English

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Rosemary Salomone, The Downside of English's Dominance; The world's most commonly used language is facing a backlash and keeping its monolingual speakers from engaging with the world. Wall Street Journal, Nov 27, 2021, at page C3 (in the Review section that is published every Saturday).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the ... minance-11637989261

Quote:

"Since the end of World War II, when the US emerged as an economic and military superpower, the English language has been punching way above its weight. Today 1.5 billion people speak English, fewer than 400 million of whom are native speakers.

"A century ago, 89% of four-year colleges in the US required pervious study of a language other than English for admission. By 2020, that number had dropped to 25%.  Some [American] states have eliminated language requirements for high school students: In Oklohoma and Texas they can opt instead for computer coding, while in California they can choose visual ans performance arts classes or technical education.  

"The idea that this [commanding no other language than English] is not a problem because 'everyone speaks English' is far from the truth. * * * More disturbingly, they [monolingual English speakers] risk becoming politically and culturally isolated. English is the most popular language online, used by almost 26% of people in the internet, according to a January 2020 study. But Chinese isn't far behind at 19%, nd a substantial amount of internet communication takes place in Spanish and Arabic. While apps like Apple's Gentle Reader makes foreign language newspapers and magazines instantly available in English on computers and iPhones, the end product is only an imperfect facsimile of what speakers of the original language are absorbing.

"In the long run, another language may push English aside as the world's lingua franca, but we can only speculate about which one/ French is unlikely to make much headway beyond France's former colonies. Mandarin Chinese is often mentioned as a likely successor, but China's repressive policies are dimming its appeal in many parts of the world. Spanish, which is spoken on all five continents, might prove the most viable candidate; it is already the second most common language in the US.

"Prof Salomone is Kenneth Wang Professor of Law at St John's University School of Law. This essay [WSJ article] is adapted from her new book, 'The Rise of English; Global politics and the power of language' to be published on Dec 1 by Oxford University Press.

Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest. We all know why English is the prevailing language of the world.
(b) Rosemary C Salomone. St John's University School of Law, undated
https://www.stjohns.edu/law/faculty/rosemary-c-salomone
("B.A., Brooklyn College
M.A., Hunter College
J.D., Brooklyn Law School
Ph.D., LL.M., M.Phil., Columbia University

Rosemary Salomone, the Kenneth Wang Professor of Law, teaches Constitutional Law, Administrative Law")

(c)
(i) Obituary: Kenneth Wang.
https://www.legacy.com/us/obitua ... ituary?pid=99653866
("WANG--Kenneth [王健] , died peacefully in his home, in Cove Neck, on December 14th, [2007 (the same obituary appeared in New York Times as paid notice] surrounded by his family. He was born in China in 1914. He was the beloved husband of Mary* * * He was also the much loved brother of Hsiang-Ming Hsia. He graduated from Soochow University [then 東吳大學 with English name Soochow University (1900-1952; founded by Methodists); ROC went to Taiwna and restablished the same there in 1951, whereas PRC in 1982 recreated it as 苏州大学 in Chinese but has retained English spelling] School of Law in 1938. He practiced law in Shanghai until 1945 when he was recruited to be a judge of the Court of Appeals for Shanghai ]上海上诉法庭]. In 1947 he was awarded a fellowship by Harvard University School of Law where he earned an LLM degree. He returned to China in 1948 to resume his law practice and to teach at Soochow University Law School. In 1949 he became President of Aurora College for Women. In 1952 Professor Wang and his family moved to the US and he joined the faculty of St John's University School of Law in New York City")
(ii) Cove Neck, New York
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cove_Neck,_New_York
(iii) St John's University (New York City)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._John%27s_University_(New_York_City)