One thing that I greatly enjoy about English is the ridiculous amount of useful information on the Internet. No other language can offer such advantage. Nowadays, if you don't speak English, you're severely missing out on a gargantuan amount of useful information.

@WholesomeBookworm

11 ай бұрын

To add on that point. The endless amount of quality entertainment in English is also a major factor in it's popularity these days

@jmgonzales7701

10 ай бұрын

@@WholesomeBookworm exactly, at this day and age there is no reason to not learn English, unless you live under a rock.

@HelmutQ

10 ай бұрын

The improved automatic translation makes this point less and less important. AI will allow us to communicate with each other without learning each others languages. I got around quite well in China with the google translator even with spoken language and reading signs with the camera on my phone.

@UPAKHOSALA

10 ай бұрын

This is a British propaganda. Other than UK Even at Continental EUROPE English is not spoken by majority of people. At Japan , SOUTH KOREA , Taiwan, Vietnam Every single country Aforementioned Have their own LANGUAGE And as a guest or student ( other than tourists) U have to speak in their own language. For example At Japan u have to speak Japanese, every where it is written in Japanese. At Taiwan u have to speak in local language. Same in latin American countries

@jmgonzales7701

10 ай бұрын

@@UPAKHOSALA yes but lingua franca is english world wide

I was visiting Italy ten years ago and encountered a young restaurant waiter and a young bartender both of whom spoke excellent (almost native level) American English. I guessed in my own mind that they must have been exchange students in the US to have achieved such proficiency. When I asked them how they learned English, though, they both said they learned it by watching American TV shows. So, to the extent such shows are available via streaming services, KZread, and the Internet, English seems to have become very accessible to motivated non-English speakers. And, such easy access may position English as the principal lingua franca for a long time.

@lorenzozapaton4031

11 ай бұрын

I guess each person is different but it helps. When I watch english native movies/series, I watch them in their native language (english) with subtitles (in english). Even when I read manga or watch anime, I do it in english. Like I said, that hasn't made me an expert in English but at least I can defend myself and don't get rusty. Not practicing a skill will slowly make it banish.

@danielantony1882

11 ай бұрын

@@lorenzozapaton4031 Ðat anime part was a bit specific. I guess you like English so much ðat you prefer it to any oðer language?

@shinobi-no-bueno

11 ай бұрын

​@@danielantony1882clearly he is interested in learning English, not Japanese

@lorenzozapaton4031

11 ай бұрын

@@danielantony1882 No, native japanese anime/manga with English subtitles/translation. I like to watch films, tv series, etc in their native language with English subtitles (they are easier to find than in my native language, spanish) I don't like any type English dub, it's fucking horrible (but I could be biased)

@danielantony1882

11 ай бұрын

@@lorenzozapaton4031 Well, I agree about ðem being horrible, so don't worry.

One thing I've always found interesting about English is that so many other languages, even widely spoken ones, are concerned with linguistic purity or maintaining a specific type of vocabulary (French language authorities creating Latin/French rooted words to replace English borrowings comes to mind), where English historically has never really cared about that and has always absorbed words from other languages around it like a sponge. While obviously the power of the British Empire and the USA afterwards are the main reaons for the proliferation of English, I always wondered if the adaptability of English is part of its success.

@brawndothethirstmutilator9848

10 ай бұрын

Good observation. Inventing new words on the fly that can be easily understood by others is another strong feature of English. I can’t even count or remember the vast quantity of made up words I’ve created to fit a moment or situation in conversation over the years. Of course other languages have this possibility, but English does it very well.

@HelmutQ

10 ай бұрын

This is not necessarily an advantage. The English vocabulary is open, you can use whatever latinism. Does not mean that people will understand you even though its technically correct. Even educated Americans miss out on many words in the newspaper. In Italian and German there is a much clearer consensus of what will be understood by the counterpart and what not.

@chloeedmund4350

10 ай бұрын

Depends on the word. Native speakers do anglicize the spelling and pronoun Kati on and the Uk/US do use different words for the same thing.

@yarrowification

6 ай бұрын

@@HelmutQ I strongly agree the extent to which native English speakers disagree on grammar on vocabulary can make serious conversation frustrating and slow

@urphakeandgey6308

Ай бұрын

I've made this point before too. English is oddly very open when it comes to adopting loan words. Even weirder, it tends to preserve spellings and pronunciations to a degree. Of course, usually after a fair but of Anglicization. This definitely had to help it as a lingua franca in my mind. Historically, the reason for this is probably because since so many groups of people were forced to speak English, it meant English had a lot more opportunities to crossbreed with other languages, cultures, and people. Even if it was as simple as a British explorer asking a native "what do you call that? An opossum? Hey everyone, they call those things opossums."

Another factor that helps English as a world language is that it's grammar is quite loosy-goosey. That means while learning "correct" English is hard, English is very easy to pidgin and still be intelligible.

@jayc1139

10 ай бұрын

Quite so, so even if someone uses the most broken English, they can still be understood (pending the words are in the right order of course). Very few if any conjugations and inflections...and grammatical gender is more of an 'emotional' thing like someone giving an inanimate object a male or female name.

@2b10er

10 ай бұрын

It’s probably more a quality English acquired due to its status as an international language. There are also some traits to English that make it rather hard to learn: Rather high phonological complexity and a very rich vocabulary due to its germanic and roman origin.

@juandiegovalverde1982

10 ай бұрын

@@2b10er For centuris der hav bied de idea ov kreating an linguaj dat alau pople ov diferente kultures ande nativ linguajes tu komunik wid ich oder. Somtaimes dises linguajes bied kreated spontaneli, soch az de Sabir, an linguaj used bai Mediteranean merkantes in de Midel Eijes, olsou nowed az lingua franka, an espresion dat mor leit komed tu min eni international ande interkultural linguaj. Meni taimes in histori de national linguaj ov an imper hav komed tu funtion az an regional lingua franka. Somting similar bi kurenteli hapening wid Inglish, bot weldewaid. Der bi meni rationes hwai Inglish bi not de mouste siutable medi ov international komunikation: 1) Itez speling bi kaotik. 2) Itez fonetike bi difikul. 3) It bi an imperialiste linguaj. 4) Dates hu spik it az an nativ tong hav an vantaj ouver oderes.

@juandiegovalverde1982

10 ай бұрын

@@2b10er Artificial linguajes kreated espresli for international komunikation bi koled auksiliar linguajes. Ov dises, de mouste sukcesful hav bied Esperanto. Ande hwen Ai sei sukcesful Ai min berli ouver an milion spikeres arotunde de welde. Ai reali laik Esperanto, bot it siem dat it bi far from achiving itez initial goul ov bing an universal lingua franka. Dat bi hwai Ai kreated Winglish, hwich bi ovioli veri moch based on Inglish, bot olsou on Spanish, Francese, Portugese, German ande Italian, wid an fonetik ortografi, an izi fonetike ande an iven mor simple gramatike dan dat ov Inglish.

@allangibson8494

2 ай бұрын

@@2b10erEnglish was the result of Norman French vocabulary spoken by a Germanic language speaker. That strips the “gender” component because there is almost zero alignment between German and Latin linguistic genders.

I work in a small Belgian tech company, with most employees from Flanders and two from Brussels. Everyone had both French and Dutch in school and yet, English is how we communicate whenever there's a group with mixed mother tongue.

@no1basser

10 ай бұрын

That's interesting! Do you think there is some cultural baggage to speaking Dutch or French in these situations, and English is a neutral alternative? Or is it just easier to use English?

@Lttlemoi

10 ай бұрын

​@@no1basser French used to be the language used for official things and Wallonia the economic most important and developed region, but after two world wars and a transition from mining and steel industry in Wallonia to petrochemical industry in Flanders this situation has reversed and Dutch now has a high status. Regardless, we get both languages in school (among others, like German, English and Spanish) so theoretically we should be able to converse in both. Still, the general concencus is that on average Walloon people don't speak as well Dutch as Flemish people can speak French, which sometimes causes friction. For us personally, it was easier to just use English, because that's a language everyone is definitely very fluent in.

@alexj9603

10 ай бұрын

This is quite similar to the situation in Switzerland. Speakers of German, French and Italian often communicate in English.

@jeromehorwitz2460

5 ай бұрын

I'm an American who has worked in several European film productions and it's very convenient for me that English is the common language spoken by everybody else.

@jeromehorwitz2460

5 ай бұрын

@@no1basser As an American who has worked on European film productions I find it notable that people use English as the common language but tend to retreat into groups of their own countrymen speaking their native languages among friends, so their is a kind of natural segregation. Sometimes it develops that there is a "French room" or a "Spanish room" where they put people according to nationality, and I end up with the Canadians, Irish, Scots, S. Africans, Australians and Brits.

Two empires in a row spoke the same language: the British Empire and the American. One was the most powerful empire of the radio era, the other was the most powerful language of the television era. You should visit Quebec: one of the last places on earth that people take pride in NOT speaking English -an interesting contrast to (even) China and Iran.

@marlborogorila

10 ай бұрын

J'ai visité Montréal par 3 mois et j'ai rencontré juste UNE femme que ne parlais pas l'anglais, une jeune fille qu'été juste arrivé du interieur du Quebéc, que travaillait a Metro. Ces't vrai que je ne suis pas allee a la province, mais meme au Quebéc, la pluspart de persone parle quelque chose d'anglais. Montréal me manque tellement, quelle belle ville!

@DerekDerekDerekDerekDerekDerek

5 ай бұрын

And english media from UK is still so popular

@dirkbimini5963

Ай бұрын

But most people in Quebec do speak English even if some of them don't like to.

Don't forget that English is the official language of aviation. Foreign commercial pilots are required to be capable of speaking and understanding spoken English. When I was working on a project in Turkey in which Siemens had a lead role I was surprised to learn the official language of Siemens is English, including being required for all documents within Siemens. The decision to do this was because Siemens was determined to not have its global prospects limited by language. While working in India I was told that many Indians preferred to speak in English as opposed to Hindi because they considered Hindi a regional language, while English was without regional bias. The British occupation of India was clearly a factor because so many Indians learned English in school, but then you would have thought the sour taste of that occupation would have meant English would be refiled. In Budapest I was in a meeting in which a local engineer was asked if he read Russian, and his response was "Of course, I was educated in it, but I will never speak that damn language again." - apparently the memory of the Soviet Union was sufficient to insure he did not use his Russian language abilities. Esperanto was an attempt at an artificial international language. It totally flopped. Proponents argued it would be preferable because it was logical, shared roots with many European languages, and did not confer any advantage to any other language. It never took off. One of the advantages of English you did not mention is it is very accretive. English adopts any word that works from any other language, without regard to the original language. I suspect part of the reason English has become dominant is it has few gatekeepers and they are ineffective at keeping foreign terms from being adopted, unlike French for example. www.vocabulary.com/lists/7mdntuqn/foreign-words-and-phrases-commonly-used-by-english-speakers The French are so damn apoplectic about their language that they have prohibited any foreign languages from infecting their precious speech. It may be great for preserving French culture, but not for spreading your language around the world. If you doubt this see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toubon_Law.

@jmgonzales7701

10 ай бұрын

yeah the english language became so powerful to the point its probably gonna be our lingua franca forever

@shomshomni2314

9 ай бұрын

He did mention aviation at the start

@Joseph-ax999

5 ай бұрын

There's a video I've seen, a debate about the official language of India and of course Hindi is an obvious choice but those speaking Dravidian languages naturally object. Certainly this is easy to understand. Language is an emotional issue. As for French, once had I had a decent understanding of the language I better understood them. I had to ask myself, if I were in the same position as they are how would i feel. And I recognized that I'm sure I would feel the same way. So I just accept them as they are.

my native tongue is Western Armenian. I was born and raised in the Middle East so I also know Arabic, in a country where the second language was French, and yet still my English (especially reading and writing) is better than all three of those languages combined. its somewhat scary the more I think about it

@FlagAnthem

11 ай бұрын

How you doing? Is the language ok?

@danielantony1882

11 ай бұрын

@@FlagAnthem Not really. Western Armenian is not ðat common in Armenia. At least _I_ haven't met anyone who speaks it.

@Shijaru64

11 ай бұрын

@@danielantony1882 An Icelander/Faroese! Nice eth!

@WholesomeBookworm

11 ай бұрын

@@danielantony1882 it's getting much more common. But true it's mostly spoken in the diaspora, Lebanon, Syria and USA

@danielantony1882

11 ай бұрын

@@Shijaru64 👍Gotta revive em!

Great video which I can relate to. For us native English speakers, and for me personally as a 50-year-old, it’s amusing how much of the world now knows English (compared to when I was a little boy). It also makes us lazy not to learn any other second language unlike most of the world. I’m Australian which also means we’re not even geographically close to any other major other language too unlike English is to French, Spanish or German.

@floxy20

2 ай бұрын

Guilt tripping an English speaker into learning another language will encounter a problem: no matter what language is chosen it will have limited utility.

"We can devide Europe into Germanic and Romance famillies" Sad slavic noises

@thorthewolf8801

11 ай бұрын

Sad finno ugric noises

@jamesbalentine8490

Ай бұрын

And Indo-Iranian voices! 😊

I've been watching a podcast called the History of English, which started at the theories about the PIE and is up to Shakespeare right now. Its fascinating how the Proto-European language broke into German, Latin, Gallic, etc and all those branches have basically come back together in modern English.

@danvasii9884

10 ай бұрын

There was not such a language as proto-Indo-European; most probably a big bunch of dialects/related languages.

@no1basser

10 ай бұрын

I love this podcast

Another big advantage of English in growth is that computer code is heavily English based. Terms like else, if, for, while, color, fetch, obj (object), array, print, public, out (output), argument etc. are always going to be in English (as color shows, specifically American English), regardless of where the coder is from. (Does Boole count here? He was an Englishman, but it's used because it was his name rather than whatever his ancestor did to get that surname)

@xaverlustig3581

11 ай бұрын

The reason is of course that the architecture of modern computers and many programming languages were designed in the US. This established English as the language of IT, and in a self-fulfilling prophecy other coding languages continued to be based on English even those not designed in an English speaking country - examples PHP and HTML. However there are some that are not (or not necessarily) English based, for example LOGO which is a programming language for children, and which exists in a variety of adaptions.

@pierreabbat6157

11 ай бұрын

I'm working on some Haskell code, and a library function I use is called "factorise", which is the British spelling. Maybe it's because the most popular compiler is from Glasgow and Simon Peyton Jones is British from South Africa.

@danielantony1882

11 ай бұрын

I doubt ðat.

@Heligoland360

9 ай бұрын

That's fascinating. I always assumed programming languages had localisations for different languages.

I really enjoy how English has so many duplicative words based on what language introduced a concept. For example, the word "dictator" is Latin, while "despot" is Greek; they mean the same thing, but introduced to the language separately. The same can be said about "easy" (Old French) and "facile" (Latin) or "right" (English/Germanic) and "correct" (Latin). Instead of getting rid of redundant words, English integrates them, adding cultural context and additional meaning as needed. This is why English is quite easy to pick up since it shares cognates with both Germanic and Latin languages. Also the reason why it likely has the largest amount of words compared to any other language.

@BanditLeader

6 ай бұрын

That's what happens when Britain gets invaded by the vikings and the French. Languages merge together and become one. And then Britain had the great vowel shift and colonized like half the world. It makes sense English would not only become a hybrid of multiple langauges but also the dominant language of the world

@lightscameras4166

2 ай бұрын

You are right about everything except the number of words. Languages like Arabic have much much more

People think it will be replaced by Mandarin someday, but I believe English is so EASY for everyone to learn, that it being replaced as a lingua franca is extremely unlikely.

@cariopuppetmaster

11 ай бұрын

So why was Russian a lingua franca in the eastern bloc which was very hard

@thethrashyone

11 ай бұрын

@@cariopuppetmaster Think about the other languages in that bloc that you're comparing it to: Other Slavic languages that are already closely related to Russian. Of course native speakers of Slavic tongues are going to have an easier time picking up a language has hard as Russian, because _those_ languages are also pretty hard. Ever took a gander at the (I say this with fondness) absolute clusterfuck that is Polish?

@xneapolisx

11 ай бұрын

Russian was forced on people in the Eastern bloc and the USSR; difficult/not difficult had nothing to do with with it. It became a "lingua franca" in those regions thanks to the power of the AK-47!

@Manco65

11 ай бұрын

@@cariopuppetmaster because it was learn it at home or the Gulag if you were lucky after complaining about it.

@davidlericain

11 ай бұрын

@@cariopuppetmaster I agree. Whether a language is "easy" or "hard" is a false argument really. Also, all languages are basically equally difficult in the long run, though some are probably easier to learn if you're just looking to get by as tourist or whatever. And also, the more salient reason for English remaining dominant over Mandarin is that Mandarin doesn't have remotely the kind of cultural soft-power influence of English. I'm currently learning Mandarin and boy it would be so much easier if I had movies and shows like those that exist in English to watch. Frankly speaking, no language comes anywhere close to English in the "spoiled for choice" category.

Internet changed everything for Lingua Francas. French was very close, but we supplanted them just before internet took off, so French missed it. I don't think anything can stop English now, because it's just so widely used, and its usage is increasing as internet use is spreading across the world. I'd say the only threat is Spanish, since asian languages are so hard for the rest of the world, but English is still easier to learn, so English it is.

@t5ruxlee210

2 ай бұрын

Spain and Japan both make an enormous effort when it comes to translating the latest English language technical/ scientific and cultural output for the benefit of their respective populations.

@abarette_

2 ай бұрын

maybe Arabic will have a chance too, whenever Internet gets its shit together to fully support it lol

@SenhorKoringa

Ай бұрын

Most spanish countries are kinda poor and limited to the americas. English is on every corner of each continent

@gileswilliams3014

Ай бұрын

@@SenhorKoringa There's a lot of Spanish in Europe, and you only really need one powerful state and the internet will take care of the rest (Geographical spread is mattering less and less in the internet age, although I grant it's still very important).

The effect of English has been especially strong on my native language--Scots

@eh1702

11 ай бұрын

The effect on Scots has mostly been by ignorant schoolteachers calling it lazy and slang, and punishing kids for speaking it.

@eh1702

11 ай бұрын

How many times in my life I was told that if I could only speak as my parents did “nobody would understand me”. Even though I have hardly ever met anyone in Scotland who had any problem understanding anyone else Scottish. The same teachers never ever complained about any difficulty in us - or anyine else - understanding Old Etonians, Liverpudlians, Devonians, Queenslanders, Bostonians, or people from new Orleans, Kentucky, Dublin or Auckland.

@FlagAnthem

11 ай бұрын

Oh you just opened a pandora box

@cahallo5964

11 ай бұрын

a bit your fault really considering you didn't even bother codifying the language

@eh1702

11 ай бұрын

@@cahallo5964 It was actually the language of Church, law and government for centuries.

I used to be the UK country manager for a large US multinational, and of course the official company language was english. Every month I met my peers from almost every other european country at meetings in our Geneva Head Office. I was constantly teased that they could all speak my language, but I couldn't speak theirs. I had to point out that they only needed to learn one additional language (english) whereas I would have to learn at least ten (French, German, Italian etc) So it was an unfair comparison.

I think the influence of kpop and korean dramas made millions of young people (including me, even tho I'm not young) to desire to learn Korean. I doubt it will become as popular as English but it amazed me how fast it became one of the most wanted foreign languages by the new generation. It shows how the cultural part, that is so easy access though Internet, is much a bigger impact that politics or economics now days.

@tayebizem3749

11 ай бұрын

Bruh it's like most weebs n otakus with the japanese language but nothing is actually happening

@ChanyeolsHaneul

11 ай бұрын

@@tayebizem3749 the most people I know and had seen online actually are learning the language. Is sad that many get discouraged by people calling them names like weaboos ( japanese) or koreaboos when they try to learn those languages just because of anime, kpop or k dramas. No one is called names if they try to learn Chinese for liking their c-pop or dramas, or if you want to learn English because you like their movies.

@FlagAnthem

11 ай бұрын

ええ。。。

@tayebizem3749

11 ай бұрын

@@ChanyeolsHaneul I tried to learn Japanese since the age of 14 because the great obsession I had with the japanese culture and anime back then well I'm giving it a try this time I've been learning for 10 days now my goal is to understand the spoken language and to be able to make good conversations with natives In my opinion Korean is way too easier specially with the written language hangul is super fun to learn and use while japanese is such a complicated writing system most people I know quite learning Japanese because they were tired of kanji (Chinese japanese scripts) and how much time consuming when they were only learning the language for entertainment purposes basically am reviewing my japanese but this time no kanji included japanese when spoken is much easier to understand and recognise the Chinese scripts really ruined it for everyone to be honest I really admire the fact that Korean got rid of the Chinese scripts (it was called han-ja in Korea back then) it was a great move it literally transformed the language to an easier fun language to learn

@ChanyeolsHaneul

11 ай бұрын

@@tayebizem3749 yeah, I love how easy is hangul compared to other Asian scripts. I too, tried to learn Japanese when I was a teenager 😅 Because I used to work in a touristic island it came on handy the few sentences I knew. Funny enough Japanese people said I sound like an anime girl 😄 I think I only learnt the kanji for the week days and "love" Korean and Japanese, for what I understand, have very similar grammar, so is easier to learn Korean and then move to Japanese and then Chinese if your goals to learn those 3 languages.

It is said: You can express yourself better in English than any other language! Maybe because of all the imported words from other languages? Not only do you find good music and movies in English, also, literature is very rich too. Hard to see English being replaced as the international language, can imagine more adoption of foreign words though, maybe even displacing some English ones.

Even in Switzerland, known for its multilingualism, it's sadly becoming common for Swiss people of different languages to speak English to each other.

@adamclark1972uk

6 ай бұрын

Makes sense. It's a level playing field that way.

@watching7650

Ай бұрын

@@adamclark1972uk Well, no. It doesn't make sense because three of the national languages are in continuous use throughout the country and a good working knowledge of at least a second national is (theoretically even now) compulsory. It's a sad reminder of how the top-level Swiss education of only one generation ago, where it was almost impossible to end up without a decent command of at least a second national language, has sunk to the ludicrous level of the country's neighbors.

@belle_pomme

4 күн бұрын

​@@watching7650that doesn't mean the education is bad. It just shows that English is dominant, and if that helps them to communicate i don't see anything wrong

@Digital111

4 күн бұрын

It's not sad. It's a way to keep things neutral. That way neither, French, Italian, German or Romansh are given priority over each other. While at the same time learning the global language.

@watching7650

4 күн бұрын

@@belle_pommeYour answer shows the jaw-dropping depth of decadence of modern US-imperial thought. People used to be nearly fluent in one or more other national language already by end of primary school or earlier, thanks also to the often very interconnected and intermarried family relationships. As for schooling, one only has to look at curricula and schoolbooks to realize how "bad", as you say, education has become in the last 30 years: almost at the level now of the neighboring countries! Mastering the national tongues never stopped anyone from also learning the imperial language... it used to just be a plus, while it now marks ignorance.

No language steals words from other languages like English does. It’s adaptability is off the charts. Which will enable it to survive.

@adrianblake8876

17 күн бұрын

This isn't true. All languages steal words from other languages. It's just that English came into contact with all of those languages that it took them. Many languages are stealing those English words. Besides, the only reason English steals so much, is that it doesn't have a language academy, and the purism didn't really take off...

I learned English when I was fourteen and now it has replaced my mother tongue since the only language I have been speaking for the past forty years has been English. That does not mean, of course, that I do not encounter difficulties in expressing myself sometimes in English, particularly in writing as I am a writer.

English is simply elite

Yes, french was contesting with english for a while during the last few centuries, at least in higher culture circles. My mother was born in 1950s Brazil, and she learned french, not english, as a second language in school. And you couldn't choose english either. It was just french. It was one of the languages of choice for academic and international relations as well.

@SenhorKoringa

Ай бұрын

e brasileiro e francês são similares, inglês é germânico

@davidsenra2495

Ай бұрын

@@SenhorKoringa Bem, eu não sei se chamaria as línguas de "similares". Eu aprendi francês mas tive muito mais dificuldade do que pra aprender espanhol e italiano (ou mesmo inglês - mas inglês não conta, nós nascemos imersos na língua). Sim, francês é uma língua latina, mas é uma língua latina com influência germânica (e celta) bem pesada.

@SenhorKoringa

Ай бұрын

@@davidsenra2495 em conversa nunca entendi francês mas em texto é facil. mas idiomas têm mais em comum em comparação com inglês ou russo, sabe?

One thing that has accelerated English is that it's the easiest language to type. From type writers to personal computers, and even cell phones to a degree, that has given it an enormous advantage as the language of business and the Internet.

@adamclark1972uk

6 ай бұрын

Good point. No accents or diacritics.

@dirkbimini5963

Ай бұрын

But English spelling is not easy to learn.

As an American who has worked in various European countries I'm lucky that most people speak English. When asked (usually by a sarcastic Frenchman) how many languages I speak I am forced to admit I speak only the one, but refrain from pointing out that English has become the Lingua Franca because the British developed values that promote prosperity, invention, organization and success, and thus have deeded to their descendants wealth, power and world influence. Living in the cosmopolitan city of Los Angeles I frequently encounter people speaking fluent English one second and the next answer their phone in Hebrew, Farsi, Spanish, Armenian or whatever, a feat which I envy. I'm not too lazy to learn another language, I'm just not economically motivated because everyone speaks English.

@jeromehorwitz2460

5 ай бұрын

@@joel-981 Anglo-American civilization no longer engages in slavery or genocide, but the values of personal responsibility, dilligence, invention, democracy and human rights prevail. Compare English speaking nations with others for a stark contrast in quality of life.

@jeromehorwitz2460

5 ай бұрын

@@joel-981 All the former British colonies you mention are politically unstable, beset with conflict, poverty, violence, injustice, disparities in wealth, and lacking in democracy and other institutional safeguards of human rights-- except South Africa, which is the most English of them all

I lived in a small town in Panama with a diverse immigrant/expat community and it was not unusual to see a group of different nationalities eatng at the same table, all speaking English.

6:05 Quote of the day: "Lingua franca is always connected to power."

English only only became 'cool' and 'hip' for me after I was pretty muched forced to learn it at 8 years old (got plopped off in a canadian school in Shenzhen). It's only later tat I realized not only how cool and hip, but most importantly how useful, this second language was. And frankly, I say second, but I use english more often than french, have a better level of mastery in it, almost exclusively read books and consume content in english, and prefer speaking english to french, by a long shot. French is still cool though, also, really useful to have this bilingual foundation for my future language learning. Looking to master german next. Wish me luck.

@cariopuppetmaster

11 ай бұрын

No there is no reason for so many people to speak english

@tandemcharge5114

11 ай бұрын

​@@cariopuppetmasterMf really out here trying to cope

@cariopuppetmaster

11 ай бұрын

@tandemcharge5114 yes the swedes and dutch are really coping hard. No reason for them to speak so much english

@tandemcharge5114

11 ай бұрын

@@cariopuppetmaster "No reason" >Doesn't even know why they shouldn't >Utter cope

@cariopuppetmaster

11 ай бұрын

@@tandemcharge5114 it's pretty obvious the country is called Sweden. No need for English

Visiting Rome, Tuscany, Venice, I was BLOWN AWAY how well SOOO many people spoke English!!!! I heard some non-native speakers (in the US) say that it's not that hard to learn. I find that REALLLY hard to believe (I have such a hard time - and failing - to learn Spanish - I am dyslexic so that may be the problem. Fun Note: I just learned that wheelbarrow in NOT spelled wheelBARREL - as I have been seeing it for over 65 years!!!)

@danielantony1882

11 ай бұрын

I þink being dyslexic is part of it but anoðer big part is ðat most Americans are conditioned to þink ðat English is ðe best and you have no reason to learn anyþing else, so it's natural to not strive for a second language. But ðen again, people also just don't want to boðer in general.

@dl2839

11 ай бұрын

Stop replacing "th" with that weird backwards 6 just to make a point.

@SenhorKoringa

Ай бұрын

@@dl2839 þe þorn looks cooler

One small correction that I want to make is that Im quite sure only Scandinavian reagion (more western and southern parts) speak germanic languages. The more northern regions are too but there is also finno-ugric languages most notably Sami. So if we talk about Nordics it would be Germanic and Finno-Ugric languages. In the end im not sure if Iceland is considered part of the Scandinavia or just Nordic so youre still correct. 8:43

English might stick for a really really long time as it's used for coding and other big contexts, unless it becomes the new Latin for digital sciences

i remember watching a black and white video from the early 60's that took place in australia. pedestrians were being asked what language they thought would be the most important or useful language in the coming future and almost all answered with russian.

@SenhorKoringa

Ай бұрын

they didn’t predict the collapse of the soviet union

Many thanks for so many great quality videos within such a brief distance between each other!

When learning English in school there was so much learning of culture in England, a little bit concerning the US and maybe one lesson or two on stuff like Australian English. Now my personal perception today is that using English in an English speaking country is the exception.

Very good analysis. Indogermanic languages in general were probably able to spread so rapidly and widely not only because of the willingness of their speakers to travel or their power, but also because of the extreme adaptability of its linguistic structure. It's pretty good at adapting to new environments and making up new words.

@danielantony1882

11 ай бұрын

I'd say Chinese is even better at making up new words cuz it's compact.

@Overcrook65

11 ай бұрын

​@@danielantony1882 Good point but maybe the compactness is even the problem. Shorthand is also compact, but that doesn't make it easier to learn or flexibly applicable to other languages.

Another mind blowing video👍

Thank you very much for new video ! 😊

I was in the U.S. military in Japan (late 1960's). Whenever a buddy and I drove somewhere around the country we would always run into students, some quite young, that would practice with English native speakers... always fun!

You are a living treasure! So happy to discover you! Grazie!

Great explanation.

3:01 I could be wrong but I believe Von Bismarck knew English would become the Lingua Franca back in the 1880s, he’s the same guy who also predicted a grand European war (World War One)

Great video!

English is grammatically easy: Nouns with no case inflection, no case endings (except for the posessive case), no agreements of adjectives to gemder and number and easy verb conjugations, among other reasons.

@bruce1998168

5 ай бұрын

But I think English grammar is difficult

A fantastic production, thank you !

To this day, American English absorb s so many words from other languages I live in Omaha Nebraska right in the middle of the USA. In my city the schools have children who speak 110 different languages. Words creep into the playground vocabulary as well as the restaurants serving their native foods.

Thanks very much

When I was in Spain I had a few drinks with a Czech who taught English. His English was excellent, but heavily accented. He related how most of his younger students were coming to class with better phonology, and often, equal command of English already to his. As one living in America, I'm sure you are familiar with Spanglish, or the mixture of Spanish and English that is widely spoken in Florida, especially by second generation Americans from Latino households, or mixed cultural households, such as mine. I was trying to explain Spanglish to him and he was quite interested in the grammatical structure of Spanglish. But I had to explain to him that Spanglish is not a language and is not taught in schools, but is simply a language where we mix English and Spanish haphazardly as the situation calls for. I can see an amalgamation of Spanish and English, maybe or maybe not called Spanglish as eventually supplanting English as the global lingua franca.

@CrispyCircuits

11 ай бұрын

In Texas, the same occurs, however it is Mexican Spanish mixed with English. Actually, not all that many people are fluent in this pseudo-language in Texas. It requires excellent fluency in both tongues. However, whenever I find someone capable, it is a true joy to rattle off so much PRECISE language. Some words are far superior for a given thought in either Spanish or English. Being able to grab the best word or phrase is superb.

@MeganMay62442

11 ай бұрын

Maybe in the southern states but I doubt it will expand farther. No one speaks Spanish here in Canada (except immigrants but they only speak it with their family, same with all immigrants and their native tongue). In public everything is English except for Quebec, which is French.

@xaverlustig3581

11 ай бұрын

Apparently they speak an English-Spanish amalgam called "Llanito" in Gibraltar, but it probably is quite different.

@tayebizem3749

11 ай бұрын

Spanish is the coming lengua franca

@atlas567

11 ай бұрын

PORTUNHOL= PORTUGUÊS+ ESPANHOL

The Oxford Dictionary says: it’s quite probable that English has more words than most comparable world languages. The reason is historical. English was originally a Germanic language, related to Dutch and German. English shares much of its grammar and basic vocabulary with those languages. After the Norman Conquest in 1066 English was hugely influenced by Norman French, which became the language of the ruling class for a considerable period, and by Latin, which was the language of scholarship and of the Church. Very large numbers of French and Latin words entered the language. This melding of languages means English has a much larger vocabulary than either the Germanic languages or the members of the Romance language family according to Oxford. English builds its vocabulary through a willingness to accept foreign words. And because English became an international language, it has absorbed vocabulary from a large number of other sources.

English is the language of Europe (and the world for that matter, with Spanish as a close second) because it is an amalgamation of several language families. Britain in general is a really interesting subject due to the various influences from north and south. I think of cultures the same way i think about breeding animals: inbred lines will always be more fragile and defective than those which take in new DNA

I’m glad to see your research is like it always is, spot on. I just want to add to the discussion here. There are 4 big differences between Romans spreading their language and the British Empire spreading theirs. First up is quite obvious, Travel. We were able to send information further and relatively faster communicating at large. Sharing information on such a grand scale was now also done with the peasant class. And where we could send letters, troops could also go. This leads into the second reason. Diversity. Because the of the ability to traverse great distances by ship the British were able to spread their influence over a the world meeting new people. When these each Empire started to fade, those they occupied had learned their language however Latin was strictly around Europe and the Mediterranean. While the Romans and British technically ruled 1 empire each, Rome eventually became around 40 or 50 separate countries with an estimated 70-78 million the British empire ruled around 56 different countries with about 460 million people each at their height of power. Then there was, Fame. There were several different types of fame one being how a small pour colony with the aid of a bankrupt nation was able to win its freedom from a tyrannical world dominating government. “Though compared to now… I’m not sure they were as tyrannical.” America quickly became a global power through war and innovation. When WW1 The the use of Technology. Thomas Edison recognized how useful moving pictures could be. While the British saw how useful video could be for the military Edison saw how everyone could enjoy film. And Hollywood became a film industry in 1915. Then 12 years later sound was added and this new invention could be sold world wide. Because the British Empire spoke English and even now have sovereignty over 56 countries American films could be sold around the world to those that spoke English. But the magic of film didn’t stop others from wanting to enjoy it so even none speaking English countries wanted to join. Those movies built community in a whole new way. Because the this rich history of the British spreading their power taken over by the innovation, and magic of story telling the English language has firmly planted itself in half the worlds countries. In all honesty, I don’t see any other language taken that spot because unlike Rome, there is no where left to spread… unless, aliens.

English is a Lingua Franca in spite of its complexity regarding to its pronunciation. It's not a phonetic language, since there is an inconsistency between the way it's writen and the way it's spoken. One single letter could represent various sounds, meanwhile one sound could be represented by several letters. That's maybe the great obstacle to learn it easily.

An awful lot of european countries dub movies, even english language ones, but not the Nordic countries from which I hail. That helps a LOT, also being a SciFi buff since childhood I quickly ran out of translated books and started reading them, exclusively, in english.

English will probably remain lingua franca but it will morph and it's currently morphin it will keep adding terms and words from different languages depending on the level of influence other languages get. Spanglish, Konglish, and even languages like Filipino are proof of that. But since it's so easy to learn and it's the native language of the internet. I don't see it fading away. I do think Spanish will influenced English the most in certain areas. Heck even in Japan and Korean they have a lot of borrow words from English. We could end up with localized english influenced languages and a global neo english standard.

@jmgonzales7701

10 ай бұрын

no langauge will ever replace english, it will only become more powerful and more widespread as the time goes by.

@SenhorKoringa

Ай бұрын

@@jmgonzales7701 people said the same thing about french

@jmgonzales7701

Ай бұрын

@@SenhorKoringa Yes however no language like english has become more widespread, The British Empire's extensive reach spread English across continents. Countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, India, and numerous African nations have English as an official or widely spoken language. Many international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO, and the International Monetary Fund, use English as one of their official languages, reinforcing its global status. The United States, one of the largest economies in the world, conducts its international business and diplomacy in English. The global influence of American corporations, media, and technology firms bolsters the language's prevalence. English is the primary language of global trade and finance. Major financial markets and institutions, such as those in London and New York, operate in English. The dominance of Hollywood movies, English-language music, and television shows has a significant impact on global culture. People worldwide consume English-language media, which promotes the language's use. : A significant proportion of internet content is in English, and many of the world's leading tech companies are based in English-speaking countries, further embedding the language in digital communication. English is widely taught as a second language in schools around the world. Many countries prioritize English in their educational curricula, ensuring that future generations will continue to learn and use the language. English is the primary language of scientific research and higher education. Leading academic journals and conferences operate in English, making it essential for scholars to use the language. Compared to some other languages, English has relatively straightforward grammar rules, which can make it easier for non-native speakers to learn. There are abundant resources available for learning English, from online courses to language apps to in-person classes, making it accessible to people worldwide. English has reached a critical mass where it is widely known and used. The more people who speak English, the more valuable it becomes as a global lingua franca, reinforcing its dominance. the global system is already heavily invested in English. Changing the lingua franca would require massive shifts in education, business practices, and international relations, which is unlikely to happen without significant impetus. TLDR: While other languages like Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and French are widely spoken, none have yet approached the global ubiquity and utility of English. While it's possible that geopolitical shifts or technological advances could eventually challenge the dominance of English, its deeply entrenched position in global communication, business, education, and culture makes it unlikely to be replaced as the world's lingua franca. English is here to stay.

@SenhorKoringa

Ай бұрын

@@jmgonzales7701 damn whole essay on my 7 words Anyway like i said, most of these aspects also applied to french, and they didn’t change over, french just stopped being used in new stuff. The british empire is becoming increasingly irrelevant and the USA is the main english hub. When America falls like any other empire something new will take its place. You could be right, english is def not going away any time soon, but the question is not if, but when.

@jmgonzales7701

Ай бұрын

@@SenhorKoringa i dont think it ever will. Like what would even replace it? Mandarin? Mandarin is too damn hard and very complicated. It might have some relevance in areas of the world like east asia. But english is just too dominant i dont see anyone changing it especially english is being localized in alot of countries. But u what language do u think stands a chance

This guy is fantastic.

I don’t understand why some foreigners say that English is an easy language to learn. Must be because they have some basic knowledge that can get them by. It is not an accident that literature is the main art of English speaking peoples. It has such a large vocabulary and exquisite nuances of meaning. Probably due to its basis in German then Latin and French influences let alone all the other borrowings. I bet those who say English is easy do not read its’ literature.

I think that English caught history at just the right time. It became the lengua franca just before the Communication Revolution took hold, and because of that, I would say that it is now the International Language forever more. It may morph, in the same way that Latin did into so many other languages, but English is it. I would predict 2 out of 3 people in 2100 can speak English at an intermediate level and by 2200 7/8. This could be slowed down by a yet-seen translation technology, but it would have to work at the speed of thought.

As a Dutch... I am offended! 😂 A lot of luck with the English language as a world language is because of America. But, you didn't mention that the voting for the American language back in the day. That Dutch almost win too... What was a neck a neck race in some states, and in some states even Dutch won. As a Dutch...give us that moment of fame... Next to the fact that Dutch was a well known language too in our Golden Ages (political incorrect now a day by Dutch Woke people 😂).

@Shijaru64

11 ай бұрын

You have woke morons in the Netherlands? My condolences.

One day we will all speak Terran (modern English) once English has obsorbed enough words from surviving languages and given them meaning to it's needs. Speakers of Terran will see modern English as todays English speakers see old English.The few big languages may still float around but i think these will also end up assimilated over time. By the time this happens i think the sound of most words will of changed beyond recognition.

English is the hardy perennial weed of languages I think mainly because of the guy's own theory. It's a hybrid Germanic/Romance language so can cross easily with local tongues spoken in Romance/Germanic countries and former colonies. Also in written form only 26 characters to learn with NO accents whatsoever, no genders. Also the English aren't particularly precious about linguistic purity. It's born out of function and the need to unite tribal people into one United Kingdom/Empire. It's very DNA is about fusion of culture and linguistic dominance/conformity. Once the root gets in the local soil, difficult to shift and will ultimately dominate. It's an elegant weed and perfectly adapted to spread.

Glad you didn't mention English spelling as a selling point ☺ As to what might replace English - that might be difficult since technology would seem to perpetuate its historical roots - ie English. I think a lingua franca is helped along when the culture(s) it comes from is appealing.

I play on some German and Austrian servers in a game called Hell Let Loose and the server rules are in English.

As a native English speaker, I like the idea of learning a second language; I just haven't found an overwhelming reason to choose one language over another as much as there is for the rest of the world to learn English.

I think English will be around as a lingua franca for a while for many of the reasons that you mentioned. I doubt it would ever be supplanted by a non-european language - at least for a very long time, since something like Mandarin just isn't accessible to most people in the west as English or say Spanish/French or German is. Spanish is the only other language I can see gaining on English, it's already the default language after English for a lot of people and the language that I myself as a native English speaker learned for reasons other than it being taught in schools. I'm also learning Latin so it's nice to have a language with some similiarities, at least in relation to the verbs - though English has so much latin derived vocabularly that it really does help a lot.

I point the finger a lot more on the exposure than at the genetics. Consider how Russian is still the Lingua Franca among the ex Soviet countries despite the fact that it's a difficult language and has no genetic relation with many of those countries

@sandrios

11 ай бұрын

Russian as Lingua Franca (at least in the Baltic) is dying and only older (those who lived at the time of ussr) can/prefer to use Russian. Only young people who speak Russian are Russians themselves or lived in Russian heavy neighborhoods. Whenever I went to another Baltic state I always used English, and so did everyone else I know, even my dad did the last time we went to Lithuania and he's 52

@simonecordeddu4783

11 ай бұрын

@@sandrios Yes and that reflects how the Baltic states are now more exposed to the West while others (I'm thinking mainly about central Asia) haven't made that shift

@stefanodadamo6809

11 ай бұрын

Russian isn't that difficult compared to English. It is significantly less difficult than German.

@danielantony1882

11 ай бұрын

@@stefanodadamo6809 Russian has way more conjugations, has grammatical gender, and has grammatical formality ðat English lacks.

@ellenripley4837

11 ай бұрын

​@@danielantony1882 According to my former English teacher who studied Russian philology in the former Soviet Union, for her, as a Spanish speaker, Russian was easier to learn than English.

There is also the flexibility innate to English - Britons - Celtic, then Romans, then Saxons, then Vikings/Scandinavian, then Normands/French, all these successive invasions made English unparalleled flexible, so that each wave of changes would gradually molded and fashion it into a super-pidgin, super-easy to learn by anybody; and then the British themselves became the worldwide invader/conqueror, bringing this cultural tool of flexibility to anyone.

I did not choose to learn English, but I choose to keep it and improve. But as a Teenager or young adult I did not like English. It changed when I learned more about its history. But if I'd travel through western Europe I would rather start in the countries language and ask if they speak English or German. I met french people who did choose german and even in Spain some did choose to speak german with me. Not so much in Italy exept for Trentino and Alto Adige. But Italian is my best foreign language after English.

Its an interesting situation as it has been the dominant language of two consecutive hegemons at a time when the world was shrinking. There was a time when an international language was only really needed for certain people, but now every individual can talk to any other. I wonder if there is a big, or growing difference between day-to-day English and Technical English. There are a lot of people who get lost in the Greco-Latin compounds, and others who navigate sufficently to infer meaning or generate novel terms.

A few decades ago, people would argue that Japanese would become the lingua franca. Others argued for Arabic (perhaps because of OPEC). Now some suggest Chinese. I'd hope that a future lingua franca has more phonetic spelling. Isn't English the only language where spelling is a competitive sport?

@valerietaylor9615

10 ай бұрын

French spelling is also a mess. Although French is a relatively easy language to learn, once you accept the fact that nothing is pronounced the way it’s spelled and vice versa.

The Norman invasion had little impact on the English language. French was restricted to the ruling elite who were virtually wiped out during the plague. These were gradually replaced by native English speakers. At Crecy for instance the Norman officers had great difficulty communicating with the English rank and file.

English speaking countries are literally spread across the world: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom etc. It’s also the de facto language of the world’s greatest country: the United Stages.

Spanish: I'm coming for you, English, tarde o temprano.

imo english is gonna stay with us for a longer while, because it's the first time in history a language is spoken by the common people as the 2nd language, previously french (and I believe latin as well) were spoken mostly by elites

😊😊😊😊

Partly it is that English was preferable to Bengalis learning English rather than Hindi, or Igbos learning English rather than Hausa. Neither may have liked the Brits much, they liked their countrymen less.

@kanrakucheese

11 ай бұрын

"Neither may have liked the Brits much, they liked their countrymen less." Story of the British Empire.

Great video. Although English may seem like it replaces a lot of other languages, ironically German, French,and Latin live on as a part of a global Lingua Franca through English, nonetheless. Furthermore, from my perspective English is an analytic language for the most part with very little inflection, therefore does that not mean it's easier to learn? A final point, I'd prefer English as a native speaker to be quid pro quo, that is to say economic freedom ( a principle of a western or non western liberal democracy), and I hope for greater prosperity and increased standards of living for any people that use it.

As for his last question- I think English might be the last major language to come into the world- because of how fast its spreading even now. The question you'd have to ask is- if another language is to supplant English, which one will it be? It pretty much has to already exist, and there are only a few candidates.... Hindi? Mandarin? Arabic? Spanish? All of them are growing slower than English- with the network effects getting ever stronger for English. IMO the greatest opponent for English is automatic machine translation, but I don't feel that will fully replace learning a real language

Hi nice video! For the question English keeps its status as global lingua franca or it will be changed I think the answer is really depends on EU. On my opinion we aren't far from the point that EU must choose a lingua franca between the member states. Yes nowdays it's English but this isn't official. If they choose as a second language it will be thought in the schools obligatory. I think it could be English (most speakers) or German (most natives in EU) or maybe some romance or slavic which is the easiest to learn for the most of the people or evan some simplified version of English. Whatever language it will be, it has a huge impact in the world and a possible acolite for global lingua franca

There was alreadt an attempt to create a new Lingua Franca with Esperanto, but it didn't catch on. English is perfectly practical for the intended purposes. I can't think of any other language that is noticably becoming increasingly used around the world.

Thank God is the english🙏 It is so easy to learn, in my opinion.

@bruce1998168

5 ай бұрын

Hard

'The foundation of that groundwork' Noice 😆

English has so many different dialects all around the world even in the colonies like South Africa accents are different depending where you from

I wouldn't be shocked if Spanish became the new lingua franca is one or two centuries. Even now in the US, Spanish is becoming more and more important.

Speaking of the British Empire, the British pretty much established significant colonies on every continent, but other colonising powers like the Spanish, Portuguese, and French not so much. The French mostly got Africa, the Spanish mostly Latin America, and the Portuguese just Brazil and a few other countries. So no wonder English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world in almost every country today, even where its not official.

I guess the main reason why english got predominate is the versatility of the word 'fuck'.

I'd also venture a guess that in addition to disregard of strict grammar rules, American English also began to truncate and abbreviate words and phrases in a neverending quest to save time and effort when speaking, reading and writing. Fewer characters means cheaper printing and advertising that is easier to remember. Hell, they don't even have to teach kids cursive any more.

Definitely American and British Cultural Influences. Britain was the first superpower with the largest empire. the USA dethroned them.

In the future of the Three Body Problem, the Lingua Franca is a mixture of Mandarin and English. In the short term, I'd see more Spanish vocabulary. Given my assessment, I would expect that China becomes an insular backwater, but I would guess that Hindu vocabulary could expand.

I used to think Chinese would be the next lingua franca, but I'm less sure about that now. There isn't much of a push by the CCP to export their culture (and, therefore, their language) outside of China. For that reason, as far as Asian languages go, it seems more likely that people would want to learn Japanese or Korean as a second language before learning Chinese. I think Spanish has a good chance of becoming a lingua franca. Aside from England, Spain had the largest overseas empire (I believe), so there are quite a few countries that already speak the language. And, just as transitioning from French to English was helped due to the large amount of French influence on the English language, Spanish and English are similar in quite a few ways. Perhaps it's just my American bias here. Perhaps it's the fact that I used to be conversant in Spanish a decade ago when I lived in Argentina for a spell. Whatever the case, though, I, personally have found Spanish to be quite intuitive as a native English speaker.

I have to agree that English is definitely easier to learn due to its lack of gender for nouns and such and its flexibility in terms of syntax but there is one area where English is a minefield - spelling. The problem is that English sucks in words from other languages but rarely modifies their spelling, leaving them virtually unchanged from their origin language. Spelling in English is probably only mastered by those who intuitively recognize words as coming from a group of similar words from the same linguistic source. They may not be able to say the word is of Greek origin but they do recognize it as similarly to other words of Greek origin and thus spell the world using the spelling rules that apply to that language. I say this as a person who is a particularly good speller (in elementary school I never once lost a spelling bee, even in those for the entire school district). In trying to figure out why that was I came up with this explanation. It's the only one that makes sense. As to whether English will always be the lingua franca I can only say that there is no ready replacement in sight. Mandarin will never become a lingua franca simply because it is much too difficult for the average person around the world to speak it and learning to read and write it is much too difficult for the average person not living in China. The onlly way Mandarin could become a lingua franca would be for it to abandon the current ideographic writing system and replace it with a sound-based writing using probably the Latin alphabet.

I heard some audio of mainland Chinese Air Traffic Control talking to North Korean pilots. It was all in English.

Dude! We're the same age! 😊

The English writing system is kind of a mess, but it's kinda cool how you can see the history of many words through the spelling. People always want a more phonetic spelling system, but that's harder than it sounds because so many accents exist. If you go back far enough, we used to pronounce words the way they were written (for example, "knee" and "thumb" didn't have silent letters). It's inevitable that even if we went with a more phonetic writing system, eventually that would go out of date as the language inevitably changes

As an English native speaker to an Italian: did you ever listen to Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusol? If so, did it, or, does it, sound like English to you? (P.S. i like the song, probably because the drums)

@donathandorko

11 ай бұрын

P.S. there is a prominent video on youtube of this song in which the performer is a school teacher, presumably teaching his (all female) class, the English language, which I find quite telling of the youth of the Western non-English speakers of the time who wanted to get ahead in the world. That was the early 70s and the only word distinguishable for English speakers is 'alright'. This is a word that literally is very neutral or average in English, but like the Asian languages, can change depending on the tone used. Also, the recorded version (also on YT) is quite interesting to me, because the first 2 seconds of the intro could easily be either an Englishman or an American talking. It is quite genius really.

@FlagAnthem

11 ай бұрын

Oh boy... Let's say he jusy fell into a The Room level of disgrace

I just got my us sitizen and i want to speak English for ever, Siiii

One counterpoint to the idea of being mediator between Romantic and Germanic languages… It makes me wonder how do you see Slavic branch in the mix. Yes, one could argue with being behind the iron wall, but still.

I don't see English sticking around as the lingua franca forever, but neither do I see an extant language supplanting it. With our era's expanded rapid methods of communication, relative to any known preceding era, between regions of the world (solar system honestly) I believe that the supplanting lingua franca will be an amalgam of basically every major language existing currently. Partially, despite the best efforts of stick in the mud linguistic purists, because people tend to "borrow" words that help them communicate easier or just plain sound "cool".

@davidp.7620

11 ай бұрын

Spanish and Arabic seem the only reasonable candidates, but they're still far away

@atlas567

11 ай бұрын

​@@davidp.7620LÍNGUA FRANCA IS A PORTUGUESE EXPRESSION

@zaqwsx23

11 ай бұрын

@@atlas567 Actually it's an Italian expression. The real lingua franca mediterranea was based on Italian (influenced by Venetian and Genoese) + several words from Spanish, Catalan, Greek, Arabic...

@valerietaylor9615

10 ай бұрын

And I believe, Provençal.

I wouldn't say that the Roman conquest of Britain had any influence on English since back then there weren't any Anglo-Saxon speaking people living there. In fact there is some early Latin influence on Proto-Germanic and Proto-West-Germanic so e.g. words like: street/(German) Straße, camp/ Kampf and shrive/schreiben ultimetely come from Latin: campus, strāta and scrībō respectively and you can see that in German they went through some characteristic sound shifts.

@FlagAnthem

11 ай бұрын

It was the Normans who made English the mess we know

@atlas567

11 ай бұрын

59% da gramática do Inglês é LATIM

I think the next language to take English place either Spanish or mandarin chinese Spanish with more than 500M native speakers so the second most spoken language in the world by native speakers it's also growing in use in the US and the most studied language as a second language in both major Anglo based countries the usa n the uk Spanish is phonetic language so easy to read and to get familiar with the sounds also it has a lot in common with English and specially with other romance languages like it's a win win knowing Spanish means that you can read and understand a good pourcentage of most romance languages I think Chinese is getting a strong status but comparing it to Spanish.. Spanish is spreading and growing so fast

@jayc1139

11 ай бұрын

As Metatron mentioned, as most other linguists mention...it's not just 'number of speakers', but also the prowess of their language because of the strength of the country where the language is from. Spanish speaking countries on average have poorer economies and less political power globally. A lot of the tech we use was also invented in an English speaking country with terminology in English. Also...it's harder than English, you can use the most broken English ever and still be understood. Spanish requires a LOT of grammatical agreements in order to make sense and be understood, especially with grammatical gender, inflection, and conjugation.

@tayebizem3749

11 ай бұрын

@@jayc1139 for me personally when I first studying Spanish even broken language worked for me well if one of the most Spanish speaking countries are getting better economy and influence over the world we can witness the Spanish language as a dominant language but it's not happening by tomorrow or next week we'll need time to see that happening

@ellenripley4837

11 ай бұрын

​@@jayc1139 Economic influence is not the only factor. Culturally and Population size matters. Spanish speaking media is more influential in the western world than China. Specially now that Spanish speaking music is all over the place and a lot of spanish speaking shows have become popular like Casa de Papel. Heck, even dramas lile Velvet were popular in the US. Chinese dramas are not as popular as Kdramas amd mandopop os just a copy of kpop. Had China no closed itself from the rest of the world culturally then I would have a different opinion.

@Mortablunt

10 ай бұрын

Spanish has a good shot because it’s honestly pretty easy. Uses the Latin script, isn’t overly complicated, and doesn’t require tone. And culturally speaking, Spanish countries are dynamic and welcoming, which helps keep people engaged with wanting to learn.

I would say Mandarin would likely be the new lingua franca but it's such a beast for non native speakers to learn...so really I'd have to say because of globalization English is here to stay, unless a world war whether conventional or economic displaces America and it's influence on the language stage.