Dominance of English in the world

[InsaneApache]

The seven years war. The rise of the British Empire. The fall of the British Empire. The rise of America in the 20th centuary. The legacy of the British Empire; USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand; Offical language of India. etc.

Some things to be going on with.

[Pannonian]

The seven years war. The rise of the British Empire. The fall of the British Empire. The rise of America in the 20th centuary. The legacy of the British Empire; USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand; Offical language of India. etc.

Some things to be going on with.

Probably by far the biggest factor. The British empire left a legacy, but the US made English a cultural aspiration.

[Yoyoma1910]

There's a good book for you:

Bernard Spolsky, Language Policy. Cambridge Press, 2004.


In Louisiana, during my grandparents' and parents' generation there was a strong policy to eliminate the local dialects of French and Spanish that were spoken by most of the people in the region. If the children were caught speaking anything but English in school, they were severely punished.


You see, while there is no official language in the U.S., there is unofficially an official one. I don't know if I would call that an aspiration, so much as a cultural whip. Speak English, or don't speak.

[Fragony]

But it's also pretty easy to pick up.

[Pannonian]

You see, while there is no official language in the U.S., there is unofficially an official one. I don't know if I would call that an aspiration, so much as a cultural whip. Speak English, or don't speak.

Through the second half of the 20th century, people all over the world wanted to be like America, aspire to their ideals, their culture, etc. America represented freedom, democracy and prosperity, and American cultural and economic products were a way to buy into that brand. The internet helped this along, with the adoption of English as the standard language for universal communication. However the tendency had been there already, and was at base the reason why English was adopted as the standard language.

And I'm saying this as a Brit.

[Marshal Murat]

English came to dominate the world because everyone who traded anything worth having spoke either English, Dutch, or French and these aren't too difficult to learn together because they're somewhat the same.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

1. The British Empire -> English being language in Canada, USA, Australia, NZ and has official status in many other countries, where the native tongue is a different.
2. The rise of Britain's former colonies in North America to being a super power (especially the winning of WWII).
3. The immense cultural output of the US that's very popular all over the world because it's easily digested (movies e. g.).
4. The rise of the internet.
5. English is a language that's easily acquired on a basic level, and there is quite a big tolerance (imho) towards non-native speakers for making errors -> which will cause the language to degenerate over the long-term and cause its eventual downfall.

[Fwapper]

4. The rise of the internet.

There are more Chinese internet users than American ones :P

But as for English it's got to be the British Empire, it did cover a quarter of the surface of the Earth after all...

North America and Australia are obvious first thoughts, but the Empire also brought English to much of Africa, and also the Indian subcontinent which has a population heading towards 2 billion. There are more people in the world who speak English as a second language than those who speak it as their first - and this is from the Empire. The language continues to grow from the cultural influences of these (relatively) new English speakers - not just from the US :)

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

... English, Dutch, or French and these aren't too difficult to learn together because they're somewhat the same.

No Sir.