The Future of English

A report titled "The Future of English" has been released at a conference here in Edinburgh on the issue of international education, organised by the British Council.

The report says that English is set to become the "World Language" by 2015, and that one third of the world's population will be speaking the language in 10 years' time. Currently there are 2bn people learning English, which is astonishing when you consider the entire population of the planet is about 6 or 7bn or whatever it is now.

At the same time German will expand, and both Chinese and Arabic will surge enormously in influence.

Check out this site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4080401.stm

You will see the very interesting point about the present UK Education Secretary warning against the "arrogance" of British people (native English speakers of course) failing to learn other languages! Hmmmm! True I'm afraid, as you know.

I found about the above site by trawling BBC-TV news index on ceefax at breakfast this morning. Another one I found is this one, about more EU uni students heading for the UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/3536989.stm

Quite interesting tendencies have been described in the first article. What I expect is that French will be displaced by English in most parts of the world outside Europe, except for the essentially francophone territories. On the other hand, I expect an expansion of Spanish in America (to the non-Latin areas), in much the same way as that of Chinese in the Far East. As for Arabic, it may become more prominent in non-Arabic countries of the Middle East, as well as Europe. Finally, I think German will also regain some ground parallel with the spread of English in East Central Europe (east of Germany, west of the ex-Soviet countries). So I think that in the near future one may be able get on quite well in the world with four or five languages: English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic, Russian in ex-Soviet countries, with French and German added in Europe.

On the other hand, there simply must be a counter-balance to the dominance of English to prevent arrogance developing among native English speakers. I do find it alarming that less and less people are learning foreign languages in the UK and the USA, because they take it for granted that everybody speaks or will speak their language. Based on my own experience, I am convinced that monolingual and multilingual people do have a completely different mind-set, and a different degree of tolerance not just with other cultures, but also with differing opinions.

That's a very interesting article, thanks for sharing, Damian.

There really is a problem in this for native English speakers in that we all (we being used in general terms) become complacent. It seems illogical for the average person WHY they would need to "waste" time learning another language or two if so many people the world over speak English. If you look at it in simple, narrow minded terms, it's like English is the global form of communication, why bother learning another if they can speak to you in the language you already know.

But the person that speaks English in addition to his mother tongue, plus perhaps another language or two they learned as well, has the upper hand. Especially if you're talking about upper level professionals, because for example, if you had a group of Germans and a group of Americans that only spoke English in a conference, the Germans could break into conversing auf Deutsch at any time, leaving the Americans clueless.

Basically, even for regular people, if the whole rest of the world is by and large multilingual, which is the norm in most non-Anglophone countries, the monolingual English speakers are going to just have a plain, clear cut disadvantage for the mere reason that everyone else has the upper hand.

I really can't quite pinpoint why being multilingual is essential, but it is, and almost any linguist will affirm that. Everyone of course has their own reasons on why they want to become multilingual.

Spanish in the United States is one trend that isn't going away. I never did think I would ever walk into a store and see bilingual signs. You go into any large store here in Florida and everything is in English and Spanish.

You would think then, that just as English is being taught not as an advanced skill but rather is now considered basic knowledge taught alongside history and math in primary schools around the world, that in the United States second language education would start from elementary school. But it doesn't, and so many misinformed people who keep pushing the "English only" manadates and want to make English the nation's official language are missing the point that learning a second language isn't going to eliminate English by any means, but it will make Americans more competent and competitive.

Thanks Damian for this post, very interesting indeed. personally i think both spanish and english will be on the same level by 2015. In my own university i can see more and more people studying spanish, actually there are as many students of spanish as students of english. Arab will spread more within the muslim world (from Morroco, clearly an arabic speaking country, till Indonesia), spanish spreads a lot in Brazil (all the brazilian pupils must learn it) and - as i said - is more and more popular into "latin europe" (Portugal, Italy, France). But, i repeat, the two major "western languages" or "languages of the western hemisphere" will be for sure english and spanish. About french mmmm..... well, let's say that it keeps being the language of the "intellectual aristocracy", it will keep its place into the intellectual sphere but politically it is already dead (c'est le point de vue d'un français en tout cas).

I have read the replies of Easterner, Joe and Vincent and I think that they all have some good points about the future of English and other European languages.

The following is just my opinion too. (Of course, nobody can predict the future with total accuracy without a magic crystal ball ):

History repeats itself. The British and the Americans are the new Romans and English is the new Latin. The Europeans of the Renaissance& Reformation and the Age of Discovery compare with the Ancient Greeks.

Just as the pan-Greek colonization of the Mediterranean and the conquest of Alexander the Great spread the Greek language afar, so the Conquistadors and the French fur traders spread their languages to other lands in a similar manner.

Eventually Rome fell and Latin broke up into many different languages. Something similar will probably happen to English although The U.S. and Britain may not necessarily fall in the same way Rome did or even fall at all for that matter. The breakup could occur simply by a gradual breakdown in living standards and modern communications. Eventually, new Englishes will appear in Australia, New Zealand, western and eastern North America and the British Isles . Just as the Byzantine Empire brought about something of a renaissance for Greek, whatever Post-American order emerges in Europe could bring about a temporary revival of French and / or German.

The dominance of English and Spanish almost certainly will not last. Just as Latin and Greek lost some ground to the Arabic of a new religion, Islam, in the 7th century, something cataclysmic will probably come along and push Spanish and English off of some of their present turf in the next thousand years. Maybe the new language will be Brazilian Portuguese. Still, English and Spanish will survive in some places and in some variations for a long time to come.

During all this time, one fifth of humanity will still speak Chinese. However, even with China's growing population the world will be in no danger of becoming Planet China. Nature seems to love diversity and has never allowed any one type of people to populate and dominate the whole earth in the past. I don't think that that's going to change.

Vincent said:
"About french mmmm..... well, let's say that it keeps being the language of the "intellectual aristocracy", it will keep its place into the intellectual sphere but politically it is already dead (c'est le point de vue d'un français en tout cas). "

I, of course, speak and love the French language but this is a fine example of eternal Chauvinistic France. In our Catalonian Local High School, the French teacher was pleading her five 11th grade French pupils (who have all decided to pass, en masse, to English next year) not to abandon the language since she will be left without work.
These children belong to a "letters" option and are currently learning Latin, Classical Greek, Spanish, Catalan and English. They are some of the most brilliant students in their grade. I imagine this is very much happening all over Europe and we are, after all, your nearest neighbours.
By the way, don't look at me, I send my kids to a private school to learn French and will be sending them to their aunt's home next summer (in France). It's very nice and important to know neighbouring local languages. That should be a first factor of motivation and that is why Spanish is so popular in the US (real neighbours, I mean).
Will the future planetary intellectual aristocracy (apart from the quota alloted to French-speaking countries) speak any French at all?
Douce France, cher pays de mon enfance...

I agree with Brenuss that<<nobody can predict the future with total accuracy>>

There are relatively few professions that require bilingualism. I think the supposed importance of multilingualism or the lack thereof is grossly exaggerated. There are a great number of other skills that are more pertinent in modern society.

>>There are relatively few professions that require bilingualism.<<

I disagree. Of course it may differ from country to country, but here in Europe you are quite likely to bump into a person speaking a foreign language sooner or later in your life, even if you don't move a bit from your place of residence. And I am convinced that being familiar with at least one more language besides your own makes you more open-minded, even if there are occasional exceptions from this rule.

You might bump into a person who knows a foreign language, but he will speak the host country's language, except if he's an errant tourist. He will apply for jobs in the host country's language and speak it at work.

More open-minded? I'm not convinced. Even so, there are a myriad of ways of being enlightened.

I was definitely thinking of work, given the number of foreign companies in Hungary alone (the situation is the same for most countries in the area). I don't know where you are from, but at least at the company I work for it takes a lot of my time to handle problems which my colleagues are unable to handle for lack of foreign language skills.

I hadn't considered that it might be different in non-English speaking countries but it neverthless seems unusual to me to be so for sizable companies. Maybe this is characteristic of East European countries?

"More open-minded? I'm not convinced. Even so, there are a myriad of ways of being enlightened. "

And, obviously not a single one applies to you. Or does it?

Anarchy in UK!
No future!

Of course there are many skills that take just as much precident as being multilingual. However, being multilingual is a skill that should not be underestimated, and you, Rule-meister, are doing just that.

Your attitude is very typical of how many native English speakers feel toward learning a language. It's like, "what's the point when everyone speaks English." First of all, the illusion that the world is full of English speakers is very faulty. Only a percentage of about 15% speaks English, and out of that, who knows how many speak it fluently? One of my Italian cousins can speak English, but very basic English. You couldn't have an in depth conversation with him in English.

Learning a language is one of THE best ways of being enlightened. There are certainly many other ways, but this is one of the ultimate ones.

And there are a lot more professions that require multilingualism than you might think. The lower paid professions don't always require it, but if you aim high and don't want to bump into a glass ceiling, it's invaluable.

I personally think there are many better reasons for learning a language besides just business, but career reasons is an important one too.