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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| justonelanguage Diglot Groupie United States Joined 4464 days ago 98 posts - 128 votes  Speaks: English, Spanish | Message 17 of 25 22 December 2012 at 7:16pm | IP Logged | ||
Most people in the world like entertainment like music and sports. Asian culture would just be about studying a lot and getting doctoral degrees. :( Thus, limited spread of Chinese culture. (Partly a joke, but part truth too. I'm Chinese) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 emk Diglot Moderator United States Joined 5534 days ago 2615 posts - 8806 votes Speaks: English*, FrenchB2 Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian Personal Language Map | Message 18 of 25 22 December 2012 at 8:01pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I read French websites aimed at people my age or younger, I see lots of material in English. French programming websites link to English tutorials. French humor sites don't always bother to translate English jokes. Everybody links to videos in English. English Wikipedia is often better than French Wikipedia. Some award-winning French TV series are being recorded in English for export and then dubbed back into French for the domestic market, according to Le Monde. French teenagers posting video game walkthroughs to YouTube say "Epic Fail" once every 20 seconds.
If I had to guess, I'd say that the Internet is driving global English adoption. There's just so much useful information in English, and so many people who can read English fairly well and maybe converse a bit in it. In the near term, I actually expect the dominance of English to increase, even if the US becomes irrelevant. The dominance of English isn't really about the US, or Canada, or England, or other English-speaking countries. It's about having access to an enormous world culture, and to specialized information on every topic under the sun. I don't think any language is likely displace English soon, at least not among speakers of Indo-European languages. I know a fair number of French people who speak fluent German, but no other foreign language has the kind of cultural presence in France that English does. French programming and humor sites don't take it as a given that I can read Mandarin, certainly. This doesn't mean that learning other languages is useless. Most of those people who speak English use it as a tool, and their English is only as good as they need it to be. Meanwhile, everybody still has their own marvelous cultures, some of which are massively important and influential. So English may wind up the language of Wikipedia, business, and rock-and-roll, but it won't let you see beyond the surfaces of other cultures, or really connect with the people. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6911 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 19 of 25 22 December 2012 at 8:25pm | IP Logged | ||
More or less what I wrote on page 1 (at least, it's what I meant). Unless Mandarin (Arabic, Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese...) will become so widespread that it will take the Anglophone place (in whatever ways, due to whatever factors), I don't think there will be any change. Especially considering the number of people who after studying languages - that are culturally and geographically (sometimes also grammatically) close to their native tongue - for several years in school, still claim they can't say anything. How an exotic language would produce better results, I don't know... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5962 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 20 of 25 23 December 2012 at 6:52am | IP Logged | ||
For the majority of people in the world, English is an exotic language... Not that I think English is going to be challenged any time soon. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stout Senior Member Ireland Joined 5373 days ago 108 posts - 140 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French | Message 21 of 25 24 December 2012 at 4:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think that English will be the the world lingua franca for a very long time to come
even if the USA starts to decline as a superpower. English is here to stay as the worlds lingua franca for many generations to come even if the USA no longer becomes a superpower. Edited by stout on 24 December 2012 at 5:02pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Fuenf_Katzen Diglot Senior Member United States notjustajd.wordpress Joined 4371 days ago 337 posts - 476 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Polish, Ukrainian, Afrikaans | Message 22 of 25 24 December 2012 at 6:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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As has already been said, I doubt English will be replaced anytime soon. Excluding the number of native speakers and learners, the English speaking world has exported media in a way that Latin was never able to do. Unlike past lingua francas, English is learned by all groups of people, not just the "elite" or "educated." Television shows, movies, pop music, Wikipedia, they all have a strong international presence. I think in order to replace English, another culture would need to further all of these.
It's hard to say what that next cultural superpower would be, specifically because English is so expansive. Just judging from my likely limited experience, I would think Spanish is one contender. There are large Spanish speaking populations throughout the Americas and Europe (not as large in Eastern Europe, but very much present). Spanish television shows are broadcast throughout these countries, and it seems as though every couple of years, Spanish language music makes a big comeback. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| s_allard Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5432 days ago 2704 posts - 5425 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish Studies: Polish | Message 23 of 25 24 December 2012 at 7:55pm | IP Logged | ||
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I won't repeat what others have said about the continued dominance of English, but I would like to add a little twist. English as the preeminent global language is evolving. So rather than think of the linguistic future as one of English against other contenders, we should think of a post-English lingua franca that may be a hybrid of two or more languages or even a simplified version of English, along the lines of Globish.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Camundonguinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 4751 days ago 273 posts - 500 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish Studies: Swedish | Message 24 of 25 25 December 2012 at 6:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't really think Spanish language is marketable for music business.
Shakira, Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin had to sing in English in order to earn some money in non-Spanish speaking areas. And before them it was Gloria Estefan. Edited by Camundonguinho on 25 December 2012 at 6:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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