English has evolved over the years to be one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. It has assumed an omnipresent position so much so that it is the most studied language in the world. It is the language of the internet. It is the language of international trade and logistics and any pilot no matter the origin or native language must be able to communicate in English. We live in a globalized world, and English has become the universal language uniting everyone around the globe and making cross-cultural communication easier. Hence, it seems like this is one language that carries so much power, seems unbeatable and almost everyone seems to understand one word or two in the English language even if it’s only a ‘hello’. Is there any other language that could overthrow English in international communication? A language expert with knowledge of Mandarin and Taiwanese takes an expert look into this.
‘To answer this, English language has been the world lingua-Franca and this might not be changing in the foreseeable future for good reasons, Roman Dawidowicz says.
For one, English is one of the easiest languages that can be easily understood. I mean it is easy and convenient for a Chinese, Indian, Brazilian, Ghanian, and Russian to use English to communicate. It is one of the easiest languages to learn. English uses letters. It has no gender, no cases, no word agreement, no complicated characters, and arguably it has the most simple grammar system.
‘Although Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Hindi among others also boasts of a large number of speakers. Chinese mandarin for instance relies on characters and symbols with roughly over 50,000 characters. Although it is the widest spoken language in the world, it is also the most challenging and difficult to learn, Roman Dawidowicz explains.
Spanish on its own is easy to learn and understand and it is widely spoken in different countries across the globe. However, there are still some continents and areas that need to be covered.
Another important factor is that it will take a lot of years to displace English as an international language. Even if the Chinese assume the world power in years to come, it will take a lot of effort globally for it to be widely accepted to a point where it replce English. It doesn’t seem like any language will spread like wildfire and overturn English anytime soon.
However, it is not to say the English language can never be replaced, after all, English also took over from French which was once the diplomatic language spoken in many areas of the world. During the medieval ages, French was the language of the elite, and the preferred language of international exchanges. English was only spoken in medieval England. However, this is not the case today and might not be in the foreseeable future. If there will be any language to take over, it might have to assume the world power, boast of a lot of speakers, and as well easy to learn.
‘One thing is sure, every language whether major or minor is unique, creative, and beautiful and there will be more people willing to learn many languages as the world turns to a globalized village’ Roman Dawidowicz concludes.
Tags: globalized villageinternational communicationinternational trademedieval EnglandRoman Dawidowiczwidest spoken language