English is de facto global language
English does seem to be the de facto 'global' language of the late 20th and first few years of the 21st century. It has followed on from French which was the lingua franca of the 19th and early 20th Century. Having your own language as the one which everybody else has to learn gives you a real advantage. This is why the French blocked the adoption of Esperanto by the League of Nations way back. One of the sad things in any country or even internationally about using the language of one nation or region is that the other languages and dialects suffer. We've seen this happen in Britain. Scottish Gaelic is in decline, Manx and Cornish have disappeared, Irish Gaelic in spite of strong support from the Government is not popular, the Scots and Yorkshire dialects are slowly being diluted, only Welsh is still strong and that needed many years of campaigning from its supporters.What is nice about Esperanto is that it respects majority and minority languages alike. It belongs to no country or government, it is not identified with the powerful. It doesn't replace one's mother tongue. It was always intended as a second language for everybody whenever they're reduced to pointing and smiling.And as someone who has learned it and tried it, I can tell you that it really does break through the language barriers. It actually works; nobody loses and everybody gains.
Sent by: Hugh
Comments
If we are to get on with everyone in this modern world then we should all speak and understand one language. If that is English so be it, but one language must be compulsary world wide.
Misunderstanding, disagreement and, ultimately, war is the outcome of not being able to communicate. Whatever is your native language you need to learn an international language. English gives you the best opportunities currently.
There is nothing stopping Esperanto from being a lingua franca but I will say that it will never be everyone's second language. In fact, for many Esperanto speakers, they are not aiming to get everyone to speak it. They are trying to connect with other Esperantists, travel, learn about other cultures etc.
I dont think that Esperanto will be the "Lingua Franca" in the future. It is artificial.
I think that English will be the language that will be spoken and written worldwide like the Latin, the language of the Romans was used in the Middle Ages.
But like the Latin, being spoken by milions of non-native Latin people, English will change a lot giving birth to new languages.
I would like to point out to Danny from Russia, that English is a very difficult language to learn. Anyone who says otherwise is speaking utter rubbish. Esperanto is easier than other languages. Even German isn't as easy as Esperanto. Sorry to break it to you!
Norwegian student, English will never be everyone's language. Without other languages, the richness of a non-English culture will be lost forever. Besides, English (as mentioned by Brian) is culture-specific.
I don't like Esperanto. My mom studied it in her college years, she says its grammar is more complicated than that of English or German which she also studied.
English is a language that I like very much personally and it also has a simple grammar which enabled it to become the international language of today and hopefully the sole language of the future.
English is the future language. In the future there will be no need for any other language than English. Everybody will be united and talk one language. There is no need to learn many different languages when everybody just can speak the same.
English is the most important language. In 100 years everyone will learn English.
English may be a global language, but this is mainly due to the impact of the United States. And it may scare some English speakers to know that when the Americans first voted after independence as to what their official language was going to be, there were so many Germans living there at the time that English only just won. The world might be very different had the national language of America been German - although it might have made us Brits less arrogant having to learn a language different from our own.
The spirit of adventure of the British people spread the English language around the world. As Georgia said German almost became the official language in the US, Spanish exploration resulted in second place for world language. The Koreans have become bilingual and have kept their language and culture strong, and always will be a strong people. In India as well they keep their home language and are bilingual in English. I do not like Esperanto and English is the global language. The US is not only far behind the world in becoming bi-lingual but also the dialect we speak, many times, is not proper English. Thank goodness for ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ America and the British Council.
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