Will-Chinese-be-the-next-world-language

Chinese,theNextWorldLanguage?AshleyNativeEnglishspeakers:375millionNativeChinesespeakers:threeorfourtimesofthemChina’seconomicandpoliticstatusonthegloberisingNumberofpeoplelearningChineseisincreasingasmanycountrieshavemorecooperationwithChinaChinesewillreplaceEnglishasthenextworldlanguage(OxfordAnalyticaDailyBriefService,14/07/2005)？Whatis“WorldLanguage”?•Aninternationallinguafranca•Tobeaworldlanguage:1.mostcountries’firstorsecondlanguage2.mostpeoplearoundtheworldcanunderstandeachotherbythislanguageChinesedonotsatisfythecondition.WhyisEnglishourworldlanguage？•Britishcolonization•TherisingoftheUnitedStatesPresentSituation•Englishisacceptedbythemostoftheworldnow,peoplecancommunicatewitheachotherinEnglishverywell.NumberofEnglishspeakersthroughouttheworld(Crystal2004):•asfirstlanguage:400million•assecondlanguage:400million•asforeignlanguage:600million•Total:1.4billion•Astheprogressoftechnology,qualityoftranslationmicrosoftgrows,“everyonewillspeakandwriteinwhateverlanguagetheychoose,andtheworldwillunderstand”.(Ostler,2010)•NoneofthelanguagesexceptforEnglishwillbecomethenextworldlanguageintheconditionthatpeoplealreadyownaworldlanguagetocommunicatewell.AsaChinese•IhopethatChinesewillbetheworldlanguage,sothatwecanexpressourculturetotheworldandgetunderstoodbytheworld.•Butobjectivelyspeaking,itisnotpossible,atleastinresentdecades.Conclusion•AlthoughChina’sincreasingimpactontheworldseemstoleadChineseasthenextworldlanguage,itisnotpossibleinthenearestfuture.1.Aworldlanguageisaninternationallinguafrancathatshouldbemostcountries’firstorsecondlanguage,andmostpeopleintheworldcanbeintelligiblewithit.Chinesedonotsatisfythecondition.2.Inthenewworld,therewillnotbeacountrywhocouldcolonizeanothercountry,soitslanguagewillnotdominatetheworldlanguage.3.Peopledonotbothertolearnanotherlanguagewhentheyalreadyownonetocommunicatewell.4.Technologicalsupportmakesitpossibleforpeoplespeakingdifferentlanguagestounderstandeachotherwithoutknowingtheirlanguages.•Chinesewillnotbethenextworldlanguage,althoughwedohopeso.REFERENCES•Anonymous.(2005,July14).INTERNATIONAL:IsChinesethenextlinguafranca?.OxfordAnalyticaDailyBriefService,p.1•Ostler,Nicholas.(2010).TheLastLinguaFranca.NewYork:Walker&Co.