Is there any other language that could genuinely challenge English for global dominance?

[PaleoEuropean]

Surely that (at least in theory) makes English even more weird and incoherent?

Not really, base English is pretty simple. There are a few weird things but they only matter if you start to get academic.

[Tooting Carmen]

bump

[Ayetooey]

Arabic, Spanish and French will all be pretty dominant. Can't see Chinese being learnt much outside of Chinese populated regions, its just too difficult a language.

[Tooting Carmen]

Arabic, Spanish and French will all be pretty dominant. Can't see Chinese being learnt much outside of Chinese populated regions, its just too difficult a language.

Difficulty is highly subjective and culturally-specific. Mandarin doesn't even have tenses like Western languages - that's one example of how it may be easier.

[Ayetooey]

Difficulty is highly subjective and culturally-specific. Mandarin doesn't even have tenses like Western languages - that's one example of how it may be easier.

Linguists will say its one of the most difficult if not the most difficult common language (not including dead languages), I can't see it being taught outside of Chinese populated areas to any serious degree, and China is going to experience a big population drop within the next few decades.

I think we will have an interesting situation where the most economically dominant countries like China, India, Germany/EU, will have almost no global sway linguistically. Meanwhile France is declining rapidly, and even battered Britain is predicted to surge past France economically within the next few years, yet their language gains more and more prominence due to high birthrates in developing Francaphone nations, and Frances important place on the global and continental stage.

[Tooting Carmen]

Linguists will say its one of the most difficult if not the most difficult common language (not including dead languages), I can't see it being taught outside of Chinese populated areas to any serious degree, and China is going to experience a big population drop within the next few decades.

I think we will have an interesting situation where the most economically dominant countries like China, India, Germany/EU, will have almost no global sway linguistically. Meanwhile France is declining rapidly, and even battered Britain is predicted to surge past France economically within the next few years, yet their language gains more and more prominence due to high birthrates in developing Francaphone nations, and Frances important place on the global and continental stage.

But do you really think that as the Chinese become more powerful, they won't try to spread their language overseas, just as most other powers have done?

[Tooting Carmen]

The global spread of English in many respects brings out the worst aspects of both Right and Left. In the former's case, the global spread of English proves, well, the inherent superiority of English. In the latter's case, they believe it is a major step to creating the Universal Brotherhood of Man.

[axel.aleman]

Maybe we must learn Russian and Mandarine Chinese language

[Dandelion]

I'm missing the option Dutch. I've voted Spanish and Chinese, actually. What culture is concerned perhaps Hispanophone cinema is less woke infested.

[Etelfrido]

I think English will continue to dominate in thevisible future.

French already has a certain influence I don't think it deserves anymore, like being one of the six languages of the UN. Sure, it's spoken in a lot of places in Africa as a lingua franca, but even with the high birthrates of those peoples I don't think they have the ability to produce influential works.

Russia's doing better than expected by some in the war, though I don't think they can rely entirely on China due the historical animosities like the former Chinese territories it acquired with the Unequal Treaties. Also, declining population and it's not a developed country, besides its overall negative reputation around the world.

India's population will still grow for some time but its birthrates are already falling below replacement levels and it hasn't solved some of its basic problems and started to develop yet, unlike China when it was in a similar position. Large diaspora but I don't think it's as influential as the Chinese one, especially like the latter is on some Asian countries.

Spanish's spoken in lots of countries, so if some fail it doesn't mean others can't prosper. However, I don't see any Spanish-speaking country rivaling the influence, economy, science and infrastructure of English-speaking ones. The same applies to the Lusosphere.

Arabic-speaking countries are majoritarily poor, with some exceptions, and I don't think their cultures are attractive on the world stage. The few rich ones may face future challenges with the rise of renewable energy sources, and those rich countries are full of foreigners (Indians, Phillipines etc.). Birthrates among all of them, rich and poor, aren't what used to be and are already roughly at replacement level in many countries. The best chance I can see for it to be an influential language is its rise in Europe because of immigration and Arabic speakers refusing to integrate and forcing their culture on their host countries.

China's population's starting to decline but its economic, scientific and sctructural output's notable. Also, it has a large diaspora in countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and Asian countries like Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, where they seem to dominate local economies. I don't think it'll be enough to match English, though.