9 years ago
1
What the World Will Speak in 2115
English will still dominate a century from now, but it will no longer share the planet with thousands of other languages. Instead, expect fewer but simpler modes of oral communication on every continent. In 1880 a Bavarian priest created a language that he hoped the whole world could use. He mixed words from French, German and English and gave his creation the name Volapük, which didn’t do it any favors. Worse, Volapük was hard to use, sprinkled with odd sounds and case endings like Latin.
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I still think it's optimistic to suppose that English will remain the top language if English speaking nations decline. 150 years ago, most people thought French would be the international language. Now, it's not because English is top. I doubt Chinese will take over, but something else might depending on the way world economic growth goes.