Do you believe English will lose its position as an international language in the

future?

In the modern world, English has been used more often than any other language. But
which will be the position of the English language in the future? It is essential to
understand the current state of the English language in order to provide an accurate
response. Today, English serves as the world's lingua franca, serving as a medium of
communication between speakers of other tongues. It is widely spoken around the
world. There are around 375 million native English speakers worldwide, behind
Mandarin and Spanish. English is the second most spoken language in the world and
the most international one, with some 400 million additional people speaking it as a
second language, 600–700 million as a foreign language, and many more studying it.
This statistic reveals that non-native English speakers make up about 80% of the
English-speaking population worldwide.

There are more uses of English than ever before. The English language has
assimilated into every area in the contemporary world. It has served as a universal
language for numerous purposes, including entertainment, business, science, and
information technology. It is also, at the cutting edge of new literary and
entertainment genres, economic and management theories, and scientific and
technical advancements everywhere. These result in the emergence of new
vocabularies, grammatical structures, and speaking and writing styles. The growth of
"net English" and online communication are two areas where the impact of English's
extension into new fields may be seen most clearly (Horobin, 2015). Thus, the
English language is constantly evolving and changing in order to adapt into the new
needs that constantly emerge.

Today, as globalization spreads over the entire planet, our planet is globalised, as
individuals from many continents, cultures, and nations coexist. Governments
converse with one another, scientists share ideas and innovations, and businesses sell
a wide variety of items globally. The most used language for communication is
English. With the emergence of these phenomena, it is possible that in the future,
English may become the universal tongue and be spoken by all people. Because of
these reasons, English is expected to keep dominating the worldwide scene as Davies,
(2013:148) points out that “Few people doubt that English, having come this far, will
continue to be used as a global language”

On the other hand, any attempt to forecast the future of a natural human language
must take into account a number of important variables. The factors to be taken into
account, according to Baugh and Cable (2013), come from demography, economy,
learning a second language, linguistic difficulty, and the histories of the relevant
languages, particularly the history of their writing systems. The future of every
language is determined by the aforementioned elements as well as other unforeseen or
unanticipated events. These variables are highly relevant in the context of the English
language, particularly in light of its current situation. Undoubtedly, predicting what
will happen to English in the future is just as essential as outlining the fundamentals
of its language growth. In this perspective, Baugh and Cable (2013) outlined a
number of difficulties they thought may be utilized as criteria to project the future of
English. More specifically, a replication of the spread of a language via invasion is
improbable in the twenty-first century, thus different settings, circumstances, and
realities are used. Baugh and Cable (2013) Moreover, the Chinese language is gaining
new territories and economic expansion.

As Winkler (2007) has pointed “numerous predictions have been made about what
could happen to English because of its status as a continually growing global
language” McKay (2002) indicated that a number of obstacles, such as shifting
geopolitical conditions, attitudes toward English in new and expanding groups, and
other factors might hinder the spread of globalized English. The reality of widespread
bilingualism and multilingualism worldwide, the intelligibility of English varieties,
and the ease of computer-mediated communication as a common phenomenon among
speakers of English honed by the modern media challenges predictions about the
future of English as an international language. On the one hand, there are those who
think that English will continue to rule and thrive as a universal language because,
"Certainly the signs are that no other language will replace it in this role in the
foreseeable future, though other languages may have increasing influence in trade
and communications in particular regions of the world," (Davies, 2013)

In conclusion, taking all the above into consideration, more study is required to
improve our knowledge of language distribution, determine whether major languages
have moved from their traditional classification, and determine the effects on the
future of the English language.
Baugh, A. C., & Cable, T. (2013). A history of the English Language (6th ed.).
London: Routledge

Davies, D. (2013). Varieties of modern English: An introduction. London: Routledge

Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315838861

Horobin, S. (2015). The Conversation. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/

what-will-the-english-language-be-like-in-100-years-50284

McKay, S. L. (2002). Teaching English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Winkler, E. (2017). Understanding language. London: Continuum.