Contrary to what many people may believe, the answer to our very query of will the English Language eventually become extinct is as straightforward and definitive as it can be. “Yes,” the English Language we know today, the current universal language of the world will die out in the future.
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.
Language is always changing, evolving, and adapting to the needs of its users. This isn't a bad thing; if English hadn't changed since, say, 1950, we wouldn't have words to refer to modems, fax machines, or cable TV. As long as the needs of language users continue to change, so will the language.
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.
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.
A new study found that of the world's 7,000 recognised languages, around half are currently endangered. Nearly a fifth of the world's languages could disappear by the end of the century, a new study warns.
Indo-Aryan Languages
Both Hindi and Urdu from the Indo-Aryan language are potential languages of the future. Hindi is the native language of 535 million people in India. Like China, this population continues to grow every year. Urdu is widely spoken by 170 million people around the world.
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.
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.
“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.
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.
The number of Chinese speakers online is estimated at 888.4 million, which has risen an astounding 2600% over the same time period. The Chinese language is catching up quickly and is set to overtake English in the near future.
English owes its global dominance to being the language of what until recently were two of the world's most powerful nations: the US and the UK. But now, especially with the rise of China as an economic superpower, the language is being challenged.
The Three Best Languages for Americans to Learn
If we consider the number of speakers, location, career possibilities and ease of learning, the overall three best languages for Americans to learn are (drum roll, please): Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese.
Specifically, Spanish is the most marketable language by far, with over 75% of jobs requesting the language in the U.S.
Spanish has always been the most widely spoken language after English, with about 37.5 million speakers. And over the last 20 years, the number of Spanish speakers has grown by 60%. After English, Spanish is the most common language in 43 U.S. States.
Malbolge is by far the hardest programming language to learn, which can be seen from the fact that it took no less than two years to finish writing the first Malbolge code.
The easiest languages for English speakers to learn are: Danish, Dutch, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Swedish, and French.
Both Old English and Old Norse had gender, but sometimes their genders contradicted each other. In order to simplify communication, gendered nouns simply disappeared. Of course, gender did not disappear entirely. We still have gendered pronouns in English: he, she and it.
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.