Where do you see the world in 20 years? (13)

8 Name: Anonymous Linguist : 2007-11-09 14:59 ID:druz+/2y

>>7

Ah, I definitely don't think English will be entirely overtaken by Hindu or Chinese by 20 years. In fact, English as a second language won't really ever be completely 'overtaken'. It, of course, depends on where you live and what is most important to you. On the other hand, I do think that in 20 years, Japanese, Koreans and Mongols might have much more of an incentive to learn Chinese than English -- and Pakistanis and Afghans Hindu.

Given time, however, I find it natural that English will be 'replaced', in lack of a better word. Though, again, it won't ever truly be 'replaced': even in a hundred years, assuming the best case for Chinese and the worst case for English, western Europeans might still get a lot from knowing English.

tl;dr: Location, location, location.

As a side note, I'd personally find it really awesome if everyone learned Iláksh or Ithkuil or something. Of course that won't happen... :3

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