New language hierarchy

Student   Mon Aug 31, 2009 9:43 am GMT
I read this in other post. I don't know if he is right or not.

"The changing status of languages will create a new language hierarchy for the World. In comparison with the present-day hierarchy, there are more languages in the top layer. Spanish, Chinese, Hindi-Urdu and Arabic can join English. French and other OCDE languages (German, Japanese) are likely to decline in status"

The future of English?. David Graddol. British Council.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-elt-future.pdf


What do you think about? What languages will be in the new language Hierarchy?

PD. Stop spam, please! Only your list of languages.
User   Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:38 pm GMT
top layer: English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic (the last one I am not sure)

second layer: French, Russian, Portuguese, Hindi, German, Japanese...
Learner   Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:55 pm GMT
I read this in other post. I don't know if he is right or not.

"The changing status of languages will create a new language hierarchy for the World. In comparison with the present-day hierarchy, there are more languages in the top layer. Russian, Chinese, Hindi-Urdu and Arabic can join English and French. Spanish is likely not to because of its weak contribution in Scinece, technology,medicine, arts, literature, and most of all none of the hispanic countries are wealthy enough.

The future of English?. David Graddol. British Council.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-elt-future.pdf


What do you think about? What languages will be in the new language Hierarchy?

PD. Stop spam, please! Only your list of languages.
Utilizer   Mon Aug 31, 2009 12:58 pm GMT
top layer: English and French

second layer: top layer: Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Hindi, German, Italian, Japanese...

lowest layer: Hottentot, Miao, Wu,Tamil, Telugu, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, and Spanish
Spaniard   Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:12 pm GMT
top layer: English and Spanish

second layer: top layer: Russian, Chinese, Portuguese, Hindi, German, Italian, Japanese...

lowest layer: Hottentot, Miao, Wu,Tamil, Telugu, Tok Pisin, Hiri Motu, and

Extinct: French
to be fair   Mon Aug 31, 2009 4:24 pm GMT
top layer: English

second layer: Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi

third layer: German, Italian, Japanese, Korean

extinct but prestigious: Latin, Greek

just extinct: French
nekem   Mon Aug 31, 2009 5:49 pm GMT
Top layer: English

second layer: Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, French

Third layer: Hindi, Italian, German, Russian, Japanese

Fourth layer: Turkish, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, Swahili, Greek, Persian,

Fifth layer: Czech, Swedish, Pashtu, Hungarian, Ukrainian, Nepali

extinct but prestigious: Latin, Ancient Greek, Sanskrit, Pali
LexDiamondz   Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:12 pm GMT
Personally I feel it'd go like this more or less in 50 years

Top Level:
English (though fading) and Mandarin Chinese (though still limited)

-considering these are the languages of the two largest economic powers, naturally they'd be the most widely learned as a second language in terms of numbers

Second Tier:
French, Spanish, Arabic and Hindi

-these languages, while not as important, will retain prestige due to a large number of speakers (hindi) or a large sphere of influence (French in West and North Africa and parts of the Caribbean, Spanish in Latin America and Arabic throught the middle east)

Third Tier:
German, Portuguese, Russian and Japanese

-These languages will still maintain some status as second or third languages of communication due to either a smaller sphere of influence (Portuguese in Brazil and parts of Africa) or due to important positions in the world economy or in technology/manufacturing (German, Japanese and Russian)



Other languages like Dutch and Italian will retain some usage but it will be limited to cultural interest rather than practical usage.
blanc   Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:25 pm GMT
Dutch and Italian

These two languages can't even be compared. Be serious please

Italian language education
Italian is widely taught in many schools around the world, but rarely as the first foreign language; in fact, Italian generally is the fourth or fifth most taught foreign language in the world.[32]

In anglophone parts of Canada, Italian is, after French, the third most taught language. In francophone Canada it is third after English. In the United States and the United Kingdom, Italian ranks fourth (after Spanish-French-German and French-German-Spanish respectively). Throughout the world, Italian is the fifth most taught foreign language, after English, French, German, and Spanish.[33]

In the European Union, Italian is spoken as a mother tongue by 13% of the population (65 million, mainly in Italy itself) and as a second language by 3% (14 million); among EU member states, it is most likely to be desired (and therefore learned) as a second language in Malta (61%), Croatia (14%), Slovenia (12%), Austria (11%), Romania (8%), France (6%), and Greece (6%).[34] It is also an important second language in Albania and Switzerland, which are not EU members or candidates.
Lex Diamondz   Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:16 pm GMT
But you're not taking into account that with the exception of Europeans, most people in North America and thruought the greater world dont learn Italian for practical purposes, but for aformentioned cultural reasons. Italian is a commonly taught language, but it is not a language that's used as a lingua franca of any sort. In that respect, it is similar to Dutch in that while it is learned as a second or third language its actual sphere of influence is limited outside of Europe.
persidious   Mon Aug 31, 2009 10:36 pm GMT
Top layer: Polari, Hottentot, Hiri Motu, Telugu, Klingon...

Middle layer: Czech, Tagalog, Hakka, Maori, Irish, Kazakh...

Bottom layer: French, Russian, Spanish, American English, Yoruba...

Extinct layer: Italian, Polish, British English (they will all convert to Polari), Nahuatl...
bill   Tue Sep 01, 2009 12:02 am GMT
I'd agree with LexDiamondz's hierarchy, except for Hindi. Unless there is some sort of linguistic revolution in India and Pakistan, and colonial English is removed as their de facto lingua franca and language of business and education, Hindi-Urdu will continue to be irrelevant for the rest of the world and for large parts of these countries themselves.

I might also add Indonesian-Malay to the third tier. Economically and demographically, it is very similar to Portuguese.
Linguistics   Tue Sep 01, 2009 10:13 am GMT
Lex Diamondz,

You consider French in a second Tier in 50 years (2059). I think you are very optimistic with French. You say:

"French in West and North Africa and parts of the Caribbean"

Nowadays, French is almost not spoken in the Caribbean. In Haiti and Martinique people speak a Creole very different as mother tongue. It is not mutually intelligible. Only a few speak French (hardly 1 million).

French is not official in North Africa. At the same time French is not a mother tongue in Africa. At this moment French is studied at school in Morocco or Algeria, and other former French colonies. But, I think people will study English in these countries in 2059...


On the opposite side, Spanish depends on Brazil and the United States to be in the first or second level. Obviously if Spanish becomes official only in one of them in 2059, it will be in the first level.


Finally, Hindi is overshadowed by English in India. English is the business language of the country. I think that Hindi won't be so important.

In short, in my opinion:

First level: English, Chinese and Spanish
Second level: Arabic.
Third level: French, Hindi, Russian, Portuguese, German, Japanese and Indonesian
blanc   Tue Sep 01, 2009 5:39 pm GMT
"Spanish depends on [ ... ] the United States to be in the first or second level"

If there weren't so many Hispanic immigrants in the U.S. Spanish could qualify for a first tier status.

But in USA Spanish is the lowest of the low.

Spanish is used by highly developed nations like Spain and Argentina, but its image is ruined forever by Mexican illegals.

Tell me it can't be true.
Guest   Tue Sep 01, 2009 6:02 pm GMT
It is not true. And Argentina is not a developed nation, no more than Mexico is.