Oh at first hearing, Finnish sounds like Japanese, doesn't it? It is a pleasing sound.
Does English risk being replaced?
OH, this conversation remindes me of a trip I took to Korea. One of my Korean comrads told me that I should go home, learn Korean, and that we could talk more fluently. I didn't say this to him, but in my mind I thought... You want me to learn Korean? I would NEVER use it except to talk to you! And you speak english already!
Typical american ethnocentricity I suppose :) English has gradually been gaining status as a super language over the last 100 years, with the biggest jump in the last 30. It gained its usefulness through trade. If it were to be replaced, it would be replaced by a dominant industrial or scientific country. Japan or German. Other countries would have to conquer in order to supplant.
Also, nudity as lewdness is subjective. African, pacific and south american tribes all walk around virtually nude, it's not offensive to them. Lewdness is only categorized by what you have been taught to be offended by.
Typical american ethnocentricity I suppose :) English has gradually been gaining status as a super language over the last 100 years, with the biggest jump in the last 30. It gained its usefulness through trade. If it were to be replaced, it would be replaced by a dominant industrial or scientific country. Japan or German. Other countries would have to conquer in order to supplant.
Also, nudity as lewdness is subjective. African, pacific and south american tribes all walk around virtually nude, it's not offensive to them. Lewdness is only categorized by what you have been taught to be offended by.
Well, it is important to read the top ten languages (mother tongue):
1. Chinese
2. Spanish
3. Hindi
4. English
5. Arabic
6. Bengali
7. Russian
8. Portuguese
9. Japanese
10. Penjabi.
(Britannica, Enc.)
So, English is ONLY the fourth, and English will be THE FIFTH in 20 years because of the strength of Arabic. The world is changing very fast, and there is a new world linguistic order. Chinese, Spanish and Arabic will be very important languages. In 1900, French people thought the same. They thought that French would be the most important language forever. And... you can see now. French is not in the top ten.
1. Chinese
2. Spanish
3. Hindi
4. English
5. Arabic
6. Bengali
7. Russian
8. Portuguese
9. Japanese
10. Penjabi.
(Britannica, Enc.)
So, English is ONLY the fourth, and English will be THE FIFTH in 20 years because of the strength of Arabic. The world is changing very fast, and there is a new world linguistic order. Chinese, Spanish and Arabic will be very important languages. In 1900, French people thought the same. They thought that French would be the most important language forever. And... you can see now. French is not in the top ten.
"So, English is ONLY the fourth, and English will be THE FIFTH in 20 years because of the strength of Arabic."
You are being disengenuous. Of the 10 languages, only four you've listed can be considered as "non-ethnocentric" and of those, English is easily the most widely accepted. Spanish next, then Portuguese. Arabic is restricted to "liturgical" use.
Put it this way: more people may speak Hindi than English but you'll be able to use English far more widely across the globe.
You are being disengenuous. Of the 10 languages, only four you've listed can be considered as "non-ethnocentric" and of those, English is easily the most widely accepted. Spanish next, then Portuguese. Arabic is restricted to "liturgical" use.
Put it this way: more people may speak Hindi than English but you'll be able to use English far more widely across the globe.
Reminder: the wideness of use for a particular language is NO prerequisite for its LIKELIHOOD to serve as an international language. Think of English when it was restricted to the use of people living in the tiny island called Britain. Who might have thought of the possibility of English becoming as today's international language at that period?
So let us not mix up the result with the cause. The wideness of use for a language is a reflection and result of a language's strength which is by no means fixed, but rather fluid. In naked truth, the strength of a language is inescapably traced down to the strength of the countries and nations using that language. History has seen many powerful empires and countries was and wane. It is the same with languages. With this in mind, inevitablly, any language is possible to replace English as the lingua franca of the world provided that the language is backed up by a powerful nation playing a dominating role in world affairs.
So let us not mix up the result with the cause. The wideness of use for a language is a reflection and result of a language's strength which is by no means fixed, but rather fluid. In naked truth, the strength of a language is inescapably traced down to the strength of the countries and nations using that language. History has seen many powerful empires and countries was and wane. It is the same with languages. With this in mind, inevitablly, any language is possible to replace English as the lingua franca of the world provided that the language is backed up by a powerful nation playing a dominating role in world affairs.
English is the ultimate language for international communication around the globe. That's that!
The risk is not very high, at least for the forseeable future. English is unique in the current status it has reached unlike any other language in history. Its influence is practically everywhere and is widely spoken and also accepted which is important. Not to mention it's so widely studied, including China and Arab countries.
Seriously, it will be hard to compete with English. And I hope no one is complaining about that, seeing that we are all happily using English now
Seriously, it will be hard to compete with English. And I hope no one is complaining about that, seeing that we are all happily using English now
This reminds me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_High_Castle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_High_Castle
People keep all this talk about Chinese going, with how it will come in and swoop away English soon. Do these people even realise that there is no such language as Chinese?
English had two major boosts:
1) English colonialism. The Brits set up ports all over the place, and spread their language everywhere they went (like anyone does). It just so happens that the Brits were a very powerful force that managed to take hold of some rather major resources that turned into some rather powerful countries. Thus...
2) America. After WWII, we entered what's been called the Cold War (no, not an Ice Age, but a war in which no fire was "supposedly" exchanged—which is itself a lie...digress). The Cold War was between the two main nations responsible for wrapping up WWII: United State and Russia/Soviet Union/USSR/whatever the Hell they called themselves then. Britain was also heavily involved with the ending of WWII, but guess what??? They ALSO spoke English—and still do. Because their country is really freezing (I think; it was actually likely because Communism is only sustainable in groups of people not exceeding 50 in number), Russia/Soviet Union/USSR/whatever the Hell they called themselves then collapsed (like a house of cards, not even kidding!). USA + RUSSIA - RUSSIA = USA. The only power left on the stage (world stage) then was a country that spoke English as its national (not official ;-)) language.
There were also a slew of other factors involved, but those are the biggies.
Now, unless the speakers of another language are going to go through all that, the chances of English being taken over any time soon are quite limited.
As for that 3rd grade comment on Shakespeare and Old English (OE):
Shakespeare didn't use OE; he used Early Modern English, from around the late fifteen to early sixteen hundreds. OE died after the Norman folk invaded English err... long before that (years escape me). I assure you, NO ONE can become a native speaker of Modern English today and automatically understand OE. The languages have damnear nothing in common. Furthermore, dictionaries as large (if not larger) than the ones written today on Modern English have been written on the language/words used in the works of Shakespeare. Few Modern English speakers can read Shakespeare without first getting an understanding on the language first.
And now... to return to the topic.... :-D
Spam is bad ;-)
English had two major boosts:
1) English colonialism. The Brits set up ports all over the place, and spread their language everywhere they went (like anyone does). It just so happens that the Brits were a very powerful force that managed to take hold of some rather major resources that turned into some rather powerful countries. Thus...
2) America. After WWII, we entered what's been called the Cold War (no, not an Ice Age, but a war in which no fire was "supposedly" exchanged—which is itself a lie...digress). The Cold War was between the two main nations responsible for wrapping up WWII: United State and Russia/Soviet Union/USSR/whatever the Hell they called themselves then. Britain was also heavily involved with the ending of WWII, but guess what??? They ALSO spoke English—and still do. Because their country is really freezing (I think; it was actually likely because Communism is only sustainable in groups of people not exceeding 50 in number), Russia/Soviet Union/USSR/whatever the Hell they called themselves then collapsed (like a house of cards, not even kidding!). USA + RUSSIA - RUSSIA = USA. The only power left on the stage (world stage) then was a country that spoke English as its national (not official ;-)) language.
There were also a slew of other factors involved, but those are the biggies.
Now, unless the speakers of another language are going to go through all that, the chances of English being taken over any time soon are quite limited.
As for that 3rd grade comment on Shakespeare and Old English (OE):
Shakespeare didn't use OE; he used Early Modern English, from around the late fifteen to early sixteen hundreds. OE died after the Norman folk invaded English err... long before that (years escape me). I assure you, NO ONE can become a native speaker of Modern English today and automatically understand OE. The languages have damnear nothing in common. Furthermore, dictionaries as large (if not larger) than the ones written today on Modern English have been written on the language/words used in the works of Shakespeare. Few Modern English speakers can read Shakespeare without first getting an understanding on the language first.
And now... to return to the topic.... :-D
Spam is bad ;-)
I don't think Mandarin Chinese will ever be a lingua franca--it's too difficult to learn. Worse, its symbol system is completely unsuitable for this age of computer; I've read that Chinese typists can only type 20 wpm or so--even the fastest. It seems more effective from a business standpoint--even to the Chinese--to learn English. In fact, there are 200 million people in China learning English right now.
I can see, however, Russian as a possible contender; Russia's oil reserves and relatively low population gives it an enormous possibility for being an obscenely rich country in the next millenium. Money equals international influence; Russian as a second language is infinitely easier than Mandarin.
Realistically speaking, I believe that we're stuck with English, at least in our lifetimes.
I can see, however, Russian as a possible contender; Russia's oil reserves and relatively low population gives it an enormous possibility for being an obscenely rich country in the next millenium. Money equals international influence; Russian as a second language is infinitely easier than Mandarin.
Realistically speaking, I believe that we're stuck with English, at least in our lifetimes.
I think that if English ceased being the lingua franca, Spanish would take that role.
Let's take this seriously China will certainly over pass the US as the world super powe, but Chinese is way too dificult for the world to be interested in it, only another European language could take English down and I'm guessing ti would be either Russian, German or Spanish (since it is by far the easiest).
Oh, Russian is the least easy (or at least one of the leasr easy ones) language to learn among the European languages. I don't think it has any possibility of taking a lead. Spanish is quite likely.
Actually the "easy" adjetive was for Spanish not Russian, you're right the fact that you have to learn new characters makes it harder.