9 years ago
2
Is French the language of the future?
The French are a proud bunch, especially when it comes to their mother tongue. So it must have been hard for them to take a backseat and watch English become the lingua franca of the 21st century. But revenge could be on the horizon: The language beloved by Parisian poets, Russian aristocrats and pretentious grad students is set to reclaim its title when it becomes the world's most commonly spoken language by the year 2050, according to a study by Natixis, an investment bank.
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If you want to fly a plane, you are required to speak English if you go outside of your country's airspace. If you are the pilot of a boat, you are required to speak English. If you want to program using any popular programming language, English is the default choice again.
The top 5 largest international companies on earth were founded by English speaking companies. 60% of the world's largest international companies were founded in English speaking countries.
Countries can be as insular as they would like to be- within their own borders. If they wish to communicate, fly, boat, make money or otherwise have meaningful communications with other countries on a large scale basis, then that language is English.
I think they overstate it, in many of the growing French speaking countries (predominantly African ones) there are multiple languages and it's a stretch to say that everyone in those countries does and will continue to speak French.