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Global linguistic situation in 30 years | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5962 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes  Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 1 of 30 15 March 2010 at 7:29am | IP Logged | ||
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Give your best prediction of what the world will look like linguistically in 30 years, in 2040.
My (casual) prediction: English is still the most widely spoken language, but has lost a lot of the momentum from its most formidable years in the 20th and early 21st century. Mandarin is the shooting star, having become the quasi lingua franca of East Asia and South-east Asia. The main force behind Mandarin is the dynamite Chinese economy, which surpassed the U.S. economy in the 2020's as the largest economy in the world, and the large, affluent overseas Chinese communities in East and South-east Asia among other places. The Mandarin-speaking scientific community, led by Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese scientists, leads the way in global research and innovation. English still holds the top spot in Europe, although German has made some slight gains. French is the new Italian, quaint but still a nice language for well-cultured Westerners to acquire. Spanish is in largely the same position as in 2010. Most of the Spanish-speaking Americans assimilated into the broader American society and the Latin American countries failed to maintain high economic growth rates. Arabic remained mostly unchanged, Hindi/Urdu made significant gains in South Asia but English remains strong there as well. The new fad language is the lingua franca of the civilisation of an extrasolar planet we discovered in the 2010's. Learning material comes from radio waves we receive from their solar system. Sounds in the language which occur outside of the frequency range which humans can perceive present a challenge to the citizens of planet Earth. A group of concerned language aficionados has created a galactic auxlang called Galacteranto in hopes of preserving galactic language diversity and providing galactic citizens with an easy to learn language that doesn't give an unfair advantage to any one galactic species. Opinions are mixed as to whether it will prevail. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5679 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 2 of 30 15 March 2010 at 7:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm still struggling to believe 2040 is thirty years away.
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| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5587 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 3 of 30 15 March 2010 at 4:10pm | IP Logged | ||
I agree. I'll be 48, having a mid-life language learning crisis. :D 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7158 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 4 of 30 15 March 2010 at 4:13pm | IP Logged | ||
I'll still be stuck as a diglot speaking English and French :-P 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5483 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 5 of 30 15 March 2010 at 4:18pm | IP Logged | ||
Not meaning to burst your bubble on that one, but SETI has been searching for at least 50 years and nada (except for a weird spike in the 70's). With recent developments of NASA funding and the like, I find this ever less likely. Theres a good chance that an extra-terrestrials that exist are either A) Behind us technologically and have no method of communication such as radios, B) Dead from disaster or war, C) Far outside the reaches of our communications equipment or D) So far beyond radio that we look as technologically sophisticated as that dog in the neighborhood that keeps eating its own crap. Granted theres always the possibility were alone in the universe, but thats too damn dismal for me. A for discussion on language usage, I believe that this will be the case: Roughly around 2010-2020, the growing importance of Mandarin as an economic powerhouse language begins a fervor among all the MBA's to learn it. English slowly wanes in popularity but maintains its necessity for business reasons. 2015-2025: In the US, the growing "minority" populations have already outstripped the "majority", and as such Spanish begins to take a large foothold in the south-southwest. Bilingual necessity arises in the United States and legislation changes are made that imitate our neighbor to the north. The United States essentially becomes a bilingual nation legally and officially announces English and Spanish as its two primary languages. 2015-2025: Meanwhile, in Europe, large movements of national pride and heritage begin to try to hold onto their own languages. France in particular. Though despite efforts, the vast English education of the 20th century and early parts of the 21st century have taken their toll as the youngest generation defaults to English when interacting across borders through the "world wide intertubes" (Internet was renamed in 2020 by children raised in the youtube era) 2020-2030: Russian becomes a language of importance to the western world again as dwindling natural resources squares the worlds supply of Natural Gas largely on the great bears shoulders. 2030-2050: Mandarin surpasses English as the economic language. English begins to fade. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5483 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 6 of 30 15 March 2010 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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Alternate:
2015: People got way too obsessed with the movie Avatar and Na'vi took off as an international language. *Shudder*... i really really really hope not Edited by ManicGenius on 15 March 2010 at 4:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ManicGenius Senior Member United States Joined 5483 days ago 288 posts - 420 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Esperanto, French, Japanese | Message 8 of 30 15 March 2010 at 5:59pm | IP Logged | ||
Then again that does ignore any potential energy breakthroughs, like Fusion power, superlonglifelasting battery powered cars. Which in those cases the victor would go to any country who develops a cheap version. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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