According to David Grattle, a British language expert,the idea that English will become the world language is outdated.And people are more likely to switch between two or more languages for routine communication in the future.(1)_______________________.Instead, English will play a growing role as a second language.A population speaking more than one language is already the case in much of the world and is becoming more common in the United States.(2)_______________________.Grattle works for British consulting and publishing business.He anticipates a world with the share of people who are native English speakers slips from 9% in the mid 1990s to 5% in 2050.Grattle says, “Up until 1995,English was the second most common native tongue in the world,trailing only Chinese.(3)_______________________.”In contrast, an American language expert,David Harrison noted that the global share of English is much larger if you count second language speakers,and will continue to rise even as the proportion of native speakers declines.Harrison disputed listing Arabic in the top three languages because varieties of Arabic spoken in such countries as Egypt and Morocco are mutually incomprehensible.
