The economic davantage historically enjoyed by native English speakers is set to ebb away as the language becomes a near-universal global basic skill.
A British council study predicts that employers around the world will soon no longer be falling over themselves to hire people who speak good English.
Instead they will be looking for fluency in other languages, particularly Mandarin and Spanish, as will as English.
David Graddol, an applied linguist who wrote the report for the UK agency that promotes British education abroad, said: "We are living in a new world where if you turn up for a job interview and say you have English that' s just not good enough..
"Employers expect excellent English in addition to other skills. The competitive advantage is just no longer there."
the emergence of English as the planet' s second tongue also has enormous ramifications for Anglophone governments, businesses and universities. “In organizations where English has become the corporate language, meetings sometimes go more smoothly when no native speakers are present,” the report says.
Already non-native speaking English teachers are deemed to be more employable in some Asian countries. Trainers from Belgium, for example, are more attuned than staff from the UK and US to the bilingual needs of students. British and American compnies specializing in producing textbooks for the global English-learning market could also lose out as governments demand materials that can be produced easily by local English speakers.
“Within a few years there could be around 2bn people learning English,” the report says.
Mr. Graddol urged the UK and US to increase investment in the teaching of foreign language.
机器翻译的别来占地!