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December 10, 2004
The Empire Strikes back :)
Well we gave away our Empire but it appears that we have left behind the legacy of our Language!
BOOM IN ENGLISH - Sky news
Half the world will be speaking English within the next decade, says a new report.
Two billion people are expected to begin learning English and three billion will speak it, according to an estimate by the British Council.
Other languages such as French risk being marginalised as the world becomes more "linguistically globalised".
But anyone thinking that a career in teaching English will provide a job for life should note the boom will be over by 2050, says David Graddol, author of the report, The Future Of English.
Mr Graddol's conclusions are based on a computer model developed to estimate the demand for English language teaching around the world.
He looked at government education worldwide, student mobility figures and developments affecting the world population.
Mr Graddol said: "Many governments, especially in countries which have relatively recently gained independence, are introducing the teaching of English under a utilitarian banner.
"The native languages of countries such as Malaysia and Sri Lanka are often almost synonymous with their new-found independence and, as such, are closely protected.
"But English predominates in the business world and for such countries to be able to compete for work, including lucrative outsourcing contracts, English is being pushed heavily from the kindergarten on."
Mark...
Posted by Mark at December 10, 2004 9:17 AM
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