English may become extinct in the near future?

Question

China, Japan and India's economies have been rapidly growing in the last few years & it is likely that one of them will become the world's superpower. Whereas, USA is going through a slump right now & European economy is going from bad to worse. If this trend continues any further, we might as well be facing the prospect of China or Japan dominating the world & the English speaking nations in the world will have to give way to the Chinese.

Schools will no longer offer English as a key, important language anymore. Stock markets, News broadcasts, movie posters etc. will all contain Chinese characters, as opposed to English that we have been accustomed to. Soon, English will become like what, say French or German is at the moment. English will lose it's importance.

Are you scared that this thing is waiting to happen? Chinese will dominate English

Answer 1

Not going to happen - I went to college with a girl from Japan, who told me that her grade school REQUIRED English to be spoken at all times while on school grounds. Asa result, she was taking Japanese in college to learn how to write the characters, because she was 18 and had never learned how to write them when in Japan. Her spoken Japanese was fine, but she did not know the written language. Her English was excellent, both verbal and written. In Germany, they start learning English in the 5th grade. Their English is excellent. In Portugal, they are required to take English in high school. Chinese is spoken by more people than English is, due to the population of China, but English is the language of the international business world and is spoken more widely across the globe. It won't go extinct anytime in the near future.

Answer 2

Considering English is the standard language for Aviation, Technology and computer programming (all programming languages are based in English) I seriously doubt there's a good reason to be concerned. Even though there are Asian countries that are booming in growth, their technological development is dependant on technologies designed with English-speaking platforms.

English also dominates as a "peace language" along with French. It is spoken at the U.N. and it is spoken at the Olympics, in addition to the 'native languages'. English speakers have impacted a lot more areas of technology and development that Chinese has.

You see, French, Spanish, Russian even were not the basis for all technology and aviation....English was and in reality, I don't see it being logical to rewrite an entire programming format to be character-based (like what Chinese is).

Chinese already dominates English, though. Over a Billion people speak Chinese as natives.

Remember, England is just an Island, but the Sun never set on the English Empire.....likewise with the impact. The sun will always set on the Chinese speaking world.

Answer 3

You are absolutely wrong, here is why:

1. The US and EU economies are in very good shape (fluctuations are natural market behavior), and although the countries you mentioned are growing economically, they are no where near the US or EU, nor will they ever realistically reach those levels without large social and political change to stabilize the growth. Look at the Per Capita GDP (average income of a citizen) of the US and EU versus China or India; US=$41,800, EU=$28,100, China=$6,800, India=$3,300 (CIA World Factbook).

2. Japan's economy has been slumping since the 1990's, it's poised to come back, but won't experience growth near China or India because it's already a developed country and there simply isn't as much room for growth. (Japan Economy Overview)

3. English is one of India's official languages, and it is the most predominantly used language in the country. India is the most populous English speaking country in the world (India People)

4. Most colleges in the world require English proficiency to graduate, as most professional literature in written in English. This is why almost all people in the world with a college education speak English. As a foreign Exchange student at a university in Mexico, I was amaze to learn that most textbooks used there (for college classes conducted in Spanish) were in English. Spanish language versions of the books didn't exist.

5. Japanese isn't really spoken outside of Japan, business between Japanese and foreign companies is conducted in English. English is a required class for students in Japan.

6. Mandarin is growing in strength as a language in China and much of Asia, but there simply aren't Mandarin teachers throughout the world to teach the language and China isn't enough of an economic force yet to make others speak their language, so they learn English. It is much easier for Chinese to learn English (like non-English speaking countries do) than for the World to learn Mandarin.

I have 3 college degrees (Accounting, International Business, and Spanish), Speak fluent Spanish and intermediate French. Studied and lived in Mexico for a year, and I currently work in the international business field.

Answer 4

It's not impossible that Chinese will become a stronger language worldwide than English (I think it's much less likely that Japanese will--far fewer speakers and a much more complicated writing system). The scenario you describe may come to pass in much of Eastern Asia. But that's a far far cry from English becoming "extinct". THAT would take at least several hundred years.

India probably has more native or near-native English speakers than Canada and Australia combined.

Answer 5

No one alive on the planet today will be witness to your bold assertions. The economic growth of all countries wax and wane as influenced by any number of domestic or international reasons from year to year. It cannot seriously be considered a factor in determining what the dominant language of the earth will be at any time in the furure. So the short answer is 'No' I am not afraid.

Answer 6

Doubtful. Even in pop music there are some amazing artists that play piano well...John Legend, Fiona Apple, Regina Spektor, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, and on and on....The problem lies with the record companies. They look for acts that appeal to the widest possible audience and unfortunately that seldom leads to promoting the most artistic performers. That's why less and less of pop music is about making good music and more about dancing and bursting with sexuality.

Answer 7

*shrug* Nope, not scared at all. Since when was the USA and English language the center of the universe? What I would love to see is a planet-wide "common tongue" or "trade tongue" that everyone speaks in addition to their native language. Maybe Latin could make a come-back!

Answer 8

In my opinion, the only real danger for English language comes from English-speaking people who don't care to learn spelling&grammar and use too much slang. English is not my mother tongue, but from what I see here on Yahoo Answers, my English is better than theirs.

Answer 9

it wont... as long as the english are still in power with the world market

usa is still definitely strong in many aspects & european market is still standing very firm..

look at the european cars & brand names... still a fever
and the just reacently.. newspaper anounced sum european gang earns 60,000,000(dollar or euro.. cant remember)/day

so... the english still has a very strong role in the world

but for the rapidly improving china, there's definiety a time in which i might overcome the english... but not in a short time

Answer 10

the english speaking people didn't seem to care about taking away the language of the african or aborigini peoples of the americas...so what goes around may come around....such is life!!! if we wound up speaking another language does that make us any less human???? english was not the first language of the world..life is always evolving and so does languages!!!