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eslstudies
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 1061
Location: East of Aden
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 Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 5:29 pm Post subject: The Relentless March of English |
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An interesting series called "The Story of English" has just finished on Australian TV.
It claimed that its estimated that a third of the world's population has some knowledge of English; also that an estimated 85% of internet pages are in English.
Thus my brother in law, a policeman in China, talks to Russian women in chat rooms using English.
Anyway, it doesn't look like any of us will be out of a job for a while yet. |
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TheLongWayHome
Joined: 07 Jun 2006
Posts: 1016
Location: San Luis Piojosi
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| Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 7:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Only two thirds to go then we'll have a facist global language! How long do you think before we're all out of a job? |
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jonniboy
Joined: 18 Jun 2006
Posts: 751
Location: Panama City, Panama
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| Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:22 pm Post subject: |
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| I would have my doubts about the 85% of webpages in English stat. In fact the number of webpages in English has been forecast to fall over time. |
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eslstudies
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 1061
Location: East of Aden
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| Posted: Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:24 pm Post subject: |
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| jonniboy wrote: |
| I would have my doubts about the 85% of webpages in English stat. In fact the number of webpages in English has been forecast to fall over time. |
Makes you wonder who'd have time to do the research. However, the internet is a powerful tool for the march of English without doubt. |
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gaijinalways
Joined: 29 Nov 2005
Posts: 2279
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| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 9:14 am Post subject: |
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| yes, I thought the percentage of English pages had dropped below 60% already. As to 1/3 of the world knows English, how do they define 'know'? |
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eslstudies
Joined: 17 Dec 2006
Posts: 1061
Location: East of Aden
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| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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| gaijinalways wrote: |
| As to 1/3 of the world knows English, how do they define 'know'? |
The program didn't say "know".
Here's a separate article.
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English 'world language' forecast
By Sean Coughlan
BBC News education reporter, Edinburgh
A third of people on the planet will be learning English in the next decade, says a report.
Researcher David Graddol says two billion people will be learning English as it becomes a truly "world language".
This growth will see French declining internationally, while German is set to expand, particularly in Asia.
But the UK Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, has warned against the "arrogance" of English speakers who fail to learn other languages.
Learning in English
The Future of English report, launched in Edinburgh at a British Council conference on international education, has used computer modelling to forecast the onset of a "wave" of English-learning around the world.
In the year 2000, the British Council says there were about a billion English learners - but a decade later, this report says, the numbers will have doubled.
The research has looked at the global population of young people in education - including 120 million children in Chinese primary schools - and how many countries are embedding English-language learning within their school systems.
The linguistic forecast points to a surge in English learning, which could peak in 2010.
'Pernicious'
Speaking earlier at the same conference, Mr Clarke argued that the UK needed to improve language skills - and conceded that the country was still lagging behind in learning languages.
"To be quite candid, I'm the first to acknowledge there is an immense amount to do," said Mr Clarke. "Not least to contest the arrogance that says English is the world language and we don't have to worry about it - which I think is dangerous and pernicious."
The report's author agrees that English speakers should not be complacent because they can speak this increasingly widely-used language.
He says Chinese, Arabic and Spanish are also going to be key international languages.
"The fact that the world is learning English is not particularly good news for native speakers who cannot also speak another language. The world is rapidly becoming multi-lingual and English is only one of the languages people in other countries are learning," said Mr Graddol.
He also says that language learning numbers will decline as English becomes a "basic skill" - learnt by primary-age children, rather than something that older children or adults might want to acquire later.
Mr Graddol also warns there could be a backlash against the global spread of English and a reassertion of national languages. |
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Kootvela
Joined: 22 Oct 2007
Posts: 513
Location: Lithuania
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| Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 6:41 pm Post subject: |
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| TheLongWayHome wrote: |
| Only two thirds to go then we'll have a facist global language! How long do you think before we're all out of a job? |
English, I believe, is their second language. We will be still necesarry to teach it. I hope.  |
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Justin Trullinger
Joined: 28 Jan 2005
Posts: 3110
Location: Seoul, South Korea and Myanmar for a bit
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| Posted: Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:07 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Only two thirds to go then we'll have a facist global language! How long do you think before we're all out of a job? |
I think I see where you're going with this, but what makes a language "fascist?"
Generals Franco and Pinochet spoke Spanish- so did Che Guevara and Fidel. (I suppose Fidel still does, though not much in public these days...)
In any case, I don't see it affecting our job security yet.
Best,
Justin |
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Stephen Jones
Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124
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