|3| A New World Language? (Level 2)

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Why has English become such a dominant world language?
Well, it is not because it's better, clearer, or easier to learn than any of the other 5,000 languages. Any language develops and adapts* to the needs of its speakers. Languages are alive! New words and changes in grammar appear despite loud protests from language purists*. This is nothing new. One of the first major dictionaries was written in the 18th century in response to a more or less chaotic situation as more and more printed books and newspapers indicated great differences in the use of words and spelling. 

So there must be other reasons why English dominates international communication. Latin was the dominant language for academic* purposes* through the Middle Ages and well into modern times. Why? The Roman heritage*, the pope, and the church! French was still widely preferred among the Russian upper classes at the beginning of this century. Why? Because the Russian aristocracy* was influenced by France.

Power and influence
It is power and influence that, more than anything else, decide which languages become globally more important than others. Attempts have been made to create artificial* world languages. Esperanto is one of them. It has an active world wide association*, but it is not used as the official language of organizations like the UN. It surely never will be, either. Basic English (British, American, Scientific, International, Commercial* English) was introduced in 1930 as a way of overcoming the international language barrier. It consisted of a basic vocabulary of only 850 words. It was no success.

Through the course of history, any language might have become a dominant world language. If the Romans had been able to keep up, and maybe extend*, their empire* into our days, Latin might still have been a live and dominating language. Spanish came very close at one time. Back in the 16th century Spain and England were struggling for the mastery of the seas. If Sir Francis Drake had not managed to defeat the Spanish Armada in 1588, the Spaniards might have been alone in colonizing America. So the USA might well have been a Spanish-speaking country today. The Spaniards might also have extended their supremacy to Australia and New Zealand. Spanish might have been the world's lingua franca*.

The English colonized and ruled many parts of the world as from the 16th century. the British Empire was mighty. Today the (British) Commonwealth, which succeeded the Empire, is neither a political nor an economic superpower. The English-speaking USA is, though. So it is probably both politically correct and a fair prediction* to say that American English will more and more dominate the development of the English world language.

Neither English, nor any other language, could ever become the perfect world language as long as millions of people learn and grow up with another language first. You will never become as proficient* in a second or third language as in your fist. But who knows, maybe the third millennium will see the number of languages decrease from 5,000 to one.