科米文翻譯
As English continues to spread, the linguists say, it is fragmenting, as Latin did, into a family of dialects - and perhaps eventually fully fledged languages - known as Englishes.
But unlike Latin and other former common languages, most scholars say English seems to be too widespread and too deeply entrenched to die out. Instead, it is likely to survive in some simplified international form - sometimes called Globish or World Standard Spoken English - side by side with its offspring.
The largest English-speaking nation in the world, the United States 翻譯公司 has only about 20 percent of the world’s English speakers. In Asia alone, an estimated 350 million people speak English, about the same as the combined English-speaking populations of Britain, the United States and Canada.
By the most common estimates 翻譯公司 400 million people speak English as a first language, another 300 million to 500 million as a fluent second language, and perhaps 750 million as a foreign language.
Two years ago for the first time, a nonnative English speaker, Jun Liu of China, was elected president of the global education association Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, known as Tesol.
Monday 翻譯公司 April 9, 2007SINGAPORE: Riding the crest of globalization and technology, English dominates the world as no language ever has 翻譯公司 and some linguists are now saying it may never be dethroned as the king of languages.
A recent study found that the Queen’s English - the language as spoken by the queen of England - has evolved over the past 50 years, becoming slightly less plummy and slightly more proletarian. But the future evolution of the language 翻譯公司 scholars say, is more likely to belong to the broken-English speakers of far-off lands.
"If you stay in the mind-set of 15th-century Europe, the future of Latin is extremely bright," said Nicholas Ostler, the author of a language history called "Empires of the Word" who is writing a history of Latin. "If you stay in the mind-set of the 20th-century world 翻譯公司 the future of English is extremely bright."
"English is dominant in a way that no language has ever been before 翻譯公司" he said. "It is vastly unclear to me what actual mechanism could uproot English given conditions as they are."
"This is the first time we actually have a language spoken genuinely globally by every country in the world," he said. "There are no precedents to help us see what will happen."
"You have too many words in English," said Jean-Paul Nerrière 翻譯公司 a retired vice president of IBM USA, who is French. He has proposed his own version of Globish that would have just 15,000 simple words for use by nonnative speakers.
Even if English were somehow to collapse as the language of its birthplace 翻譯公司 England, Crystal said, it would continue its worldwide dominance unperturbed.
But in the end, Ostler said 翻譯公司 all of this could become moot. The advance of technology that helped push English into its commanding position could pull it down again.
By Seth Mydans
As a simplified form of global English emerges, the diverging forms spoken in Britain and America could become no more than local dialects - two more Englishes alongside the Singlish spoken in Singapore or the Taglish spoken in the Philippines. A native speaker of English might need to become bilingual in his own language to converse with other speakers of global English.
Others see pitfalls, but the factors they cite only underscore the grip English has on the world: cataclysms like nuclear war or climate change or the eventual perfection of a translation machine that would make a common language unnecessary.
It has consolidated its dominance as the language of the Internet, where 80 percent of the world’s electronically stored information is in English 翻譯公司 according to David Graddol, a linguist and researcher.
English and globalization have spread hand in hand through the world, Warschauer said. "Having a global language has assisted globalization, and globalization has consolidated the global language," he said. That process started with the dominance of two successive English-speaking empires 翻譯公司 British and American, and continues today with the new virtual empire of the Internet.
As English continues to spread, the linguists say, it is fragmenting, as Latin did, into a family of dialects - and perhaps eventually fully fledged languages - known as Englishes.
But unlike Latin and other former common languages, most scholars say English seems to be too widespread and too deeply entrenched to die out. Instead, it is likely to survive in some simplified international form - sometimes called Globish or World Standard Spoken English - side by side with its offspring.
The largest English-speaking nation in the world, the United States 翻譯公司 has only about 20 percent of the world’s English speakers. In Asia alone, an estimated 350 million people speak English, about the same as the combined English-speaking populations of Britain, the United States and Canada.
By the most common estimates 翻譯公司 400 million people speak English as a first language, another 300 million to 500 million as a fluent second language, and perhaps 750 million as a foreign language.
Two years ago for the first time, a nonnative English speaker, Jun Liu of China, was elected president of the global education association Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, known as Tesol.
Monday 翻譯公司 April 9, 2007SINGAPORE: Riding the crest of globalization and technology, English dominates the world as no language ever has 翻譯公司 and some linguists are now saying it may never be dethroned as the king of languages.
A recent study found that the Queen’s English - the language as spoken by the queen of England - has evolved over the past 50 years, becoming slightly less plummy and slightly more proletarian. But the future evolution of the language 翻譯公司 scholars say, is more likely to belong to the broken-English speakers of far-off lands.
"If you stay in the mind-set of 15th-century Europe, the future of Latin is extremely bright," said Nicholas Ostler, the author of a language history called "Empires of the Word" who is writing a history of Latin. "If you stay in the mind-set of the 20th-century world 翻譯公司 the future of English is extremely bright."
"English is dominant in a way that no language has ever been before 翻譯公司" he said. "It is vastly unclear to me what actual mechanism could uproot English given conditions as they are."
"This is the first time we actually have a language spoken genuinely globally by every country in the world," he said. "There are no precedents to help us see what will happen."
"You have too many words in English," said Jean-Paul Nerrière 翻譯公司 a retired vice president of IBM USA, who is French. He has proposed his own version of Globish that would have just 15,000 simple words for use by nonnative speakers.
Even if English were somehow to collapse as the language of its birthplace 翻譯公司 England, Crystal said, it would continue its worldwide dominance unperturbed.
But in the end, Ostler said 翻譯公司 all of this could become moot. The advance of technology that helped push English into its commanding position could pull it down again.
By Seth Mydans
As a simplified form of global English emerges, the diverging forms spoken in Britain and America could become no more than local dialects - two more Englishes alongside the Singlish spoken in Singapore or the Taglish spoken in the Philippines. A native speaker of English might need to become bilingual in his own language to converse with other speakers of global English.
Others see pitfalls, but the factors they cite only underscore the grip English has on the world: cataclysms like nuclear war or climate change or the eventual perfection of a translation machine that would make a common language unnecessary.
It has consolidated its dominance as the language of the Internet, where 80 percent of the world’s electronically stored information is in English 翻譯公司 according to David Graddol, a linguist and researcher.
English and globalization have spread hand in hand through the world, Warschauer said. "Having a global language has assisted globalization, and globalization has consolidated the global language," he said. That process started with the dominance of two successive English-speaking empires 翻譯公司 British and American, and continues today with the new virtual empire of the Internet.
