The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1949-07-01
English May Be
World Language
OF The Future
BY SHERRY BOWEN
AP Newsfeafures Writer

AP Newsfeafures Writer
NEW YORK-Can English end
the curse of Babel? Some experts
not only believe it can but is well
along the road.
In the centuries to come, some
say, English can become a Ian
guage like Latin in the Middle
Ages in which all educated men
can understand each other. Only
this may be more important be-
cause far more of the people are
educated.
Nobody knows how many peo-
pie speak English today. EST
mates vary from H. L. Mencken's
49, 00, 900 to the 1949 World AL
MANAGES 100000 DR.. Albert
H. Marckwardt of the University
of Michigan makes a guess" that
230 1000, 900 people have English
as a native language. That COM
pares with four or five million
in 1882.
ut is, however. in its develop
ment as a second language that
the real opportunities for the fu-
ture development of English seem
to lie," Marckwardt says. He
says estimates of the number of
people using English as a second
language vary from 50,000,00O to
125, 900 900. But in another CEN
fury, he says, I'VE can assume
that probably 500, 000, 900 people
will be speaking some form of
English either as a first or second
language"
OF international languages such
as Basic English and Esperanto
he says, eve can only conclude
that no n of them has yet been
sufficiently successful to justify
much confidence in its future"
DR.. Aileen T. Kitchin, associate
professor of the teaching of Eng
fish at Teachers College, Column
bia University, spells that out.
She cites one count which shows
that the $50 simple words in Bas-
ic English have 12,425 meanings
when used according to the Basic
English rules. And the Oxford
Dictionary gives 18,416 senses for
those same words. In addition,
she says, a living language must
grow from life. It's words and
forms must reflect things and
ideas people use.
Here are some of the reasons
the experts think English has a
chance to spread and possibly to
become the international Ian
guage of the future:
|. It is the native language of
two of the worlds great powers.
2. 1t is widely used. It is one
of the two working languages in
the United Nations. And DR..
Marckwardt estimates, for in
stance, that three-fifth of the
worlds radio stations broadcast
in English.
3. 1t is widely centered. It is
used as a native language on at
least four of the continents. Rus
sian, its nearest big rival, is CEN
tered on two continents.
4. 1t is well standardized. The
dialects which prevent many Chi
nese, for instance, from under
standing each other are absent.
5. It is already widely taught
as a second language. Marckwardt
says it is replacing French as a
second language in Latin Amer
lea. And its teaching is import
ant in Holland, Scandinavia and
even in Russia.
6. New methods of teaching
make it easier for men to learn
another language. This is expect
ed to help boost the language
which already has the advantage
and which is native to people
with ideas and the prestige of
money and power.
1T is now possible" Kitchen
says. for a student who does not
know English to come to the
United States in June, learn Eng
lish in two months and enter a
university in September" She
admits he may have a hard time
at first. But after two months
full time work, he can get along
in his new language and practice
will make his work progressively
easier.