It is still the most international language and it is the language of the Internet, business, and science. To be blunt, English is far from dying. In fact, it is growing. As all languages do, English rolls with the punches and change with the times.
To keep it simpler, as long as America remains the world's leading producer of scientific and cultural outputs, the English we know today will stay alive and well. While it is hard to imagine a time when the USA falls from its perch as a global superpower, it could certainly happen.
It's possible English will not be around 1,000 years from now. As mentioned, the prominence of a language is inextricably tied to the cultural, economic, and military might of the countries that speak it. When these countries withdraw from the international stage, so does their mode of expression.
Could this eventually happen? Yes, sure! Especially if the world changes dramatically. But for the foreseeable future, it seems unlikely that another language will spread like a growing wave that eventually topples English, simply because English is already widely in use, with no new major geography to cover.
First, it changes because the needs of its speakers change. New technologies, new products, and new experiences require new words to refer to them clearly and efficiently. Consider texting: originally it was called text messaging, because it allowed one person to send another text rather than voice messages by phone.
People tend to think that older forms of language are more elegant, logical, or correct than modern forms, but it's just not true. The fact that language is always changing doesn't mean it's getting worse; it's just becoming different. In Old English, a small winged creature with feathers was known as a brid.
Global Politics and the Power of Language
English is the world's most widely spoken language, with some 1.5 billion speakers even though it's native for fewer than 400 million. English accounts for 60 percent of world internet content and is the lingua franca of pop culture and the global economy.
The percentage of native speakers of English is declining, from nearly 9 percent of the world's population in 1950 to a projected 5 percent in 2050, Graddol wrote.
It's unlikely that we'll see a world that speaks one language any time soon. Protecting each individual countries' cultures is a huge barrier, but an important one to ensure our world is as beautifully diverse as it's always been.
As China's global influence expands, Mandarin Chinese is expected to become even more widely spoken, potentially making it the most spoken language in the world by 2050. Mandarin Chinese is made up of a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects.
“English is likely to remain one of the world's most important languages for the foreseeable future, but its future is more problematic — and complex — than most people appreciate,” said language researcher David Graddol.
English is the most widely spoken language in the world. It is the global language of communication and English is likely to retain this position for the next decade and beyond.
The answer is somewhat surprising, as some parts of the modern English language took shape between the 14th and 16th centuries when the “Great Vowel Shift” occurred. This means that by the 16th century, a 21st-century speaker of English could have an adequate conversation with a person from that time period.
Today, the voices of more than 7,000 languages resound across our planet every moment, but about 2,900 or 41% are endangered. At current rates, about 90% of all languages will become extinct in the next 100 years.
Ainu. This language has become critically endangered because only 10 speakers native to the Japanese Islands can speak it fluently. Ainu is an oral language, and it does not have any relation with known languages.
Linguists point to how the loss of languages is worsened by climate change. As temperatures rise, so does the rate at which crucial elements of indigenous culture become extinct across the world. It is calculated that, at the current rate, around 90% of all languages will disappear in the next 100 years.
Language is so central to being human that lacking it can mean a lifetime of social deprivation and isolation.
It's true that one language will allow them to communicate much more easily, but independent thought will always exist (we may be overly optimistic) and original people will keep thinking outside of the box. In a monolingual world, they may get shot down before they even have a chance to start.
Summary: With the continuing rise of China as a global economic and trading power, there is no barrier to prevent Chinese from becoming a global language like English, according to new research.
Will English remain the world's most sought-after language? For the foreseeable future English will remain the dominant global lingua franca (a language used by people with different native languages to communicate with each other), but the role it plays in the lives of individuals or in policies will begin to change.
Hindi, Bengali, Urdu, and Indonesian will dominate much of the business world by 2050, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, and Russian. If you want to get more out of your language course, study one of our language programs, probably a safe bet for your future.
The first and most important reason for the spread of English is the British Empire. Before nearly a quarter of the world was colonized by the British Empire, English was spoken only by the British. But when they started to trade, colonize with places like Asia and Africa, they naturally started the spread of English.
Some people consider that the English language has become a threat to the other languages. The supremacy of English in today's world cannot be denied. It is at the heart of business relationships and the vector of the world culture. English is everywhere, even in foreign languages through new words.
It will argue that Mandarin will be cemented as the lingua franca within China in the near future, it may compete with but not surpass English as a lingua franca in the East Asian cultural region and, finally, is unlikely to become a worldwide lingua franca.
If China's initiatives are successful, Mandarin will be the language associated with new developments and ideas, and consequently have great appeal and attraction to people. Equally important, as its power grows, China is also likely to want to have Mandarin used more on the global stage as a matter of national pride.