Wall Street Journal (January 2)
2015/ 01/ 02 by jd in Global News
“By 2115, it’s possible that only about 600 languages will be left on the planet as opposed to today’s 6,000. Japanese will be fine, but languages spoken by smaller groups will have a hard time of it.” English is more likely than Mandarin Chinese to become the world’s common language because it has already gained broad adoption and due to the difficulty of mastering Mandarin’s tones. “Just as the Mongols and Manchus once ruled China while leaving Chinese intact, if the Chinese rule the world, they will likely do so in English.”
