Of course, the world is constantly changing, and a new study has proclaimed that there will soon be a new global language on the world scene. Dr. Jeffrey Gill, a Flinders University academic, believes Chinese is set to rise shortly as a prominent global language spoken frequently outside of China and Asia.
According to the Engco Forecasting Model explained above, the 5 most spoken languages in 2050 will be Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic. The key drivers behind the continued rise in popularity of these languages include population growth, economic predictions and national language policy.
It is estimated that it takes 4 times longer for a native English speaker to become proficient in Chinese than it does to reach a similar level in French or Spanish. Therefore, it would seem that, for the next generation at least, Mandarin will not replace English as the global language.
French is the world's fastest-growing language. Analysts predict that by 2050, it will be the most spoken language on the planet due to its popularity. France is the largest provider of many technology services and products. So, it is important as the future language.
We currently find Urdu, Indonesian, Hindi, and Bengali among the fastest-growing languages. While some of these languages may not be among the most used today, a British Council report suggests that they will hold significant sway in the business world by 2050.
English will most likely not become the dominant world language as more people speak more than one language, a language expert reports. The world faces a future of people speaking more than one language, with English no longer seen as likely to become dominant, a British language expert says in a new analysis.
It's unlikely that we'll see a world that speaks one language any time soon. Protecting each individual countries' cultures is a huge barrier, but an important one to ensure our world is as beautifully diverse as it's always been.
Languages change continually and in wide variety of ways. New words and phrases appear, while others fall into disuse. Words subtly, or less subtly, shift their meanings or develop new meanings, while speech sounds and intonation change continually.
Language extinction
Many of the languages spoken today are in constant extinction. Linguistic predictions say that of 6,000 languages that are globally spoken today, around 600 of them after 100 years will have simplified versions or will not exist at all.
Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
The world's youngest language, coming in at only 100 years old (officially), is the South African language of Afrikaans. Surprised? Afrikaans, the natively spoken language of 7 million South Africans, was born from the white Dutch, French, and German colonizers in South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries.
According to Ethnologue, English is the most-spoken language in the world including native and non-native speakers. Like Latin or Greek at the time, English has become the world's common language. It is the default language in international business, tourism, technology, and much more.
Language changes so quickly that by the time any two peoples have diverged their dialects have also diverged. This is because most of human language is not "hard-wired" into our genetic makeup, but is developed instinctively by language-learning mechanisms that are hard-wired.
Universal language may refer to a hypothetical or historical language spoken and understood by all or most of the world's people. In some contexts, it refers to a means of communication said to be understood by all humans.
As David Graddol notes in “The Future of English?”, there is no reason to believe that another language will become the global lingua franca within the next 50 years. English probably won't replace other languages, but its usefulness as the common language in trade, diplomacy, and pop culture will continue.
English is also seen as the language of the Internet and high tech and that definitely has a negative impact on other languages. Some people claim that the world's linguistic diversity is less preserved because of English domination and that more local languages are declining each year.
VIDEO: Punjabi is now Australia's fastest growing language
Punjabi is now more popular in Australia than it is in India, where it is only the eleventh-most spoken language. More on: Australia. Languages.
By 2080, the rate will rise to 16 languages per year. By the middle of the next century, we will be losing our linguistic heritage at the rate of 26 languages each year—one every two weeks. If we do not tackle the problem of language loss, more than half of all languages will become extinct in the next 100 years.
Mandarin is the most difficult language to learn. Like Arabic, Mandarin takes 22 months and 2200 hours to reach proficiency. However, there is one important factor that sets Mandarin apart as the most difficult language in the world to learn: their symbols. The Mandarin language has over 50,000 characters.