World Monitor Magazine, #5, Industry World Monitor Magazine, Industrial Overview | Page 31

Power Language Index (May 2016) Kai L. Chan, PhD ENGLISH PLI rank: 1 PLI score: 0.889 Language family: West Germanic Geographic coverage: Global ENGLISH PLI rank: 1 PLI score: 0.889 Language family: West Germanic Geographic coverage: Global EXPERT OPINION IND # 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 INDICATOR GEOGRAPHY Countries spoken Land area (mn km2) Tourists-in (mn) VALUE 2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 ECONOMY PPP GDP (Int$BN) PPP GDP/cap (Int$) Exports ($BN) FX mkt share (%) SDR composition (%) 31,161 17,853 4,418 117.1 50.4 5 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 a COMMUNICATION Native speakers (mn) L2 speakers (mn) Family size (mn) Tourists-out (mn) 446 510 115 250.3 OPP # 1 2 3 4 5 42.5 37.1 202.9 IND # 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 INDICATOR KNOWLEDGE & MEDIA Internet content (%) Feature films Top-500 universities Academic journals DIPLOMACY IMF (indicator) UN (indicator) WB (indicator) Index of 10 SNOs OPPORTUNITY OPPORTUNIY Geography Economy Communication Knowledge & media Diplomacy VALUE 55.5 819 237 5,452 1 1 1 1.0 RANK 1 1 1 1 1 Power Language Index (May 2016) Kai L. Chan, PhD MANDARIN PLI rank: 2 PLI score: 0.411 Language family: Chinese English is thecoverage: world’s lingua franca. Its dominance Geographic East Asia, Southeast Asia as the global means of communication is unrivalled. It is (by the measure of the PLI) more than twice as effective as its nearest rival (Mandarin IND # ItINDICATOR # INDICATOR Chinese). is the leading language inVALUE each of the fiveIND opportunities opened by language. VALUE MANDARIN PLI rank: 2 PLI score: 0.411 Language family: Chinese Geographic coverage: East Asia, Southeast Asia 1 GEOGRAPHY 2 ECONOMY 4 KNOWLEDGE & MEDIA The1.1 rise ofCountries English as the most important is spurred by the spoken 3.0 powerful language 4.1 Internet content (%)economic dominance 2.8 2 Land area (mn ) English-speaking 9.4 4.2a legacy Feature films and1.2 geographic reach ofkm the countries, of the British Empire that 584 gave rise 1.3 modern-day Tourists-in (mn) 84.4 Most notably, 4.3 theTop-500 universities to many powerhouse nations. USA is the world’s economic, 43 cultural 4.4 areAcademic journals 6 and military superpower, and the UK, along with Canada, also leading nations (G7) themselves. The2.1 “neutrality” of(Int$BN) English has also helped uptake. For example, in both India and PPP GDP 19,594 spur its usage 5 andDIPLOMACY 2.2 PPP GDP/cap (Int$) 13,944 (indicator) 1 The Singapore it was chosen to be an official language and5.1 meansIMF of inter-linguistic communication. 2.3 Exportsof($BN) 3,133 UN (indicator) 1 “Englishisation” cultures at the same time threatens5.2to displace lesser languages. 2.4 2.5 FX mkt share (%) SDR composition (%) 2.2 5.3 WB (indicator) 10.9 Kai L. Chan,5.4 PhD Index of 10 SNOs 1 0.2 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 COMMUNICATION OPP # OPPORTUNITY OPPORTUNIY RANK E: [email protected] W: www.KaiLChan.ca M: [phone] Native speakers (mn) 960 1 Geography 6 L2 speakers (mn) 90 2 Economy 2 Family size (mn) 408 3 Communication 2 Tourists-out (mn) 158.1 4 Knowledge & media 3 5 Diplomacy 6 Distinguished Fellow, INSEAD Mandarin Chinese is the second most powerful language, just edging out French. Its rise on the global stage is a recent phenomenon. Mandarin was hardly spoken outside of China until recent years; China itself had remained largely outside of the modern global economy unti