Amongst many other negatives, we British are renowned for our total lack of language skills. When asked to say something in a foreign language, a majority will reply something along the lines of; “Parlez-vous Anglais?”

We have always relied on the capacity of others to understand us and the global popularity of English has encouraged a general consensus that there's no real point in learning a foreign language, because “everyone” can speak our own. But will this always be the case?

Western political and cultural hegemony is slipping and it is predicted that during our lifetime the economic dominance of the USA will decline as economics in Asia overtake it in size.

The story of English in the 20^th century is closely linked to the rise of the USA. Any substantial shift in its role is likely to have an impact on the use and attractiveness of the English language worldwide.

David Groddal is a British linguist who has studied the sociolinguistics of English for the past 40 years and is recognised as being one of the world experts on the evolution of the English language. He believes there is no immediate threat to the English language's position as world lingua franca (a language systematically used to communicate between persons not sharing a mother tongue) because of it's impregnation in globalisation, but that in the future it will no longer be controlled by the same populations.

World-wide, 1,400 million people live in countries where English has official status. One out of five of the world's population speak English to some level of competence and this proportion is ever increasing.

It is the official language of the majority of all financial institutions, scientific publications and international organisations. It also is the first language of global advertising, audio-visual cultural products and tourism.

Jieun Han, 26, is a Korean student from Seoul studying for an education Masters at Kingston University. She has been learning English since she was 13 and moved over to England last summer to improve it.

With ease and fluency she told RiverOnline: “English gives me a future. It’s becoming more and more important in Korea and if I want to find a job I have to be able to speak it really well.

A big idea in Korea is that when a woman is pregnant she must listen, watch and read English music, films and news so that the baby will learn too! It is now never too early to start learning."

However, only 372 million of us are native speakers and despite feeling that the language belongs to us, it's people like Jieun Han, who speak English as a second or third language, who will determine its world future. By 2020 it is thought that there will be 2 billion English speakers but only 15 per cent of them will be native.

Researchers have analysed the transformation of English under the influence of a majority of second language speakers. This phenomenon has created what is known as Panenglish and its effects are particularly obvious in Asia.

Japanese words such as 'anime' for animation and 'karaoke' (from the Japanese word 'kara' for empty and the English 'orchestra') are well established in today’s English and give a taste of changes to come.

Due to the sheer size of speakers, Chinese is thought to heavily influence the English language of the future. Roughly 300 million Chinese (five times the British population) read and write English but don't get enough practice. This will result in what has already been dubbed Chinglish.

The influences are not just one-sided; Japanese contains an ever increasing number of English-derived words, often with meanings unrecognisable to native English speakers - 'mansion' refers to an apartment, 'sexuhara' is sexual harassment and 'pipe cut' is a vasectomy.

While the transformation of English is the generally accepted theory for years to come, "proper" English still plays an important role in the world today.

Jieun also remarked upon the importance of native speakers in Korea: "Native English speakers are very sought after in Korea because they can help us have a perfect accent. That is one of the reasons I came to England."

Jody Houton is a 29-year-old Journalism student from Kingston University, who has taught English in Japan and Korea.

Describing his experiences he said: “I had always been interested in Asia, especially Japan so when I finished my initial English literature Degree, I made steps to go and work there.

I got my first job through TEFL which is the main organisation for teaching English as a foreign language. Within weeks of joining their website, I landed my first job which was working in a private English school for Japanese children in Tokyo.

What hit me about my time spent in Asia was how much people over there want to learn English, it's crazy! I was teaching in a Kindergarten and the children there were doing 5-6 hours of English a day.”

In all fairness, our linguistic advantage cannot last for very long in a world that is becoming more and more monolinguistic. In the end, people speaking two or more languages will surely be preferred to those who only speak the one.

We may also be losing our language to globalisation and living through an economic recession but the future does nevertheless hold some positives for UK students graduating in 2009.

For those unafraid of uprooting, teaching English as a foreign language is a very attractive option. It fulfils all travelling needs and provides an interesting income while remaining typically British; there’s not even any need to learn another language.

So when a foreigner asks if you speak another language, you can proudly reply; “No, but I CAN teach you English!”