With the continuing rise of China as a global economic and trading power, there is no barrier to prevent Chinese from becoming a global language like English, according to new research.

Dr Gil’s paper challenges arguments that suggest Chinese faces insurmountable hurdles to become a commonly used international language due to the complexity of Chinese written characters.

His article, titled «Will a character based writing system stop Chinese becoming a global language? A review and reconsideration of the debate,» was published in the journal Global Chinese.

The article analyses the language practices, language ideologies and language planning surrounding the Chinese writing system, as well as the characteristics of contemporary global English, to show that Chinese could one day become a global language.

Dr Gil presents four arguments to support the possibility of Chinese one day becoming a global language.

Firstly, he emphasises that universal literacy is not required for global language status.

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