哪種語言將在未來統治地球？-今日頭條

The number of American students who learned a language other than English decreased by about 100,000 between 2009 and 2013, according to research by the Modern Language Association. For many, taking a class in economics might seem more beneficial than a French course. But is it really?

據現代語言協會一項研究稱，2009至2013年間，美國學習英語之外語言的學生人數減少了約10萬。對許多美國學生而言，學一門經濟課似乎要比學法語課有利得多。但果真如此嗎？

The Chinese dialects combined already have more native speakers than any other language, followed by Hindi and Urdu, which have the same linguistic origins in northern India. English comes next with 527 million native speakers. Arabic is spoken by nearly 100 million more native speakers than Spanish, which has 389 million speakers.

中文各種方言加起來，以中文為母語的人早就超過了世界任何一門其他語言，緊隨中文之後是起源同為北印度的印度語和烏爾多語。之後是英語，有5.27億人口以英語為母語。以阿拉伯語為母語的人比以西班牙語為母語的人超出近1億，講西班牙語的人有3.89億。

Which languages will dominate the future? Predictions vary, depending on your location and purpose.

哪門語言將會主宰未來？各種預言不盡相同，取決於你的位置和目的。

You want to make money in growth markets? These will be your languages.

你想在成長型市場里賺錢？如下語言適合你。

In a recent U.K.-focused report, the British Council identified more than 20 growth markets and their main languages. The report features languages spoken in the so-called BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China — that are usually perceived as the world"s biggest emerging economies.

一份關注英國的報告顯示，英國文化委員會確定了20多個成長型市場及其主要語言。這份報告重點關注了所謂「BRIC」國家的語言，即巴西、俄羅斯、印度和中國，這些國家通常被認作為世界最大的新興經濟體。

Hindi, Bengali, Urdu and Indonesian will dominate much of the business world by 2050, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian. If you want to get the most money out of your language course, studying one of the languages listed above is probably a safe bet.

到2050年，印度語、孟加拉語、烏爾都語和印度尼西亞語將會繼西班牙語、葡萄牙語、阿拉伯語和俄語之後主導商界。你若是想靠你的語言課儘可能多賺錢，學習上述語言中一門會是穩賺不賠的生意。

Of course, demographic developments are hard to predict. Moreover, the British Council only included today"s growth markets, which says little about the growth potential of other nations that are still fairly small today. Also, Arabic and Chinese, for instance, have many dialects and local versions, which could make it harder for foreigners to communicate.

當然，人口發展很難預測。此外，英國文化委員會只列了當今的成長市場，鮮有論及其它一些目前尚不具規模的小國的成長潛力。此外，舉例而言，阿拉伯語和中文，有很多地方口音和方言，對於外國人而言交流會更困難。

Despite all that, the chart above gives a broad look into which linguistic direction the business world is developing: away from Europe and North America, and more toward Asia and the Middle East.

儘管如此，如上的圖表大致探究了商界語言發展導向：遠離歐洲和北美，逐漸趨向亞洲和中東。

You want to speak to as many people as possible? How about Chinese, Spanish or French?

你希望所說的語言說的人越多越好？何不試試看中文、西班牙語和法語?

1. Chinese. Although Chinese has three times more native speakers than English, it"s still not as evenly spread over the world. Moreover, Chinese is only rarely used in sciences and difficult to read and write.

1. 中文。儘管講中文的人數是英語的三倍之多，但人數在世界遍布不均。此外，中文很少用在科學領域，難讀也難寫。

2. Spanish. Spanish makes up for a lack of native speakers — compared with China — by being particularly popular as a second language, taught in schools around the world.

2. 西班牙語。較之中文，以西班牙語為母語的人少，但作為第二語言尤其受歡迎，在世界各國學校均有教授西班牙語。

3. French. French has lost grounds in some regions and especially in Europe in the last decades. French, however, could gain influence again if west Africa where it is frequently spoken were to become more politically stable and economically attractive.

3. 法語。法語在有些領域已經缺失了根基，最近幾十年在歐洲尤為如此。然而，法語在西非廣泛使用，若西非想要政治上更穩定，經濟上更有吸引力，法語的影響力會有所增益。