Could Chinese Replace English as the Global Language of Communication (Post Corona Virus)?
Largely, English is the global lingua franca because of the superpower status of the United States. But the Covid 19 version of coronavirus could have a lot of unexpected consequences. One of those might be a change in the language that is used for international communication.
English is currently the global language of communic ation. It is the lingua franca that has been tacitly agreed to by the international community. All international treaties and documents are primarily in English though they are translations into other languages. All over the world, countries, communities and individuals invest perhaps billions of dollars per year to acquire proficiency in English. In short, English is the language that is the great unifier in the world. Without this common language, the world is a tower of babel where communication would be quite difficult if not totally impossible.
English is currently the global language of communic ation. It is the lingua franca that has been tacitly agreed to by the international community. All international treaties and documents are primarily in English though they are translations into other languages. All over the world, countries, communities and individuals invest perhaps billions of dollars per year to acquire proficiency in English. In short, English is the language that is the great unifier in the world. Without this common language, the world is a tower of babel where communication would be quite difficult if not totally impossible.
How did the world decide to make English the common language? Though originating in the United Kingdom - once the world's most powerful superpower - English probably was adopted as the world's language because of the dominant superpower status of the United States, where English is the official national language. It is inconceivable that the world's most powerful country, America, would have agreed to adopt another language as the language with which it would conduct business.
After Covid 19, the USA is still probably going to be the most powerful nation in the world. But the Covid 19 disaster definitely exposed a lot of weaknesses in the American systems: economic, public health, political and financial to name a few. It is likely that nations such as China will soon challenge the USA for more sharing of power in a more open and notorious way. If that happens, then the use of English as the world's lingua franca may not be such a foregone conclusion anymore. The world's lingua franca could reflect the world's economic and technological superpower. And there is a question mark about which nation or nations could really claim that label post Covid.
It is true that Chinese probably would not be the world's lingua franca if for no other reason because it would be impractical, difficult and overly challenging to teach the world a whole new alphabet. This is a job that will probably take another 50 years and trillions of dollars in investment across nations. But it is to say that individuals would probably be wise to, in addition to investing in English proficiency, to consider investing in the Chinese language as well. Perhaps governments too can prioritize Chinese in schools from a young age so that the next generation of Western populations are ready in the event there a lingua franca paradigm shift.
After Covid 19, the USA is still probably going to be the most powerful nation in the world. But the Covid 19 disaster definitely exposed a lot of weaknesses in the American systems: economic, public health, political and financial to name a few. It is likely that nations such as China will soon challenge the USA for more sharing of power in a more open and notorious way. If that happens, then the use of English as the world's lingua franca may not be such a foregone conclusion anymore. The world's lingua franca could reflect the world's economic and technological superpower. And there is a question mark about which nation or nations could really claim that label post Covid.
It is true that Chinese probably would not be the world's lingua franca if for no other reason because it would be impractical, difficult and overly challenging to teach the world a whole new alphabet. This is a job that will probably take another 50 years and trillions of dollars in investment across nations. But it is to say that individuals would probably be wise to, in addition to investing in English proficiency, to consider investing in the Chinese language as well. Perhaps governments too can prioritize Chinese in schools from a young age so that the next generation of Western populations are ready in the event there a lingua franca paradigm shift.
No comments:
Post a Comment