Does the fact that English is now the language of the internet mean the end for

I agree with you that English is the Internet language but it is not the only one, there are also millions of sites in different languages. About Latin and ancient Greek I have to say that a lot of people is still studying them or the studied at school. I am one of them and they are not used to talk but are the basis of many words so they will survive also if the they are not live languages.

English is the language of the Internet, but the languages people speak at home is something else. That language has to do with pride regarding country and family roots. Kids might spend a lot of time learning English in school, because they will need it later on for work and study, but their mother tongue is the language they feel most comfortable with. I live in Austria now and though we still speak English at home, my kids' mother tongue is German, even though I am the mother! They are not only learning German in school, but also English and Latin. My daughter is also learning the other "doomed language": Greek! Next year she will have the choice to learn either French or Spanish, but she wants to do French, even though Spanish is (was?) my mother tongue! I am bilingual, but I hope the Internet will not be the end of Spanish! With the way China is growing, maybe English will be the language that will be doomed!

No I do not think that the English language will be the only language spoken. There are millions of sites that are not English speaking sites. I agree that a large amount of site give the option to translate the site to English. But that is because so many more Americans are on the internet then most other countries. I'm sure you have this idea because you speak English and only visit site that are English speaking sites. But thats just this redneck's POV.

Hi, As you say English is the language of air and sea navigation and also of finance and diplomacy, ironically it has become the linga franca. It is also the most widely spoken language, not as a first language but as a as the language that is most widely able to be spoken. Yes, I do believe that some languages will die out. As European unity continues English will, I believe, become the language of the Union, I will make a prediction that French will be the first major language to go. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The average native English speaker graduating from a UK university has a personal vocabulary in excess of the total number of words in French or German. This lends the language a fluidity, flexibility, subtlety and accuracy of expression unsuppassed. all the best urban

I don't think local languages are doomed now, they will always teach them in schools and people will always speak these languages just that they will now learn English aswell, which is good for me in theory but I do like to learn other languages when I go abroad so they don't think of me as 'ignorant'!