in school, universaty, and education in public/private buildings in general, and second it will be 'bit more common in industry than now, but again, 'tis everybody's own opinion, right ?!

One more add-on: If I think of the Euro, I nearly have to throw up. In my opinion it was a take-away of every nation's identity and the whole nation (austria in my case) didn't mind it anyway. The little symbols, famous buildings , important persons of the past or whatever just don't reassert it. Of course it is an advantage, if we all just think of the fact not having to change money for journey etc. But people could travel somewere for vacation before to, didn't they ? That's just my main thought which goes through my head right now....

anyway, stay peacefully and love your life !

[A.wilhelm.scream]

Hi everybody,

Very interesting theories...
Actually we all know that all Romanic languages (including English, French, German, Spanish etc.....) have their origin in Latin. But do not reflect that America will fall as a "Global Power" because of the same reason as Rome has done many centuries ago. It might look like it yet, but how do you expect a "fall" of America ? If it will become like you expected, just imagine what happened to Rome after its doom!

i don't agree with you on this point, because first of all Rome was a city state - all eyes on the city itself - and another point is that Rome was missing almost any kind of managment/bureaucracy , not in the city itself (counsels and senat etc.), but in the regions they later added to their imperium. last but not least they had a lot of problems with the social-classes.

because of those 3 points i think isn't comparable to the USA. The times were different and they're , in my opinion, a lot more complicated today than they were centuries ago.

[StrinG-SorcereR]

Hello everybody and especially A.wilhelm.scream:

uhm...I didn't say that America is compareable to the City of Rome as it was long time ago !
And if I'm thinking right, it is certainly not long ago since native Americans and coloured people were mistreated in a horrendous way !(-> social class problem...) Of course the whole situation is much better than it was, however, the fact that the problems are so much more complicated than they were in the past just underlines that it is a worse situation than in Rome during the time of Caesar !! (If we all look at the whole planet...)

I'm speaking of poverty,war and capitalism. But this might be a next thread, but seriously not a stuck up in this nice thread !



Yours, SR

[A.wilhelm.scream]

hey,

ok my bad. i got it wrong. but nevertheless i was not speaking about racial problems, in fact the Romans were 'kind of friendly' to foreign people after they had taken over their territory. they even gave them the right to be legal citizens of the roman empire. Anyway, i guess that topic can be discussed in another thread.

Basically i agree with you, i just didn't like the 'comparison' between Rome (not only the city, but the whole empire ; sorry i forgot to mention that) and the USA.

Oh and one last thing: Maybe my writing was a little bit confusing when i came to the point of the more complicate problems nowadays. I just wanted to point out that it is not possible to judge a world power that started over 2500 years ago with the same measurements like a worldpower nowadays.

ok. finished.

[Rinoa89]

well, you all make valid points. Thing is though, whether it be by force or not, other languages may grow in popularity. I speak of chinese primarily. If it happens in our generation is doubtful, but it seems like a possibility a few generations down. China is doing some very shady acts. For example, you go to china, and the internet, as well as many other things are censored. Mainly about America and I think Europe. You do a google search in china about America, best you'll probably get is a picture. They censored all information regarding america. Also, not to mention, I have a little story.

My Grandfather was looking for an old model rifle. Can't remember the name too well. Its supposedly a very high quality rifle. He did some research on the internet and was having a very difficult time locating producers and sellers of the rifle. After much time, he located 2 producers.
A British based company sold the rifle. The company was very respectable and had been around for a while. The price for the rifle, I beleive was $1200 (Not sure on the currency rate differences).
Then the other one, was a forged model made in china. This one was $120.

My grandfather ordered the one from China and when he got it, he inspected the craftsmanship of the gun. It was flawless, it was a perfect gun. Not a single mistake.

China is being able to reproduce the world's goods at cheaper costs. Much cheaper costs. I remember recently, they replaced france in the world economical power rankings. Both militarily, and economically, they are ready to become the world's next strongest super-power. And as long as we willingly or unwillingly buy chinese products much more than our own, we only help it.