Tamil one among the three fastest growing languages - London Tube Newspaper Metro

இலண்டன் மாநகரில் ஓடும் பாதாள ரயில் பயணிகளுக்காக வெளியாகும் metro பத்திரிகை பற்றி உங்களில் சிலர் அறிந்திருக்கக்கூடும். இன்று வெளியான மெட்ரோவில் வெளியான செய்தி உங்களின் பார்வைக்கும். இதனை அனுப்பி வைத்தவர் லண்டன் பத்மநாப ஐயர். இரண்டொரு நாட்களில் இச்செய்தியை ஸ்கான் செய்து அனுப்பதாக சொல்லியிருக்கிறார். வந்ததும் இங்கு பகிர்ந்துகொள்கிறேன். அதேபோல Science இதழில் வந்திருக்கும் செய்தியையும் இங்கு பகிர்ந்து கொள்கிறேன். Will Urdu become the new English? By SUZY AUSTIN ENGLISH is losing its dominant position in the league table of world languages, it was claimed yesterday. By 2050, it will be overtaken by Arabic and the closely related Indian tongues of Hindi and Urdu, according to experts. Nine years ago, about 372 million people spoke English as their first language – putting it second only to Chinese which was spoken by 1.1 billion people. But, in 50 year’s time, the picture will change dramatically. Among 15 to 24-year-olds, the number of English speakers will fall to 65 million. Chinese will still dominate, with 166 million younger speakers. Writing in the journal Science, researcher David Graddol said the three fastest growing languages were Bengali, Tamil and Malay. ‘The world population rose rapidly during the 20th century, but the major increase took place in less developing countries,’ he added. ‘This trend is transforming the global league table of languages.’ He said the 19th century notion that English would become a world language was ‘past its sell-by-date’. Employers in Asia were already looking beyond English. ‘In the next decade, the new must-learn language is likely to be Mandarin,’ he said, adding that of the 6,000 languages in existence, 90 percent could disappear in 100 years. Multilingualism would become commonplace, he said. This trend could be seen in the growth of Spanish in the US, and the large number of Europeans who spoke English. ---------------------------------------------------- Friday, February 27, 2004 METRO