I read this article at the Times site last night and even though the author claims the spread of English is seismic, I can't help thinking he's written it from a native English speaker's point of view. English is spoken by 504 million people in 104 countries. French is spoken on 5 continents and in 52 countries , Spanish is spoken by 500 million people in 21 countries. 1000 million Chinese can't be wrong, nor 1000 million Indians. The conclusion I have drawn is that the rest of the world has worked out that to meet people half way and to engage with them, negotiate with them and be friends with them, you need to learn their language. Given we live in an economy and not a society , other people have worked out they need English to participate in the current global economy because of where the money is. If you read the earlier post of the richest men in the world, you can see where the money is. Other countries have made the effort to be BILINGUAL and particpate globally that way. As native English speakers, my question is, have we made the same effort and if not, why not? There's some fascinating information about languages at www.ethnologue.com.
The global spread of English is a seismic event in Man's history
Facts and figures about French
Why study Spanish?
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