Who else would like English to be adopted as the common language of the whole world?

I think it already is...I love to try speaking a foreign language, have made some terrrible mistakes which I can laugh about later...but it always amazes me when people always manage to speak some English...makes us lazy when we travel....

It already is, in effect. For example, it is the language used in international aviation, in maritime work, for scientific research learned reports, in international business communications, the world of diplomacy, it's the majority language on the Internet, and NATO use it as the common means of communicating between its military forces.

Like others who have replied, I try to speak at least a few words in the language of the country I'm visiting, but have found that practising another language can be difficult when - wherever I've been in the world - so many people want to try out their English on me!

Regarding Chinese - it's true that Mandarin is widely spoken... in China! However, it is not a language you are likely to come across in, say, a remote part of Papua New Guinea, but there's a good chance you'd meet an English speaker there.

Incidentally, regarding the Chinese, I have several mainland Chinese friends who all speak and write excellent English. In Mandarin, all I can do is manage a few phrases such as 'Hello', 'Thank You' and 'I'm hungry', so thank heaven English took off in the way it did!

I don't think it's really fair to use English as the common language, just because we speak it... I'm Irish but English is the main language (loads of boring History about it...) and I'm happy about that because it means I can use the Internet and watch TV without any problems but I still like speaking Irish and there are a few Gaelteacht areas where Irish is the main language so I wouldn't think that it'd be fair to tell them that they had to speak English.

It'd just start off loads of rows with Americans and English with the rest of the world. Other countries would see it as trying to control the world and all....

It'd also mean that many other languages would die out. Because, even though you probably don't care, Irish is nearly dead because England took over Ireland. I'd really hate English to become the dominant language of the world and lose part of the culture of other countries.

This is my 2nd time to edit this, I just wanted to say that I love learning new languages, I can speak English, Gaeilge (Irish) und Deutsch. And I want to learn French and Italien.

I don't know. I teach ESL in California, and I

know that my students are anxious to learn English bc it is so widely used.

But I always ask them to remember their own language and culture. The diversity of the world is so beautiful and important, and different languages are able to express different things. English is a tool, and a very important tool in our global economy. But to have everyone in the world speak it as a common language would be I think, both impossible and an idea that would make the whole world a little too homogeneous.

Think of languages as colors! If there is just one color in the world, how much richness we will have lost!

just my opinion...

Lady Morgana )0(

why is english now adopted as an international and universal language?in my opinion,this is not irrespective from the ruling ideology that dominates the world todays i.e.capitalism.you see that western countries are called developed countries specially led by the united states of america.so no wonder why english,the language of the world today,is commonly used everywhere.

so i think there isn't yet any other language but english to be adopted as the language of today's world.

There may be some who would say so.

I am not one of them. Even though I was born and brought up in London to parents of Irish descent we only spoke English at home.

Later, at school, I learned French and can muster a little Spanish and Italian. For me, the enjoyment of travel is that I can have fun trying to communicate where possible.

I have a place in Spain and in that area there are many UK and Irish ex-pats. Too many of them have nevere bothered to learn even a simple basic form of the language, expecting the Spanish to speak in English to them. Ironically, many of them say they went to live in spain because there were too many immigrants in Britain who did not integrate !!

Sad, but true.

No,no, no...only the lazy English would want this to save them from learning another language. Their philosophy is 'everyone should learn a foreign language...except me'.

English isn't a particularly nice language anyhow, there are many that should be chosen before it.

The world's different languages makes it more interesting but if one language HAD to be chosen it should be a neutral one like, say, Esperanto. Just wait for all the English thumb downers now.

I would. I think it's far enough along now, in that so very many people learn it as a second language in addition to all those who learn it at their mother's knee that it is the only logical choice if we are to promote a world-wide language. And I think a world-wide language would be a major advantage. Communication is so very important in the modern world.

1) English has letter pairings that are hard to pronounce to other people, "th","x"

2) English speakers have to memorize how to pronounce words because they have irregular spelling

3) English has more words than any other language

4) Why should ever other nation just put aside their language and say English is the common?

English is not the most common language by a long shot. So what makes you think your language is more important than say Irish, Urdu, Mandarin, Spanish(more widely spoken than English), German. You wiper.

it already is.. english is pretty much regarded as the universal language..

hence english being taught in schools overseas..

it's funny when you consider that english is actually the hardest language to learn.