By GWYNNE
DYER
LONDON — The second president of the United States, John Adams,
predicted in 1780 that "English will be the most respectable language in
the world and the most universally read and spoken in the next century, if
not before the end of this one." It is destined "in the next and succeeding centuries to be more
generally the language of the world than Latin was in the last or French is
in the present age."
It was a bold prediction,
for at that time there were only about 13 million English-speakers in the
world, almost all of them living in Britain or on the eastern seaboard of
North America. They were barely 1 percent of the world's population, and
almost nobody except the Welsh and the Irish bothered to learn English as a
second language. So how is Adams' prediction doing now?
There have been few languages in world history that were spoken by more people as a second language than as a first; English has had that distinction for several decades already. Never before has any language had more people learning it in a given year than it has native speakers; English has probably now broken that record as well.
Most of those learners will never become fully fluent in English, but over the years some hundreds of millions
will, including the entire global elite.
And the amount of effort that is being invested in learning English is so
great that it virtually guarantees that this reality will persist for
generations to come.
No other language is threatened by this predominance of English. Italians are not going to stop speaking
Italian to one another, even if they have attended the Politecnico di Milano,
and no force on Earth could stop the Chinese or the Arabs from speaking their
own language among themselves. But they will all speak English to foreigners.
|
VOCABULARY
1.
destined
– seeming certain to happen at some time in the future
2.
prediction
– a statement about what you think is going to happen
3.
distinction
– a clear difference or separation between two similar things
4.
fluent – able
to speak a language very well
5.
elite – a group of people who have a lot of power
and influence because they have money, knowledge, or special skills
6.
predominance
– someone or something that has
predominance has the most power or importance in a particular group or area
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1.
Do you think Adam’s prediction is happening now?
2.
Why is learning English important to you? to
your country?
3.
As a second language, what do you think are the
important skills to learn about the language?
4.
Share your English study habits.
5.
What is the importance of having an
international language?
6.
If it is not English, what should be considered
as the international language?
