Comparative Report
Language promotion abroad is almost universally the central component of countries’ external cultural policy (ECP) strategies. Language facilitates cultural, economic and scientific exchanges and contributes to a better understanding of another country. English is by far the most popular second language. The competition arises from the question of which language should serve as a second foreign language. Will the global languages of Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and Arabic be able to unseat English at some point? And can European languages such as French, German and Russian continue to hold their own? The reasons for learning a language can also be constraints. Countries with great economic or military influence often determine which language is learnt. Especially where there have been imperial relationships in the past or modern forms of dependency prevail.
