If the US spoke another language, do you think that language would be the global lingua franca and not English?

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RsonW@reddit

English being the global lingua franca has been longer than either of those two dates.

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ComesInAnOldBox@reddit

Canada's industrial capability is good, but it was nowhere near the US's capability by 1945, much less in the decades after.

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DuckFanSouth@reddit

Just a reminder that 1945 was 80 years ago.

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India is a former British colony - majority of middle class+ Indians celebrate Christmas in some fashion. Hell there’s Christmas trees all over Calcutta, Mumbai, and Delhi during the holiday season. Christmas is less of a Christian holiday and more of just a Western holiday.

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reichrunner@reddit

Non Christians in India alone is 60% as many people as global Christians

greeneggiwegs@reddit

India, Pakistan, and Nigeria all have more English speakers than the UK, and all were colonized by Britain at some point, so I’m gonna give this a yes.

(The Philippines and Indonesia also have more English speakers than the UK but were not UK colonies)

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Leather-Sky8583@reddit

I agree.

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ExistentialCrispies@reddit

Yeah by the time the US came along much of the world already had to speak English to deal in trade and within their own government , so it's not really the US's fault. Countries like India and South Africa wound up speaking it within their own countries as a way to resolve being able to communicate across the dozens of languages within their own country.
All the signs in English around the world today are mainly a legacy of the British, not the US.

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Kasegauner@reddit

The sun never sets on the British Empire...

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science, aviation, business, the internet.

Which makes sense - France and USA have both been the leaders in aviation forever.

petits_riens@reddit

Although it's a little bit chicken and egg—would US media be as popular if it wasn't in English?

As long as the USA remains the superpower of the West, most people will likely speak whatever the USA prefers.

Interestingly, the USA did NOT have an official language (English or otherwise) until March 1, 2025. I didn't know that happened, either.

SPEAK ENGLISH OR ELSE!

LOL ...

Adios!

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SkiingAway@reddit

For a long time now, I've been expecting Spanish to take over as the international language. That SHOULD happen, but "some people" won't allow it. (We know who.)

That would never make any sense.

Spanish has zero penetration or cultural attachment outside the Americas (+ Spain), and global population growth is generally not in the Americas at this point.

This is not a map of a language that makes any sense to use as the major "international language": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanophone#/media/File:Map-Hispanophone_World.svg

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LoriReneeFye@reddit

I'm just going by personal experience. More and more people speak Spanish now. It's everywhere. TV commercials are playing in Spanish, on English-speaking channels. In a lot of US states, if you go to Home Depot or similar, all the signs above the aisles are in English and Spanish.

I could be wrong. No importa. I'll be long-dead before that might happen.

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SkiingAway@reddit

I'm not disagreeing that Spanish use has risen in the US with modern immigration flows.

It's just that much of the world has some level of existing cultural attachment to English, not just from US-influence today but also to UK influence historically and that having created at least a modest speaker base (often in the "elite").

Basically nowhere outside the Americas has any attachment to Spanish or existing speaker base. It feels very unlikely that someone in Nigeria or Pakistan or the like is ever going to start learning Spanish instead of English when they want to learn a language for "international" use.

As a secondary note - Spanish use in the US will probably decline in the long run. While it's growing in raw numbers due to substantial modern immigration, Spanish-speaking immigrants to the US are still generally looking like they're following the "3-generation" pattern of assimilation.

Immigrant speaks only or mostly their native language, their US-born child is bilingual socially but winds up English-dominant in a lot of areas (ex: You may be equally comfortable in social conversation in either language, but can you talk about advanced/technical topics in something other than English? Typically, no, if you were raised here), their grandchild will likely be heavily English-dominant.

Pew's done a few studies on that topic.

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Irwadary@reddit

Spanish was widely spoken in the Philippines. In fact it was its first language before the US intervention.

Spanish is spoken in Africa too.

I’m not so sure if Spanish growth in the US (and Canada) it’s only due to more migrants but a daily use of the language and it’s spreading. It is not new that people in the US have an open interest in the language and the reason Trump declared English as the main language of the US speaks of a perceived threat to some people in that country of Spanish.

Spanish will continue to grow despite that though. English may be a more easy language but Spanish is way more richer.

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SkiingAway@reddit

Ok, if we want to go with being pedantic and point out the handful of exceptions:

Spanish was widely spoken in the Philippines. In fact it was its first language before the US intervention.

When it was....part of the Spanish empire, the only notable Spanish outpost outside the Americas. The number of English speakers in the Phillippines is today about 50x the number of Spanish speakers.

Spanish is spoken in Africa too.

A bit in Morocco and Equatorial Guinea...which is tiny and irrelevant. That's about it. Meanwhile in basically the entire rest of the continent, if you don't know a local language, the language you are most likely to be able to utilize is.....either English or French by a vast, vast margin. Numbers are fuzzy, but there's somewhere in the ballpark of...100x the number of English speakers in Africa than Spanish.

I’m not so sure if Spanish growth in the US (and Canada) it’s only due to more migrants but a daily use of the language and it’s spreading.

We have data, this is not guesswork.

The % of people of latino backgrounds that can speak Spanish fluently in the US is declining with greater assimilation/as we wind up with more people who are more distant in generations from their point of ancestral origin.

Here's one of many articles on this: https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2023/09/20/latinos-views-of-and-experiences-with-the-spanish-language/

93% of foreign-born latinos in the US say they can have a spoken conversation in Spanish "pretty well". Only 57% of US-born ones do.

And for 3rd gen (grandchildren of the original immigrant) and up, it's only about 35% that can speak Spanish significantly.

I could go on. There's plenty more, even just in that one article that doesn't really paint some picture of drastic future growth for Spanish in the US.

It is not new that people in the US have an open interest in the language

Bluntly, most people do not learn second (or third) languages to fluency out of hobby/recreational interest. That is a very small % of speakers.

They learn them because they're particularly important/valuable for their life. This is also why Americans are notably unlikely to do so relative to plenty of other countries - it's not all that necessary.

Latin America's demographics are already under replacement rate and so immigration flows are likely to decline sharply in the future regardless of US national politics - immigration is largely a young person's game, and there are fewer young people every year.

Latin America has so far not become an economic powerhouse with an outsized influence on the world and does not seem likely to given that it's already turning the corner on demography. And of course - the biggest country speaks Portuguese, and while relatively close in linguistic terms, they're not close enough to be that easily intelligible that they can be considered the same.

English may be a more easy language

I don't know of some objective list, but AFAIK Spanish may be considered easier to learn if you know neither? English is a wildly inconsistent language in many ways.

Spanish is way more richer.

You are aware of the difference between an opinion and a fact, right?

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Irwadary@reddit

So why is Spanish growing in the US then? Why do you see more and more daily the use of the language in tv spots, publicity, etc?

Spanish is spoken in Sahrawi too. It is not Spanish but you have Ladino too.

I’m not trying to be pedantic. The growth of Spanish in the US is a fact. The growth of Americans living in Spanish speaking countries is a fact (AARO estimates 5.5 million abroad 1.2 million of them in Spanish speaking countries). How many Americans spoke Spanish in 1980? How many today? How many not English languages combined equals or surpasses Spanish language in the US?

Regarding the practicality of learning the language, just consider an easy and practical exercise: can you conjugate one verb in all Spanish tenses? Do you know said tenses? The 12 tenses of English are fairly easy plus the conjugation of verbs are nothing.

Yes, the richness of a language is a pretty subjective issue, but with the notable exception of Borges there’s an ample agreement that while English may be more versatile the elegance of the Spanish Language is impossible to match from a Germanic perspective. I mean: Don Quixote is for many English speakers the best modern novel.

Spanish is not only a Latin American or the Americas issue and the language is more alive today than never.

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SkiingAway@reddit

Spanish is spoken in Sahrawi too

Included in the Africa count.

It is not Spanish but you have Ladino too.

Why are you pointing out an ethnic group in Guatemala?

You are making an argument that is this: "Spanish speakers have grown greatly in the US over the past few decades".

Everyone agrees with this.

You are then implying: "Because this has happened, Spanish use/prominence and Spanish speakers will continue to grow forever (or something)".

I have explained to you why that's not a logical assumption. Spanish use and Spanish speakers went up because of a large wave of immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries.

The descendants of those immigrants are so far largely continuing to follow the 3-generation pattern of assimilation and loss of ancestral language use/proficiency. Unless that pattern changes, significantly, which is not what is being seen so far, then in the long run Spanish use will decline.

Because the wave of 1st-gen immigrants will not be sustained due to both domestic policy and LatAm's demographics.

Demographic trends often have long delays between when the trends can be detected and when the results show. Birth rates fall and you know a population is going to decline in the long run, but the actual peak of that population isn't reached for decades.

Is there a possible case that this time will be different than every other immigration wave? Sure. Do I think the evidence is suggesting it? No. Do I think it's going to literally disappear or something like that? Also no, and certainly not along the southern border/hubs with heavier contact with Latin America. Just a slow decline in relevance and % of the population speaking it over the long run.

I'll close with my point with a very simple chart: https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2022/06/14/a-brief-statistical-portrait-of-u-s-hispanics/ps_2022-06-14_hispanic-americans-science_1-03-png/

Can’t forget Equatorial Guinea!

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Kellaniax@reddit

It’s honestly un-American that there’s an official language now.

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TalonButter@reddit

There may be an official language of the administration of the current President, but that’s nothing like being an official language of the USA.

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Dignam3@reddit

Wholeheartedly agree

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LoriReneeFye@reddit

You are 100% correct about that.

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andyrocks@reddit

French was the international language -- at least of diplomacy.

... no, diplomacy has been carried out largely in English since before this period. It has been a long time since French was in this position.

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LoriReneeFye@reddit

All I know is what I was told in 1970. I think French was considered "the language of culture and diplomacy" internationally then, but certainly English was on its way to taking first place.

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andyrocks@reddit

Do you think the US ambassadors were talking to their Japanese counterparts in French in 1970?

By WW2 English had entirely replaced it.

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LoriReneeFye@reddit

FWIW:

In 1970, Japanese ambassadors likely spoke Japanese as their primary language for diplomatic purposes. However, they would also have been proficient in other languages used in international diplomacy, such as:

English: English was and is a common language of diplomacy and international communication, especially in aviation.
French: French was historically a prominent language in diplomacy and was likely still used in 1970.
German: In some cases, German might have been used, particularly in dealings with German diplomats.

Therefore, a Japanese ambassador in 1970 would typically be fluent in Japanese and potentially English and/or French for international interactions.

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andyrocks@reddit

Cheers ChatGPT. Didn't answer my question very well though.

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LoriReneeFye@reddit

Dude, I was TWELVE in 1970. I still though Nixon was a good guy.

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andyrocks@reddit

Not 12 any more, are you?

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LoriReneeFye@reddit

Andy, I've found plenty of credible references to French still being used as I was told it was.

It doesn't matter, does it? Really?

You seem to be one of those people who hang out on Reddit to challenge and instigate, and to attempt to belittle others' intelligence.

I was thinking about this convo while I was washing my dishes, and these lyrics popped into my head:

If it makes you happy
It can't be that bad
If it makes you happy
Then why the hell are you so sad?

Au revoir.

--

Songwriters: Jeffrey Robert Trott / Sheryl Suzanne Crow

If It Makes You Happy lyrics © Anthem Entertainment, Reservoir Media Management, Inc, Third Side Music Inc.

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andyrocks@reddit

No, it's just that you were wrong and doubled down.

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SuLiaodai@reddit

Given the importance of the US in mass media/entertainment, I suspect if we spoke another language, while English would still be very important, we'd have more of a "multipolar" situation than an English as a lingua franca one.

Whenever someone starts with 'FUN FACT' there is a high chance that what follows is not a fact, your statement is an example of this. It is not a fact ,

British spelling "colour" with a "u" has been in use for a long time due to the Norman conquest, (1066) French became the language of government in England, and French scribes wrote English words according to French spelling rules. This is why many English words, including "colour," have the "-our" ending

Noah Webster, in the early 19th century, advocated for simplified spellings, including removing the "u" in words like "colour" for American English

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bryku@reddit

Language Wars

There were many langauges such as English, Spanish, and French that were spreading across the global, but for some reason English won on and became the global lingua franca.

I think there are 3 answers to this question.

The areas Britain left behind became physical large.
The areas Britain left behind became economically viable
Britains institutions (law, courts) were better than French and Spanish Alternatives.

This created 3 successful english speaking areas across the global.

North America
British Isles
Oceania

For someone learning another language, English was a pretty good option as you had many places you go, but it still wasn't the global franca yet.

USA

I think the biggest fractor that really pushed English into dominance was the USA because:

Trade
Manufacturing
Technology
Past Conflicts

Just look at how popular english class is in Asia. In Japan and Korea it is mandatory. Then you also have places like the Philippines where it is an official language.

Summary

It wouldn't have been possible without Britain, but I don't think it became the global lingua franca because of Britain.

Thoughts

When I was in school, a common question was:

What would happen if the USA switched to spanish?

The question wasn't about the USA specifically, but more about its impact on the world because it has such a huge influence through technology, trade, media, and so on.

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Lichensuperfood@reddit

Anyone who knows history would say because of the UK.

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Kevincelt@reddit

English is generally very widespread due to the British empire, but it being so omnipresent to the extent it is today is also because of the US. To answer your question though, I think it mostly depends on which language the US would speak. Like if the US all spoke French then that would probably cement the language as the lingua Franca, but if it was something like Dutch then that might only put Dutch on the same level as English.

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xxxHAL9000xxx@reddit

English wouldve died out outside the UK, if the US wasnt speaking english. Whatever language the US is speaking, the rest of the world will gravitate towards.

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Redbubble89@reddit

The global language being English I think has more to do with the United Kingdom and their past colonialism. If it wasn't for them, India would be left alone, Australia and New Zealand would be indigenous, and Canada would be more French. There is also a dozen countries in Africa mostly speak English or has it recognized as an official language. The US didn't become a world power until after the war in the 1950s when most of the British already conquered the world. If there was an Americanese language, the population would still be bilingual in English as most of us are ethnically from the UK.

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McCretin@reddit

If it wasn't for them, India would be left alone, Australia and New Zealand would be indigenous

It’s almost certain that another European power would have colonised those countries if Britain hadn’t. Probably the Dutch or the French (who both had their versions of the East India Company, along with the Portuguese).

In fact, the Portuguese kept their last territory in India for over a decade after the British had left.

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iamdecal@reddit

The world speaks English because of England

I think if we spoke French or German, there's little doubt that that would become the lingua franca. Otherwise, whatever we spoke would probably still be the lingua franca, but it would not yet be as dominant as English is now.

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Meowmeowmeow31@reddit

No, it’s the global lingua franca because of both the British empire and America’s size and global influence. It’s a combination of there being former British colonies all over the world and America being a superpower (for now).

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stebe-bob@reddit

I don’t think our super power status is going anywhere. I don’t think we’ll remain so far ahead for every, and it’s possible another super power or two will join us, between the US, UK, and the Dominions the population is well over 500,000,000. And even with recent events, the actual people and businesses are still pretty friendly with each other. And that’s not counting the rest of the Commonwealth. China has the possibility to become another super power, but authoritarianism often implodes pretty spectacularly, and they’re dealing with a lot of issues themselves. I think India could possibly become a superpower, they’ve got the potential, but they also have a myriad of issues.

The “magic” of our system is that we are overall incredibly stable, have access to every resource we could ever need, and amazing geography. Even if we had 100 years like the last 8, we’d still be in the top 2 or 3 at least, and never insignificant on the world stage. Especially now the internet is so widespread.

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stebe-bob@reddit

No. I think one of the reasons the US was able to ascend so rapidly was because a lot of voids it was filling were already English speaking places. And much of the previous British Empire is still on pretty decent terms with the United Kingdom today. But I do think the US has also played a big role on spreading it, which also benefits the former Dominions. I’d assume the closest global dominant language would be French if it wasn’t for a continued hegemony of English speaking peoples for over two centuries.

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Antique_Character215@reddit

Not likely. For the same reason French and spanish are so widespread. The language became dominant because of England’s influence and power and colonial ... work

Maybe if it was French and spamish colonies like Texas and Florida. But no English. But then would there be the same trajectory of revolution

let me see... This might be a big reason for English's spread across the globe, but I am not sure.

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HurtsCauseItMatters@reddit

While that's fair, a map isn't everything. This is France's [map](

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stebe-bob@reddit

The thing with the French empire though is that all of that territory wasn’t occupied at the same time, or for as long as the British Empire. Still very large and impressive, but what really stands out among the British is how long the empire lasted. The French lost control of the North American and Caribbean colonies ended almost 150 years before the British.

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Catezero@reddit

Irrelevant to the initial question but I think everyone should know that there is an island at inhabits the space between the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia (also an island) and Prince Edward island (obviously also an island) on the Atlantic side that is part of France and has a lil border around it and everything. There's a ferry that goes between it to Nova Scotia so sometimes residents of France can take day trips to Canada

I am 34, and canadian, and I did not learn this until I was 30 and worked in logistics and zoomed in on the map and went "wait why is there a borderline near the tiny island" because in geography class they conveniently left it off the maps we studied about Canada because its not Canadian

unnecessaryCamelCase@reddit (OP)

What does that have to do with anything? Portuguese today is an important language largely because of Brazil not Portugal. Same for LATAM and Spanish.

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Popular-Local8354@reddit

Is it really arrogance?

I mean the 1-2 punch of the UK-US is what cemented English dominance. If the US spoke… Dutch you’d see a more multipolar world in terms of language.

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HotSauce2910@reddit

I mean we were settler colonists so it is still our language

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Autumn_Skald@reddit

Something a lot of folk kinda forget...most US citizens are not descended from colonists. Most of us came here through waves of immigration. My own family (a collection of European ethnic groups) came here looking for work some 200 years after the colonies became a country.

People often forget that the US is around 250 years old and that our influence, while rapid, is recent. Because of this, our influence is often seen as greater than it truly is. We are young, and loud and strong, but we learned it elsewhere.

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DeniseReades@reddit

What I’m asking is do you think if the US spoke say French instead of English, being that it has been the world superpower for this long and the leader in technology science education economy etc, isn’t it possible that the world would have shifted towards that?

I think a better question is, would the US have still been a world superpower if it spoke a different language? One of the main reasons that so many former English colonies are considered fully developed countries is because the English treated their colonies as an extension of their Empire.

A lot of the other colonial powers simply colonized a place, used it for resources and then abandoned it. France and Spain had territories in the US but those were sold because they didn't have the resources to maintain them while the English set sail with the intention of staying in the New World.

The English left people who wanted to build something and then they maintained a strong relationship with the motherland even after independence. Had it not been for that relationship, bolstered by a shared language, would the US have ever been in the rooms that allowed it to become a global superpower? Without English investment into the country's beginnings, would the US be where it's at now?

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Financial_Island2353@reddit

I understand your question, but I think even if the US spoke French instead of English for whatever reason, if the British empire still exists in this world and they speak English, then English would still be the world lingua franca just because of the sheer mass of the empire.

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ticklethycatastrophe@reddit

If the US spoke French, most likely because the French won the French & Indian War (Seven Years War in Europe), there probably wouldn’t have been such a great British Empire. France and to a lesser degree Spain would have taken colonies from them.

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So that map is the whole argument? Well the French empire map is almost as big, more so if we added the US hypothetically. I really don’t think it’s that obvious as to not deserve at least a discussion.

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No.

Large parts of the world speak English as a first or second language due to the British Empire.

kmoonster@reddit

Chinese and Hindi (and their children/branches) are widely spoken due to population.

Arabic, due to religion.

English (and French and Spanish) due to these three countries dividing up the world in the 17th to 19th centuries.

The US speaks English due to colonial efforts, and as the rest of the world. Not the other way around.

If you speak these six languages there is nowhere in the world you couldn't at least ask for a glass of water and get directions around town, if not have a full conversation or interview at least some locals.

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MyUsername2459@reddit

I think the dominance of England is due to the fact that for over 200 years, the most powerful country on the planet has spoken it, and used it extensively in their global affairs.

The British Empire pushed English around the globe, and as the British Empire was waning in the mid 20th century, the US achieved global prominence in the aftermath of World War II. . .and with it, also used the English language (and also has a lot of common cultural elements with the British).

So, for a quarter-millennium, the English Language has been THE language of international power. . .and in the 20th century also became the language of science and technology as the US lead so many technological improvements in the mid through late 20th century in aerospace technology, computing, and other fields.

I think if the U.S. spoke another former colonial language like French or Spanish, it's possible that that language would be today's lingua franca, however I still think English would be a huge player due to the legacy of the empire and the financial power of London. If Americans spoke say German, where there wouldn't really be many former colonial trading partners who speak it outside of central Europe and I think the British's former domination of international shipping would be enough to keep it in the top spot.

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trinite0@reddit

It's a difficult to answer question, because the transition from British global hegemony to American global hegemony was heavily influenced by both having the same language.

So maybe if the US spoke French or Spanish, the US wouldn't have become so dominant quite so easily, and hence the US's language would have a weaker effect on international language trends.

Or, one can imagine a world in which the major American language was German, which might have led the US to support Germany instead of Britain and France in World War I. And that would certainly have lead to a very different 20th century global order.

So that's a fun question to ask, but not an easy one to answer!

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AllPeopleAreStupid@reddit

The reason a lot of the world speaks English is because the UK conquered a quarter of the land mass and 20% of the population at their peak.

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ophaus@reddit

Pretty sure the British empire spread the English language across the world.

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cdb03b@reddit

No. But it would be on its way to it.

The Lingua Franca being English is due to the British Empire. It has been reinforced with the US Hegemony but it could not be replaced in just 60-80 years by whatever language the US spoke in your scenario. But assuming the US kept its hegemony it would eventually replace it within another 100. Hegemonies replace language slower than Empires do.

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I think it's because of the UK. Most of the former British colonies that exist now as independent countries use English at least part of the time. The US included.

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If the US had picked German, the post-WW II era when the US was 50% of world GDP would have shifted everything to German. Pre-WW II, German was already the primary language of science.

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MaximumOk569@reddit

Impossible to say for sure, but yeah I doubt it's the Brits (except insofar as they're the reason we speak English). The Brits weren't even particularly big on spreading the language through their cookies -- obviously it happened, but if you compare them to the French you see big differences. French speakers in former colonies speak pretty formal French, whereas the British settler colonies are the only ones that the average person speaks particularly good English.

Anyway, during the height of the English empire the lingua franca was still French. It started shifting with WW1 and 2 which was the asendancy of America. Post WW2 it really got locked in with the UN, Hollywood, and now the Internet all being primarily in English

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PMMeYourPupper@reddit

I think you meant colonies, but I like the idea of language being spread through cookies. "Here, have a cookie, there's a vocabulary word written on it in chocolate icing for you."

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CZall23@reddit

This site has cookies. Do you accept?

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No-Celebration6014@reddit

English is the closest thing we have to a truly global lingua franca, but that’s a recent development. So much of the world now is speaking English from a young age, which wasn’t the case until this century. English being the primary language of the web has a lot to do with this, as does the flexibility of the language itself. It’s not all about interfacing with the US and UK but the ability for so many people from countries across the globe, even those with very lose ties to the Anglosphere, to speak to each other in a common shared language.

And don’t sleep on English’s flexibility. It’s an odd language, sure, but those quirks allow it to naturally permeate in ways that more rigid languages can’t.

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DarthKnah@reddit

TLDR I think Britain made English one of the world’s top 10 languages, and the US made it the most important lingua franca. If the US spoke a different language it would be very widespread, and probably be the most spoken second language (especially if the US language was French or Spanish), but maybe not quite to the same level English is in reality. In this alternate timeline, English would still be important, but more at the level that French is in our reality.

From my understanding, English was not the global lingua franca at the start of the 20th century, despite the British empire still existing and being at its zenith (controlling nearly a quarter of the world’s people and land), though it was very common. With extensive US participation in World War 2, the rebuilding after WW2, and the Cold War making the US one of two superpowers, English became even more widespread, and by the end of the Cold War, the US becoming the world’s only superpower and the US invention of the internet made English the dominant lingua franca.

Another thing to consider is that English is the 3rd most common first language today, but if you remove Americans from the total it falls to number 7, just above Russian, which is not a global lingua franca at all. A significant factor in English dominance is how many native speakers there are, and that those native speakers are in a very large and influential country.

The second most prevalent language in America was German up until the end of World War II.

They’re still German enclaves across the country where it’s spoken plus Pennsylvania Dutch

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CutePangolin9825@reddit

It depends which language US spoke

If it were French, Russian, or Spanish - that might be the global favorite.

The world speaks English because of both of us.

sep780@reddit

I think it’s because of the US. Too damn many people here are proud to be mono-lingual and demand others speak English to accommodate their arrogance.

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steinerific@reddit

The world has seen about 400 years of global dominance by English-speaking countries, but the UK was at it longer and earlier than the US, so thank/blame the Brits first.

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SnarkyFool@reddit

It would probably still be English.

English became formally codified by treaty as the language of international travel after WWII.

It was an easy call, since the US, UK, and Canada all had advanced aviation industries and were driving the discussions.

But if the US has been the outlier, I suspect the UK might have still won out. Their industry was actually a little ahead of the US right after the war.

It might also depend on which language the US was using. If it was French, then it could have been a tough call... Britain's historical role in global finance probably would have still tipped the scales to English.

It’s definitely the UK that caused this.

The US was a group of English colonies. It’s kind of hard to separate the language of the US from the influence of England.

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Awkward-Motor3287@reddit

The use of English around the world has far more to do with England than america.

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Repulsive_Fact_4558@reddit

I'd say the main reason English is as wide spread as it is is because of the British Empire. That's why we speak English in the US.

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Ozone220@reddit

An important thing to remember is that the very reason that English is spoken in America is the same reason the UK spread English so many other places. America speaking Enlgish is a product of the same source as anywhere else speaking English. Some colonial entity would have to have founded the colonies if not the UK, and I do think that if the US spoke Spanish or French then those languages would at the very least compete with English more than today, though ultimately the sheer size of the British Empire would make English still very much in the running

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TalonButter@reddit

I think the base laid by the British empire and position of the U.S. during the increasingly interconnected years of the second half of the 20th century and first quartet of the 21st combined to secure English the position that it has now.

If the U.S. had a different dominant language, I don’t think English would have anything like the same place in the world today, but depending on what we imagine the other language to be, the U.S. may or may not have carried that language to a similar position. Assuming the other language had been dominant in the U.S. by the time of its (first) civil war, I think if it had been Spanish, then Spanish would be a globally dominant language today. French? Maybe. German? Less likely (but if it was more than just about language, who knows, a lot of history could be different).

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C-Skye09@reddit

No. I think it would be a common language learnt in schools but English would be more common because of the British empire.

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POKEGAMERZ9185@reddit

Definitely the UK, who literally colonized places in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. A large number of countries have English as an official language due to the UK colonizing them. A lot of them are still part of the British Commonwealth and recognize King Charles III as the head of state.

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Delli-paper@reddit

No. See: Mandarin

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JadeDansk@reddit

There’s an interesting book I recently read called “Empires of the Word” by linguist Nicholas Ostler that goes through the history of the world’s major languages (past and present).

Ostler argues that the US ascending to global superpower status is often said to be the primary factor for English’s rise to global lingua franca status, but that the British Empire arguably played a more substantial role having once controlled 1/4 of the world’s landmass.

Though Ostler is a Brit so maybe he’s biased.

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crispyrhetoric1@reddit

Didn’t Ben Franklin advocate for dropping English in favor of Hebrew? Could you imagine if we had done that?

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DebutsPal@reddit

Modern Hebrew wasn't a thing then (look up David Ben-Yehuda), but that does seem like something Frankling would have done

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Curmudgy@reddit

look up David Ben-Yehuda

I’m guessing no.

We’re not the reason English is the Lingua Franca.

The British Empire is.

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btnzgb@reddit

No

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NicolasNaranja@reddit

It would make a lot more sense if we spoke Spanish like most of the other countries in the hemisphere.

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That shows "NATIVE" speakers.

You said "MOST SPOKEN"

English IS the MOST SPOKEN language on earth. Even if it doesn't lead in NATIVE speakers.

English has more than 380M speakers. It has more than that in India alone.

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Arleare13@reddit

If things were different, things would probably be different.

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arkstfan@reddit

There were people who wanted the US to adopt German after the revolution to repudiate the English colonialism.

Most likely the typical American would be bilingual learning German for official government stuff and English because it was what was spoken at home. Would be an interesting dilemma for immigrants. Keep your native language and learn German for official interactions or English to deal with neighbors and co-workers

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pgm123@reddit

It probably depends on the language. If they spoke French, there's a good chance it would still be the lingua franca. If they spoke Spanish, there's a chance, but I think it's unlikely. If they spoke German or Navajo, I think there's little chance.

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Caliopebookworm@reddit

UK colonizing everyone.

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1maco@reddit

Very much depends on the language. If it was like Dutch I think it would still be English.

If it was Spanish or French I think the critical mass would have pushed those languages over the top.

If the US was a Latin American county effectively an entire hemisphere would be Spanish speaking.

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ReactionAble7945@reddit

Spanish is the most popular language in the world. There were a lot of Spanish colonies.

English is the second most popular language in teh world for multiple factors.

England had a lot of colonies.
Then we have WWI and WWII and we have the cold war and Hollywood and .....

If the USA spoke Cherokee, I don't know if the business world would speak Cherokee. It would then be competing with English, Spanish, French.....

mcaffrey@reddit

The massive wealth of the USA encourages other nations to do business with us. That leads to teaching English as a second language in other nations to help give students the tools they need to participate in commerce with USA companies.

Our economy is REALLY big. The USA has a GDP 50% larger than all of the EU combined. 50% larger than China. And our economic system is much more friendly to globalization (partnerships with foreign entities).

I'm not arguing that any of this is morally a good thing. I am just arguing that learning a second language is a matter of education, and education is often focused on attaining economic benefits, so the economic situation encourages the learning of the language spoken in the USA over other languages.

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Other_Bill9725@reddit

I think the US could have tipped the balance amongst the the major imperial languages: say French or Spanish (maybe Portuguese). But if the United States were to have adopted Cherokee or Iroquois that language would be the equivalent of Chinese or Russian.

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