People often say that English has a rich vocabulary as if it were something to be proud of. The richness of the vocabulary results basically from word borrowing and implies that words for related concepts are typically not related to each other in any obvious, regular manner. Word borrowing makes a language more international in one sense, but in the essential sense it makes it less suitable for international communication, since learning the vocabulary is more difficult. Results from the questionnaire: Do you think the english language is in a stable and safe position within world languages? [image001.gif] Figure 1: Responses to the Global Questionnaire Cover of book The Future of English? is an imaginative glimpse of the linguistic world in 2050. Commissioned and published by the British Council's English 2000 project, this 'think tank' document will be the starting point for a significant debate amongst all professionals involved in English language services. The Future of English? is now available and carries a foreword by The Prince of Wales. Pre-publication comments on the book are shown below. The press release for the launch of the British Council's English 2000 project in 1995 summarised the position of English. A graph to show students visiting Britain to take english languages courses against the months of January and August [image004.gif