There's going to be more English speakers than none-English speakers soon, so there is no chance of it 'fading', as you have said, simply because of America's 'power' fading.
If the country fades/loses its power and influence, then yes, the language will fade. Who would want to learn English to communicate with an inferior country if we considered what Hakeem said to be true, which is a reasonable thing. Great nation's stood before us and died off, what's to say we won't?
Oh, and to the person that said Chinese is the most used language, that's not technically true. It is correct that lots of people speak Chinese, but these speakers are then sub-divided into different types of Chinese, such as Mandarin.
I do my research as well, and it is Mandaran, a sub-division of the Chinese language that is the most spoken, not "Chiense" as a whole. Mandarin is the most spoken.
If you look at most international conferences, events or gatherings, the majority of them are shown in English.
True, most are in English, where they have translators for those who don't speak English. So you can't say they all speak and understand the language.
Soon, according to new research, the number of English Speakers will outnumber the amount of Non-English Speakers.
What
new research? with the current stats at around 1.5-1.8 total people who speak it as a primary language and secondary language combined, and there being close to 7 billion people on the planet, there is no way 3-4 billion people will suddenly pick up the English language any time soon, I don't see it happening in my life time, my children's life times, and their children's life times.
Ironic, really, considering the language is 28%~ Norman, 28%~ Latin, 25% Germanic and 14%~ other languages. But that's just it, English is a mongrel language. It will continue to evolve and change with the times until it is a universal language: until the whole of the planets population speaks English.
A mongrel language it is. People have said before that it is an easy language, yet to a non-naitve, there are so many rules to the language that make absoultely no sense...
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The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
We must polish the Polish furniture.
He could lead if he would get the lead out.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert..
A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
I did not object to the object.
The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
They were too close to the door to close it.
The buck does funny things when the does are present.
A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
After a number of injections my jaw got number.
Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
There is no egg in eggplant nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France.
Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat.
quicksand can work slowly,
boxing rings are square and
a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
grocers don't groce
and hammers don't ham?
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth beeth?
One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend, that you comb through annals of history but not a single annal?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
How can overlook and oversee be opposites, while quite a lot and quite a few are alike?
How can the weather be hot as hell one day and cold as hell another?
Have you noticed that we talk about certain things only when they are absent?
Have you ever seen a horseful carriage or a strapful gown? Met a sung hero or experienced requited love?
Have you ever run into someone who was combobulated, gruntled, ruly or peccable?
And where are all those people who ARE spring chickens or who would ACTUALLY hurt a fly?
your house can burn up as it burns down,
in which you fill in a form by filling it out and
in which an alarm goes off by going on.
That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
And why, when I wind up my watch, I start it, but when I wind up this essay, I end it.
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And I agree partly on the last part. It will continue to evolve and change with the times, but it won't become universal. Look above where I proved you wrong that it isn't even close to being the most dominant language any time soon, not the way the rediculous rules of the language are.