Everybody know that the languages from 3000 years ago was not the same as the used 1000 years ago or 500 or in our days. the languages every time have changes, upgrade, mixed with another, becoming a different languages or dissapear, my question is about the 5 languages (actual languages) that do you believe will survive, maybe in 500 or 800 years in the future??? (or less time, is about the future) which are your five candidats and why??? (give me your reasons)
2006-09-20 09:59:19 · 18 answers · asked by Methos99 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Don't know for the 5, but english will be one of them, because most (but not all!) of UK/US people will never be able to learn something else... :-D.
2006-09-20 11:39:17 · answer #1 · answered by bloo435 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No language lasts 500 years without major changes. English 500 years ago is hardly recongizable today. If any language has the best chance of surviving mostly in tact it may be Swahili. But Chinese will probably be spoken by the majority of the people on earth in the next 200 years.
2006-09-20 10:10:25 · answer #2 · answered by Wei_Veach 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Who knows if the world'll last that long, but here goes:
My dad told me that I should learn German because the Swiss people have all the money. Maybe there's something to that.
English -- the economic power of the U.S. is incredible, and there are speakers all over the world
Mandarin Chinese -- again, for economic reasons, and just because there are so many of them
Spanish -- large number of speakers on different continents
French -- still considered the language of diplomacy
and one more -- Hindi
Actually, I think that many more than 5 languages will survive into the future. We'll have fewer languages than we had, but we'll still have lots to choose from.
2006-09-20 19:51:59 · answer #3 · answered by drshorty 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
English - It is so well known and a ture universal language
German - There are millions of german speakers in the world and Germany is a european superpower
Japanese - They are the leaders in technology and have a brilliant culture that they wouldn't lose for anything
French - Its too popular to die out.
Spanish - the entire latin america, a lot of america and spainm speak this language.
Of course many other languages wouldn't just dissapear I just think that these would have the best staying power. Maybe a better question would be which languages would dissapear or change soonest.
2006-09-20 10:05:30 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
English: It's pretty much universal already.. wherever you go in the world, there is the laguage of tht country, and then english underneath or something like tht..
Spanish: It's the only language in America offered in almost all high schools, middle schools, and now elementary schools!
Chinese: this language will survive because obviously...EVERYTHING is made in China nowadays.. lol... ppl need it to trade and stuff i guess..
French: idk why they started teaching French in all schools with spanish cuz its not like we find many french ppl anywhere other than in France or its surrounding areas.. and Canada... but its being taught everywhere in the U.S. so it'll probably be around for a while..
Japanese: one word---> SUSHI!!! lol well, japan is also a major country to produce many products and the food is influencing those new foods like everyday...
so those are my five picks! what about you?
2006-09-20 11:47:55 · answer #5 · answered by Maddie 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
English, Spanish, French, Hindi, and Chinese...in that order...
English, Spanish and French are languages taught in most schools so a lot of the younger ones learn this language and will use it. Hindi and Chinese have been in existence for so long and are still going strong, so i think it will stay that way.
2006-09-20 10:52:55 · answer #6 · answered by sherrylboodramhot 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Any language is going to mutate in time---just look at the differences between the "English" of Chaucer (admittedly, in translation), Shakespearian speech, and our modern American Standard English.
But for overall survivors:
English: International language of trade, travel, education, and science; a major language, commonly in use through most of Europe, North America, and Australia.
Arabic: Think it'll be something of a _lingua franca_ for most of the Arab-bloc nations, and for the ones with substantial Muslim subpopulations (sounds odd? remember, Latin was for years a common language of European scholars).
Spanish (not sure exactly which subform)--hey, you're looking at a huge percentage of South America, Central America, Puerto Rico, Spain....and a fair number of other Europeans are familiar with the tongue.
Chinese (like Spanish, not sure which subform)--with that many native speakers, it's going to be hard to believe that it's going to be subsumed by other languages.
Before the Soviet Union collapsed, I'd have given Russian an outside chance, because of the sheer number of people under Soviet control and the need for a "common tongue". I think Balkanization has rather shot THAT down..... But now?--I'd probably say that French will be most likely to survive and continue "useful" for a substantial number of people in years to come (current use in a number of African nations, plus portions of Canada, plus European usage).
(If you're taking candidates for "languages we'd most like to see killed off, and as fast as possible!", I'll vote for IM-speak---that's something that just makes me shudder in pain.)
2006-09-20 10:37:08 · answer #7 · answered by samiracat 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Two languages will survive for sure .
Greek and Italian
the reason ??
Don;t forget that western languages have been developed from Ancient Greek and Roman languages
Just simple
2006-09-21 01:58:09 · answer #8 · answered by LOUCAS A 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
English,Spanish,Hindu,Chinese and Arabic. I could be wrong,but these are some of the oldest languages around. French and German are'nt as popular as they once were.
2006-09-20 10:07:32 · answer #9 · answered by Taylor29 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
English,Chinese,Japanese,French,Hindi.
2006-09-20 10:09:00 · answer #10 · answered by Bluffmaster 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋