language of 20th century?

What languages had the greatest influence in the 20th century?

English and Russian

Probably French, back then English wasn't what it is today.

French was important in the 19th century but not the 20th.

Yeah. French really started to lose influence after WWI, mostly due the growth of U.S. influence in the international scene. That was compounded after WWII. Europe was in bad shape and the U.S. had to support western Europe in its reconstruction efforts (the Marshall Plan I think it was called).

So, for the majority of the century, it was English.

Russian? After all Russia was more powerful than America for a long time and still is to this day.

... except that America has helped the Chinese to defeat the Japanese, so that Chinese gained some status in the UN.

I'd say the languages of the "five" plus German had been important in different eras, even though I'm afraid Chinese had only been "strategic", not important, for the past (32-8) = 24 years before the turn of the century.

1 English

2 Russian

3 German

1, English
2, French
3, German
4, Japanese (in asia)
5, Spanish
6, Italian
7, Russian

The XX century is very different depending on the date. For instance:

1900: French, German, English

1950: English, French, Russian

1999: English, Spanish, French

2050: English, Chinese, Spanish, probably.

1999 French? Ha ha I highly doubt it. By that time German had far surpassed French. Maybe even Japanese was above.

<< 1999 French? Ha ha I highly doubt it. By that time German had far surpassed French. Maybe even Japanese was above. >>

German & Japanese surpassed French? No way. French remains the 2nd most influential language even to this and will continue to be so.

Just count the number of French loanwords that entered in English and other languages in the 20th century and compare the number with the German and Japanese loanwords. Maybe The French loanwords exeed the combine loanwords of the two.

German and Japanese have limited geographical areas while French is heard in all continents.

the french loanwords were in english before the 20th century.

<< Just count the number of French loanwords that entered in English and other languages in the 20th century and compare the number with the German and Japanese loanwords. Maybe The French loanwords exeed the combine loanwords of the two. >>

I agree with you about German and Japanese. But the fact that many French loanwords entered other languages in the past, in no way ensures that French will continue to be the 2nd most influencial lanuguage in the future...sorry. You can't base your assumption on the past because things have changed a lot in the last century.

The problem is that there is no French power-house to ensure that. Granted, France (the main source of French influence) is very important in the EU, but so is English and German.


<< German and Japanese have limited geographical areas while French is heard in all continents. >>

I love this claim. While it is TECHNICALLY correct...c'mon, gimme a break. North America - yes, Europe - yes, Africa - yes. Now, if by all continents you mean the small French territory for South America (only about half a million people), and Lebannon for Asia (tiny country, not many people, plus Arabic is there), well then it is technically true, but it doesn't mean much. I can use that claim to say Spanish is spoken in Africa, although it is minimal.

Spanish is spoken in every country:

Saudia Arabia: Juán Pedro de la Verdura (ambassador)
Djibouti: Elena Guarra de la Aridez (teacher)
Eritrea: Jorge Jiménez Rodríguez (merchant)
Bhutan: Mario Luna de la Vega (drugger)
Vietnam: Don Arcadio de la Muñeca (constructor)
Canada: María Torres (tailor)
Rwanda: Aldonza Berenjena de la Copa Cabana (midget)
Qatar: Julio Vergüenza de la Torre de Miel (instigator)
Iraq: Fernando García Cuarentenas (muñeca)
Rusia: Guadalupe Agujerita de la Bondad de la Rociada (storyteller)
Norway: Galé Jorída de la Verga (pianist)
Moldavia: Artemio López de la Silueta (royal adviser)

and so on and so forth...