According to the CIA World Factbook, approximately 45% of the world population speaks one of the UN languages (English, Chinese (Mandarin), Spanish, (Modern Standard) Arabic, French, and Russian) either natively or as a second language. Moreover, they make up more than half the world’s official languages. Furthermore, 96% of the world population speak 4% of the world’s 7000+ modern languages. Thus, effort exerted in learning a few top world languages can help unlock the world.

Can We Synthesize Worldviews?   

Stereoscopic vision of two eyes is better than that of one alone. Similarly, a personal version of reality is less likely to be as accurate as a composite version of reality. Similarly, the perspective of a people is less likely to be as accurate as that which considers the perspective of all. Each language of the world provides a window to the ultimate reality. Knowing multiple languages opens our minds to different perspectives of the same ultimate reality. Each language has a color to lend in the kaleidoscope of reality we all share. Knowing multiple languages allows us to see different facets of an issue. It fosters understanding and a more balanced holistic approach to solving problems.

“Each language has a color to lend in the kaleidoscope of reality we all share. Knowing multiple languages allows us to see different facets of an issue”

Are We Evolving Towards a Multipolar World?

With the end of the Second World War as colonialism dawned to a close in the last century, and the collapse of Communism, ideologically, the world is transitioning from the triumph of Western capitalist neocolonialism into a more multipolar global community of equals. 

The dominance of European colonial languages is increasingly being shared by those of new emerging cultures. Today, emerging world economic powers like Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, and the Arab Gulf states are increasingly exerting their influence as compared to traditional powers like the United States, the UK, and the European Union. This has led to the global popularity of non-traditional world languages. 

Where are Globalization Trends Leading Us?

With advances in jet travel, communication technologies, immigration, global education, work, and international commerce, it is becoming increasingly likely that we interact more and more with people of different cultural backgrounds. 
Our societies are increasingly multiracial and multiethnic. Our classmates, neighbors, work colleagues, and even our partners are increasingly from different parts of the world. It is becoming increasingly difficult to live in homogeneous societies like in the past. The world is shrinking and cultural diversity is becoming the norm. 

We see this more in certain places than others. Tiny Switzerland has four official languages. Canada has two. North American, European, and Australasian urban areas are magnets for immigrants and refugees from all over the world. Guest workers are common in certain countries like Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and the Arab Gulf countries. Such trends are bound to increase and it becomes difficult for more linguistically homogeneous societies like Turkey to stay unaffected from linguistic influences from other parts of the world. 

Multinational companies operate all over the world, buying raw materials in some countries, processing them in some others, while employing workers and managers from yet other places, with the markets of their products and services spread all over the world. 

How Learning Languages Expands Our Horizons?

Diplomatic staff are among the most eager to learn foreign languages as they know that one of the easiest ways to diffuse misunderstanding among peoples is by speaking with someone in their native language. Language acquisition is a cure for xenophobia. As the world shrinks, knowing other languages will become a requirement for more and more people. Educational reform will incorporate efforts to teach students more languages from earlier ages to reflect the increasingly polyglot interactions in the world.

With fast developing real-time translation and interpretation technologies, there is less pressure on non-English speakers to learn English as the world can “virtually talk” with them in their own language. The need for more than superficial understanding of each other will keep propelling formal language acquisition. 

With increasing globalization, few key global languages, including the six UN official languages, have emerged, having a large population of speakers globally.  Today, the most popular world languages are English, Chinese (Mandarin), Hindi, Spanish, French, (Modern Standard) Arabic, Bengali, Portuguese, Russian, Urdu, Indonesian, German, and Japanese respectively.

ReDefiners World Languages

ReDefiners World Languages is a non-profit organization that offers language education programming in Hillsborough County, Florida. Its mission is to equip and empower people to have access to new opportunities – from academics to careers – by learning a second language. 

As a non-profit organization of the future, ReDefiners considers language learning as a strategic investment and indispensable for the next generation of Americans to understand the world. We teach four out of the six official UN languages, viz. English, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin), and (Modern Standard) Arabic to children, youth, and adults. We believe that language acquisition at young ages is even more effective. Our personalized online classes offer flexibility in learning a new language and acquiring new skills faster, at the learner's own pace. 

Learn a world language and open up to a new perspective. Commit to holistic understanding in a fast globalizing world by scheduling your private online language class at ReDefiners Live Academy. For more information, get in touch with ReDefiners World Languages at 813-530-2313 or info@redefinerswl.org.