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To: TimF who wrote (101511)	2/21/2005 6:31:26 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793767

I think Mandarin was mentioned just to keep the article from sounding too triumphant. I have no doubt that English will win out. I have read that it has the largest vocabulary. And it is just too well established now for anything else to beat it out. It is driving the French nuts that English is now the second language of Europe. And it is taking over Asia. Our dominence in computers is part of it, I am sure.

To: TimF who wrote (101511)	2/21/2005 7:42:28 PM
From: aladin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793767

Tim, English will win. We don't mind adding 'foreign' words and phrases. But I should add that English 100 years from now might be as different from English today as todays is from 200 years ago. Its strength is its adaptability. There is no cultural ministry here or in the UK looking to delete French or Portugese phrases and words to keep the culture 'pure' (Brazil and France have such ministries). Now as to Hindi -> is a large language, but is not pervasive even in India - Of the official languages, approximately 403 million people, or about 43 percent of the estimated total 1995 population, speak Hindi as their mother tongue. countrystudies.us China - Its less clear, the government has been working since 1949 to promote Standard Mandarin, but many regions still speak dialects. The most recent survey I could find had about 100 million Cantonese, but no data on other dialects. John

To: TimF who wrote (101511)	2/21/2005 8:13:30 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793767

I don't think it will be Mandarin Too complicated. Any universal language will have to use the Roman alphabet.

To: TimF who wrote (101511)	2/22/2005 8:32:38 AM
From: Mary Cluney	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793767

If there is going to be one global tongue its going to be a long time in the future All air traffic controllers work in english. The Chinese government is virtually pushing everyone into english as a second language. Almost all educated people in China have some english language proficiency. English is the language that holds India together. For all of Asia, english is the second language. Even when large numbers of Europeans gather, english is the common language most of the time. English is the global language. It has just not been declared as such.