MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

English, undisputed business language

Half of the world population in 2015, an estimated three billion people will speak English according to a report from the “British Council”, which promotes British culture and language.

The increase in English speaking all over the world is basically because of practical reasons, since it has become the business language, reports "The Independent".

The investigation is based on UNESCO statistics and demographic estimates for the coming years, educational policies in several countries as well as the international mobility of students.

However David Graddol who coordinated the report concludes that the demand for English speaking teachers will drop dramatically by 2050 since the majority of the world population will have a good knowledge of the language and the number of students will fall to 500 million.

The general tendency is for a multi language planet with one person speaking on average three languages, "a capacity much appreciated" by business and corporations. Among the other "languages of the future", Mr. Graddol mentioned Chinese (mandarin), Arabic and Spanish.