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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Aquila123 Tetraglot Senior Member Norway mydeltapi.com Joined 5307 days ago 201 posts - 262 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Italian, Spanish Studies: Finnish, Russian | Message 9 of 25 22 December 2012 at 3:57am | IP Logged | ||
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I think we will se a more fragmented world and that there will not be any real lingua franca. English will continue to have a strong position in some parts of the world. Spanish is gaining strength, and perhaps will be the major world language in a few years.
To overcome the situation with a fragmented world translation software will gain importance. Edited by Aquila123 on 23 December 2012 at 5:22am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| zerrubabbel Senior Member United States Joined 4601 days ago 232 posts - 287 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Mandarin | Message 10 of 25 22 December 2012 at 4:28am | IP Logged | ||
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while translation software is good right now, between English and Spanish, between English and [simple] japanese
or chinese, it has a long way to go, and beyond that, there is an understanding of context humans have that software can't... maybe make the argument for cleverbot, but that thing cant hold focus for more than 5 sentences. also, since Spanish is easy and it doesnt take to long to get passable chinese [maybe not reading tho] why not just have a simple command of both? even if you arent interested in the language, fluency doesn't always have to be the goal. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| GRagazzo Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4962 days ago 115 posts - 168 votes Speaks: Italian, English* Studies: Spanish, Swedish, French | Message 11 of 25 22 December 2012 at 5:08am | IP Logged | ||
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I can't see English being replaced anytime soon. Mandarin will not be the next lingua
franca because it is spoken only in China and there are not a lot of people in other countries who speak it. Spanish has a lot of native speakers spread out across many regions, but they don't have the economic strength to be seen as important. Right now the EU has the largest GDP of the world and the leader of the EU is Germany. So if I had to vote for a new lingua franca it would be German. But that is still a long stretch, I think English will be the uncontested lingua franca for quite some time to come. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5961 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 12 of 25 22 December 2012 at 6:35am | IP Logged | ||
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It's pretty hard to see forward to a time where English isn't the lingua franca on Earth
anymore. However, I don't have much trouble imagining China becoming the leading colonizer of the moon, and Chinese becoming the lingua franca there, and perhaps elsewhere. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Γρηγόρη Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 4456 days ago 55 posts - 154 votes Speaks: English*, Greek, Latin, Ancient Greek Studies: German, French, Russian | Message 13 of 25 22 December 2012 at 3:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's not just economic power that makes English our lingua franca, but also the cultural caché of the Anglophone
countries, particularly America. This is, of course, also partially a function of economic power. For better or worse, the world consumes American film, tv, music, websites, etc., and often emulate, and aspire to, various aspects of American culture, just as almost all of Europe once aspired to be as cultured as the French, and for that reason spoke French. I just don't see any significant number of people interested in, and emulating, Chinese culture. America has some fascination with Hispanic culture, but it's mostly window dressing (Mexican restaurants, Latin- sounding music, etc.). Teenagers aren't consuming Spanish-language music in droves, and Spanish language movies, while sometimes popular in the art-house theaters, haven't yet become blockbusters. We'll know that there is a new lingua franca emerging when your average American teenager thinks it is more "cool" to see a film in that language than the latest Hollywood production. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| LaughingChimp Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4700 days ago 346 posts - 594 votes Speaks: Czech* | Message 14 of 25 22 December 2012 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | ||
The most watched video on youtube is a Korean song... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| aodhanc Diglot Groupie Iceland Joined 6261 days ago 92 posts - 130 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish | Message 15 of 25 22 December 2012 at 6:48pm | IP Logged | ||
You neglect to mention Mexico, which is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world in terms of population and economic size. It is an emerging economy, growing at a faster rate than most developed countries, and is predicted to be in the top 10 world economies within the next 5 years. Also oil-rich Venezuela is growing rapidly. I'm not saying Spanish is going to take over the world, but it is a force to be reckoned with. And of course Spain will turn the corner and rebound, it's just a matter of time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| justonelanguage Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4463 days ago 98 posts - 128 votes Speaks: English, Spanish | Message 16 of 25 22 December 2012 at 7:12pm | IP Logged | ||
1: Yes, the old lingua francas lost their grip on the world but no world language has ever been so dominant as English. Thanks to globalization, its grip on science, technology, and culture is extremely strong and widespread. I don't think English will be displaced for at the very least a few hundred years. Also, it is relatively easy to learn due to its latin and Germanic roots; romance language speakers as well as northern Europeans can learn it 3.5 times faster than Chinese/Japonese/Korean. I don't see any language reaching the level of Chinese in the next few generations but many say, and I agree, that there will be several big players on the language scene along with English. These will be Mandarin, Spanish, French, Arabic, etc. 2: I don't think Chinese will ever become a lingua franca; partly due to its limited spread and also due to its difficulty. 3:French is probably not going to ever be a lingua franca again; it is practically nonexistent in the Western Hemisphere. Aside from the six million speakers from Quebec, its use is fairly limited. It has some potential in Africa, but almost all those speakers are second language learners and English, Arabic, and Portuguese may well kick out French on the continent. 4: Spanish: Its advantages include its spread throughout the western hemisphere, relative easiness, and large native-speaker base. Their economies aren't super strong, but much better than Africa and still very promising. Mexico is sometimes included in the BRIC group of emerging economic powerhouses. 5: Portuguese: Probably not. Angola and Mozambique are the most influential African nations that speak Portuguese and they probably won't be big players. Its main star is Brazil but it is just one country... 6:Japonese: Limited spread like Chinese, decreasing population, etc. 7: German: No chance at all. Few native-speakers in comparison to the aformentioned languages and really only useful in Europe. 8:Hindi/Urdu: A lot of them speak English anyways and even if they stopped speaking English, it would still be isolated to a few countries. 9: Arabic: A lot of diglossia going on. Also, very hard to learn as a foreign language, if not as difficult as Chinese and other Asian languages. Edited by justonelanguage on 22 December 2012 at 8:17pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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