0:00 → 0:04
Hello and welcome to my next podcast at alugha.
0:06 → 0:09
I'm Bernd and this will be our topic today:
0:09 → 0:14
World languages: language development in a globalised world
0:24 → 0:29
As a result of globalization, more and more people speak one of the major world languages,
0:29 → 0:34
while regional dialects constantly lose importance at the same time.
0:34 → 0:36
People want to communicate worldwide,
0:37 → 0:40
and they cannot do that with only speaking their regional languages.
0:40 → 0:44
We'll tell you more about the global language development trend.
0:45 → 0:48
Five most spoken languages worldwide
0:48 → 0:55
There are only two European languages among the five most spoken languages worldwide: English and Spanish.
0:55 → 1:01
English is ranked second and Spanish third on the list of most spoken languages in the world.
1:02 → 1:13
The English language has become the common language in international communication and Spanish is spoken by many people in Latin America.
1:13 → 1:18
In Germany, we are quite familiar with those two languages as well.
1:18 → 1:27
But what about Arabic, Mandarin and Hindi - the other three languages on the world's top five list?
1:28 → 1:36
The highest number of native speakers counting one billion people is the Mandarin language.
1:36 → 1:43
Furthermore, there are 198 million people who speak it as a second language.
1:44 → 1:52
It is assumed that this number will grow due to China’s worldwide economic influence.
1:52 → 2:02
Hindi is ranked fourth with 534 million people speaking it.
2:02 → 2:09
The language is mainly spoken in Central and Northern India and is an official language in India besides English.
2:09 → 2:17
Time will show if one of the languages will dominate
2:17 → 2:21
or whether the two languages will continue to exist side by side.
2:21 → 2:29
Hindi is very much appreciated and learned by many people, especially in India.
2:29 → 2:36
About half of the 530 million Hindi speakers learned it as a second language.
2:36 → 2:45
With 447 million speakers, Arabic is the fifth most spoken language.
2:45 → 2:53
This language is spreading, especially due to the fact that Arabic is the language of the Quran and Islam -
2:53 → 2:59
a religion that is constantly growing.
2:59 → 3:06
Within the Arabic language, there are many different dialects making communication between Arabic speakers more difficult.
3:07 → 3:13
For that reason, more and more efforts are being made to standardize the use of this language.
3:14 → 3:19
English - the most important language of international communication (still)
3:19 → 3:24
According to statistics, the English language is the most spread in the world.
3:24 → 3:34
About 1.12 billion people worldwide can speak English - in comparison 1.11 billion people speak Mandarin.
3:34 → 3:41
English is used for international communication within the economy and international relations.
3:41 → 3:45
Therefore, this language is learned all over the world.
3:45 → 3:51
Knowing it, you can communicate globally with more people.
3:51 → 3:57
Despite the success of the English language, Chinese is on the rise
3:57 → 4:03
and will probably count more speakers than English has today.
4:03 → 4:12
In particular, on the Asian and African continent an increasing number of people are learning Chinese to profit from the Chinese presence.
4:12 → 4:20
For example, in Kenia, children are learning Chinese in primary school.
4:20 → 4:27
China has a dominant position in Southeast Asia and is expanding its influence in Africa as well.
4:27 → 4:30
Effects on minority languages
4:30 → 4:41
Due to globalization and the presence of world languages, more and more regional minority languages are threatened to disappear, and language diversity is decreasing.
4:41 → 4:50
Especially, languages that aren't wide spread geographically and spoken by a small number of people are in danger to disappear.
4:50 → 4:56
Also economic growth and globalization are influencing those minority languages negatively.
4:56 → 5:04
People tend to communicate e.g. in Spanish, because more people can understand the message.
5:04 → 5:11
Therefore, regional languages are less spoken by new generations and are destined to disappear.
5:11 → 5:21
Many European countries are trying to counter this trend and develop ideas to keep languages like Frisian or Irish alive.
5:21 → 5:27
These minority languages are protected by the European Union.
5:28 → 5:38
Frisian, for example, still is the second official language in a province of the Netherlands and street signs are consistently bilingual Frisian-Dutch.
5:39 → 5:46
Quite a lot of money is invested in the promotion of the Frisian language and many educational courses are offered in Frisian.
5:46 → 5:51
Nonetheless, the number of active users of this language is decreasing.
5:51 → 6:00
Obviously, even with high financial investment, it is difficult to counteract language loss.
6:00 → 6:07
Conclusion: World languages are growing while regional dialects are losing importance.
6:07 → 6:12
In the long run, language diversity will decrease due to globalization.
6:12 → 6:18
It's expected that English and Chinese will continue growing over the next decades,
6:18 → 6:27
however, Chinese could replace English as the number one language for international communication.
6:27 → 6:34
This is a guest article by Sina Warncke, student of international relations and author of "LebeJetzt Blogs".
6:34 → 6:41
She's fond of travelling and nature and loves to learn more about new cultures and languages.
6:41 → 6:47
She prefers to write about sustainability, travelling and a balanced life-style.
6:47 → 6:49
I'm Bernd and you are listening to an alugha podcast.
6:49 → 6:54
Please subscribe and we would be happy to welcome you again when our next topic comes up.