Having a global Lingua Franca is important, as it is “a language or way of communicating which is used between people who do not speak one another’s native language” (Collins Dictionary, n.d.), bridging people from different countries and towns via a common language used as a tool for communication. Currently, English is the most common Lingua Franca across the globe, with 80% of its speakers in the world being non-natives (Khodorkovsky, 2013). With Chinese’s increasing popularity, there will probably be an increase in the number of non-native Chinese speakers, but it is highly unlikely that Chinese will become a Lingua Franca of the world. This essay will discuss the possibility of Chinese becoming a Lingua Franca of the world, as well as investigate why Chinese is unlikely to become a Lingua Franca of the world. The term ‘Chinese’ in this essay will refer to Standard Chinese, “the official language in China and Taiwan, and also one of the four official languages in Singapore” (Wikipedia, 2018), unless otherwise stated.
The presence of the English Language, which many are able to speak despite it not being their native language, is a strong force which represses people from learning Chinese despite the rise of China’s economy. Chinese is a language which is difficult to learn and master, hence despite the increase in number of people taking it up as their second language, it is still improbable for Chinese to become a global Lingua Franca. Some may argue that it is possible for Chinese to become a Lingua Franca of the world because it has the greatest amount of native speakers, but these native speakers speak different forms of ‘Chinese’, hence this statistic becomes very diluted.
Firstly, the prevalence of English Language worldwide makes it unlikely for Chinese to become a Lingua Franca of the world. Due to globalisation, there is increased interaction among people of different countries, hence requiring a common language used for communication among people. Right now, “English is spoken at a useful level by some 1.75 billion people worldwide” (Robson, 2013), and is considered to be the most common Lingua Franca in the world. With English as the global Lingua Franca, many countries in the world offer English as a subject, and some even make it compulsory to learn English, totalling to 1.5 billion people worldwide learning it (Noack and Gamio, 2015). In Singapore, a multi-racial country, English is used “as lingua franca for communication within and beyond the country” (Goh, 2017). Despite the majority of Singaporeans being Chinese, Malay, and Indian, the government made it compulsory for students to learn English as their first language, so that “the young nation of Singapore to not only survive but also thrive, its industries and people had to connect immediately with the global community” (Goh, 2017). This highlights the significance of the English Language in the world, so much so that it is made mandatory for a country’s citizens to master the language, as it is viewed to be able to bridge the language gap among people of different races, aid in trade, as well as boost the global economy. Since many people in the world are already learning or have already learnt English despite it not being their native language, it is improbable for them to want to pick up another language – Chinese – to be used for communication throughout the world.
With the rise of China’s economy, some may argue that it will push more people to start learning Chinese. It is undeniable that “China’s economic growth has transformed the country from one of the poorest in the world to its second largest economy” (Yueh, 2013). This may incite more people, especially entrepreneurs and businessmen, to learn the language, so that they are able to enter the Chinese market and broaden their business prospects. However, as English has already attained the status of the world’s Lingua Franca, many Chinese are able to speak English, hence they are able to do business exchanges in English, and there is no need for people outside China to learn the Chinese Language just to communicate with the people in China.
Secondly, the Chinese Language is tiring to learn and difficult to master, hence deterring many people from learning the language. Unlike English, which words are made up of Latin alphabets, Chinese has over 80000 characters, made up of varying strokes, making it taxing to learn, recognise, and write. In addition, Chinese has 4 different tones, as well as a neutral tone, which makes it extremely complex and confusing, especially to non-native speakers. Hanyu Pinyin, “a system for transcribing the pronunciation of the standard variety of Mandarin using the Roman alphabet” (The Free Dictionary, n.d.), was developed “to simplify the pronunciation of written Chinese” (British Museum, n.d.). Despite this, Chinese is still difficult to learn. To exemplify this point, look at the Hanyu Pinyin for ‘ma’. The first tone, mā, is the pronunciation for Mother (妈); the second, má, for hemp (麻); the third, mǎ, for horse (马), and the fourth, mà, for scold (骂) (Qiu, 2017). Even though the Hanyu Pinyin of these characters are the same, they are of different tones, and the meaning of each of these words are vastly different from the rest. Also, there are numerous meanings to many of the characters, and when two characters are placed side by side, they give off a completely different meaning. Due to the intricacy of the Chinese Language, which includes “a labyrinth of semantic tones, elaborate characters and obscure idiomatic phrases” (Kaiman, 2016), it is thought of to be difficult to learn, and many completely put off the idea of learning Chinese. This results in few non-natives being able to grasp the language, hence making it unlikely for Chinese to become a Lingua Franca of the world.
The above may be refuted by claiming that there is a rising trend in the number of people taking up Chinese as a second language. Notable people like “the former Australian Prime minister, Kevin Rudd; the successful entrepreneur, Mark Zuckerberg and the U.S. President Obama’s daughter, Malia Obama” (Shao, 2015) all learn Chinese as their second language, which goes to show that many accomplished people do think of Chinese as a language that is worth learn. Moreover, “there are 330 official institutions teaching Chinese as a foreign language around the world, with 40,000 foreign students enrolled” (Shao, 2015). This highlights the fact that despite it being onerous to learn, there are still people who are willing to make the effort to learn Chinese. However, more people are needed to learn Chinese for it to become a Lingua Franca of the world, and they must have a certain fluency in the language, as a Lingua Franca of the world needs to be a language that majority of the people are able to converse in.
On the other hand, Chinese has almost 1.3 billion native speakers worldwide (Statista, 2018), and this greatly surpasses the number of native speakers of other languages. Due to this, many believe that it is easy for Chinese to become a global Lingua Franca, since there are already a lot of people who can speak this language. Besides, there are many Chinese living outside of China, with 11 countries having at least a million Chinese nationals are residing in each of them (Statista, 2018). The presence of Chinese in parts of the world other than China may make it easier for non-Chinese to pick up the Chinese Language, as the Chinese nationals are able to guide them along and help them with the language. Since there are a lot of people around the world who are able to speak the Chinese Language, Chinese is thought to be able to become a Lingua Franca of the world in the near future.
However, there are many variations of ‘Chinese’, like Mandarin, Wu, Min, and Cantonese (British Museum, n.d.), which causes the people speaking ‘Chinese’ to be thinly-spread. Despite the fact that there are almost 1.3 billion native Chinese speakers worldwide (Statista, 2018), it is important to note that not all 1.3 billion of them speak the same form of ‘Chinese’. Therefore, it would be quite a feat for Chinese to become a global Lingua Franca, considering how diverse the language is.
China’s economic growth, the increase in number of people learning Chinese as their second language, as well as Chinese being the language with the most amount of native speakers all point to a future where there will be an increased number of people who are able to speak Chinese. However, with English as the widespread Lingua Franca of the world today, the intricacy and complexity of the Chinese Language which puts people off, as well as the different forms of ‘Chinese’, it is highly unlikely that Chinese will become a Lingua Franca of the world.
Ultimately, not all is lost even though it is unlikely for Chinese to become a Lingua Franca of the world. English, the most common global Lingua Franca now, allows for interaction and communication among people from varying countries and backgrounds, and connects everyone together. As compared to which language is used as a Lingua Franca of the world, what is more important is building relations among people from all parts of the world and all walks of life.