The future of English? was commissioned by the British Council and written by researcher David Graddol.

First published in 1997 for educationists, politicians, managers – indeed any decision maker or planning team with a professional interest in the development of English worldwide, the book explores the possible long-term impact on English language of developments in communications technology, growing economic globalisation and major demographic shifts at the end of the twentieth century and beyond. It uses existing linguistic research as a basis for examining new trends in globalisation, popular culture and economic development to see how these affect the future use of English.

This book is free to download below as a pdf file.

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Submitted by jvl narasimha rao on Sun, 11/22/2009 - 02:44

Sir,

    I think that as far as the future English language is concered, it will have a very bright future. But I think its future will be rather bleak because there is a paridgm shift from literature to language. Every body is interested to learn english as a language because of its utility and importance. The young generation has lost the habit of reading and writing because of the tech explosion. Nobody is writing or reading the personal letters. Can we think of any statesman writing letters like Jawaharlal Nehru, Abraham Lincoln or Kennedy. Our life is full of cares and worries. Where do we find the time to read the classics of Shakespeare, Milton or Kalidasa. We have the internet browsing, tweetting and blogging but we dont have the leisure or interest to enjoy reading litearature-English or any literature. The english language is O.K but the Future of its literature seems bleak. Will the younger generation remember Shakespeare, Keats, Milton, Wordsworth or Bernard Shaw?

Yours sincerely,

JVL NARASIMHARAO

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