<h2 class="wp-block-heading eplus-wrapper" id="crosshead">Bingo lingo!</h2>

For everyone who gathered in MesopotamiaA historical region of the Middle East, mostly centred on modern-day Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Syria and Turkey. The name "Mesopotamia" in Greek means "between rivers" because of the Tigris and Euphrates that run through it. - the whole population of the ancient world - building a city was easy. Because they all spoke the same language, they made quick progress, and started on a tower designed to reach heaven. But God, deciding that they were getting above themselves, said: "Let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

This is the biblical tale of the Tower of Babel and how the world's languages were born. But today we are seeing the process reversed, with the people coming together to speak one language: English.

Its rise is amazing. In 1600, Jacob Mikanowski notes in The Guardian, it was spoken by around 4 million people. Today 400 million speak it as a first language and 1.6 billion as a second: "No language in history has been used by so many people or spanned a greater portion of the globe."

It is the official language of at least 59 countries. It is also the language of the world's top 100 scientific journals, of diplomacy and of 60% of internet content.

Its nearest rival is Mandarin, with 1.11 billion speakers. But a high proportion of Chinese people speak English as a second language, whereas relatively few foreigners speak Mandarin.

Around the world, speaking English is seen as the key to prosperity. According to Rosemary Salomone in her book The Rise of English, it equates to higher pay in almost every country: an English-speaker in Iraq can earn 200% more than a non-English speaker.

In Korea, learning it has been called a "national religion".¹ Some Koreans even undergo tongue surgery to help them speak it more easily. In China, celebrity teachers hold mass lessons in stadiums for thousands of people.

For some, having a language that everyone can speak is a splendid ideal. EsperantoIn English, one who hopes. Constructed in 1887 with simplified grammar to make it quicker to learn. There are around 100,000 Esperanto speakers. was created with this in mind, but it never caught on in the way that English has.

Jacob Mikanowski admires English as a language "with a word for almost everything, capable of an infinite gradation of meanings". But he worries when "its pervasiveNoticeable everywhere or in everything. influence silences other languages, or discourages parents from passing on their native languages to their children."

At present there are some 6,000 languages in the world. But it is estimated that 26 vanish each year as the last speakers die out. Experts warn that up to 90% of the rest could become extinct over the next century, with the rise of English partly to blame.

Some see its dominance as a form of "linguistic imperialism". For others, though, English represents liberation. In South Africa, as Amy Chua explains in The New York Times, it was "the language of Black resistance to the AfrikanerA term for White people in South Africa who speak Afrikaans, who descend mostly from Dutch immigrants. -dominated apartheidA system of legally-enshrined racial discrimination and oppression which existed in South Africa from 1948 until the 1990s. It denied non-white South Africans basic human rights. regime, giving it enormous symbolic importance."

And in India, she notes, "for speakers of non-Hindi languages and members of lower castesHereditary social classes in Hindu society. , English is often seen as a shield against majority domination... an 'egalitarianBelieving that everybody deserves equal rights and opportunities. language' in contrast to Indian languages, which carry 'the legacy of caste'''.

Yes: It is wonderful that everyone can communicate with each other and exchange ideas, no matter where they come from. It means that there is a greater chance of achieving global harmony than ever before.

No: The languages people speak are vital to their sense of identity and it is tragic that so many are being swallowed up by English. Some have ways of saying things which will be lost for ever.

Or... There are great advantages to speaking more than one language. It helps you to think and see the world in a different way, and according to Rosemary Salone "leads to greater creativity and innovation".

Mesopotamia - A historical region of the Middle East, mostly centred on modern-day Iraq, Kuwait and parts of Syria and Turkey. The name "Mesopotamia" in Greek means "between rivers" because of the Tigris and Euphrates that run through it.

Esperanto - In English, one who hopes. Constructed in 1887 with simplified grammar to make it quicker to learn. There are around 100,000 Esperanto speakers.

Pervasive - Noticeable everywhere or in everything.

Afrikaner - A term for White people in South Africa who speak Afrikaans, who descend mostly from Dutch immigrants.

Apartheid - A system of legally-enshrined racial discrimination and oppression which existed in South Africa from 1948 until the 1990s. It denied non-white South Africans basic human rights.

Castes - Hereditary social classes in Hindu society.

Egalitarian - Believing that everybody deserves equal rights and opportunities.