English is most popular language today.
2007-03-23 05:33:46 · 20 answers · asked by Airdacoit 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
I'd be happy if everyone in the US spoke English.
2007-03-23 05:41:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
I'm not going to contribute to the actual question, but counter what someone said in their answers.
The only reason Mandarin Chinese is so popular is because of China's large population. Your statistics are misleading.
Chinese is the official language of 1 country.
And other forms of Chinese (different dialects) are so different they can't understand each other (in most cases)!
Because of the child limit rule the population is going to dramatically drop in a few generations at this rate. (If they're smart they'll amend it.)
Spanish is spoken in more countries than any other.
It just so happens that the US and the UK are superpowers. "Who's more powerful" based soley on Export-Import comparison, the US is the most powerful. (Japan actually exports more to the US than it imports now, but on the global scale, US exports more than imports to all countries)
Because of so many superpowers (2 :P ) speaking English, English might technically be more 'widespread' because of international marketing strategies.
My answer: You think everyone is going to speak English one day? If you'll notice, English likes to borrow words. A LOT. And we don't really care, that's something we're proud of in our language.
I think, that IF English does finally become everyone's official language (And I'm talking everyone, including the tribes in the Amazon) it'll be so far into the future, and English will have been so influenced by other languages, you probably wouldn't recognize it. Go find a sample of Middle English:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_English
Now, this is MIDDLE English. This is circa. 1400s! Only 600 years ago!! Personally, there's no way you can internationalize and teach every one person in the world English quickly enough not for the language to change.
There is no determined amount of words in the English language. You can't figure it out. Fsck your dictionary. We inject Latin and French words all the time into our books and speech. Plaza, grande, tornado, all Spanish! (And all American English only, I believe.) You can't draw the line clearly where English starts and ends. Can you disprove "Au" is not only French, but also English? Don't know it? Well think of all the 'English' words you don't know. A lot of people know this simple word. Maybe it's just that the 'more intelligent' know the word? For the record, it's 'with'.
So, maybe, but it won't really be English anymore.
Rome sure was doing good for a thousand years,
it's sad but true, our nation could fall too.
What if the entire western world fell? Then what?
Maybe Japan would gain a foothold economically? :P
So much for English. ><
(VERY sorry for the long answer.)
2007-03-23 23:11:12 · answer #2 · answered by hyreia77 2 · 5⤊ 0⤋
That is a good question. I think it will depend on how America handles their conflicts in the Middle East. If they can crush the nuts over there and demonstrate and keep dominance in the world, then yes, I think English could be universal one day. However, if the Muslim extremists win out because the USA is too "politically correct" afraid to unleash their power due to fear of world reaction, then the strength of the USA will be diminished and English will not be as popular. Also, the USA is being overrun on their southern border boy Mexicans who do not learn English. All over the USA Spanish is becoming more likely the local language than English. They need to control that also…
2007-03-23 05:45:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Top 5 languages of the world are:
1> Mandarin 1051 million known speakers
2> English 510 million known speakers
3> Hindi 490 million known speakers
4> Spanish 425 million known speakers
5> Arabic 255 million known speakers
Source: http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html
So now you know that mandarin almost has double the volume of English speakers, while Hindi and Spanish are close to it. Just because English is more popular (next to Hindi) here in India doesn't imply that the whole world would follow the same thing.
All the best...
:-)
2007-03-23 10:14:30 · answer #4 · answered by plato's ghost 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Maybe. But I think that people will not only learn English but other languages as well. Everybody may soon know more than one language.
2007-03-23 05:43:49 · answer #5 · answered by Luci 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Who says it's the most popular? Chinese is the most spoken language in the world. I would have thought the most popular would be Spanish...After all, it is the language of love.
2007-03-23 06:48:13 · answer #6 · answered by ty4all 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Actually Chinese is the most popular language today!
2007-03-23 05:38:37 · answer #7 · answered by tattie_herbert 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Ooh! you have extremely spat your dummy out. supply it a relax all you people interior the States who think of you are the only usa that exists! you're in a minority, maximum citizens of the States look on britain as a sister usa.i do no longer care how new or old you're, you're one among many. all of us have our traditions. the reason you do no longer rejoice guy Fawkes Day is that it is not your history, that is ours.same because of the fact the reason we don't rejoice Thanksgiving day, it is your custom no longer ours. undergo in concepts, best isn't ultimate.
2016-10-01 09:15:59 · answer #8 · answered by gizzi 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably. It's the un-official language of international business already.
2007-03-23 06:28:22 · answer #9 · answered by Dangerous Dave 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That depends on whether or not there is an english speaking superpower in the future.
Im putting my money on ebonics though.
2007-03-23 05:41:27 · answer #10 · answered by rich b 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are twice as many chinese people in the world as any other race...how do you figure english is the most popular language??
2007-03-23 05:37:27 · answer #11 · answered by music junkie 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋