Mr Ostler says machines may do the same to English.

奥斯特勒表示，机器可能会给英语造成同样的影响。

Yet Ostler takes the view that by around 2050 no global lingua franca will be needed.

但奥斯特勒的观点是：到2050年前后，世界将不再需要全球性的通用语言。

Mr Ostler is surely right about the nationalist limits to the spread of English as a mother-tongue.

Ostler先生确信民族主义者限制英语作为母语的传播是做得对的。

Mr Ostler suggests that two new factors-modern nationalism and technology-will check the spread of English.

Ostler先生认为，现代民族国家主义和技术这两个因素将会阻碍英语的传播。

English will fade as a lingua-franca, Mr Ostler argues, but not because some other language will take its place.

奥斯勒声称英语作为通用语前景每况愈下，这并不是因为会有其他的语言取而代之。

This was the cheerful servant of that establishment, who, in her part of factotum, turned groom and ostler at times.

这是醇沥酒店那位开心的伙计，因为是打杂的，有时也做喂马赶车的差事。

Rather, English will have no successor because none will be needed. Technology, Mr Ostler believes, will fill the need.

更确切的讲，奥斯勒先生相信英语没有继任者因其无需继任，且技术会满足需要。

Mr Ostler acknowledges that so far such software is a disappointment even after 50 years of intense research, and an explosion in the power of computers.

Ostler先生承认，目前为止，经过了50年的努力研究，电脑运行能力激增，但这种软件还是令人失望的。

But Nicholas Ostler, a scholar of the rise and fall of languages, makes a surprising prediction in his latest book: the days of English as the world's lingua-franca may be numbered.

但是Nicholas Ostler，一位研究语言兴衰的学者在他的最新著作中做出了大胆的预测，那就是英语作为通用语的日子已经屈指可数了。

It seems sometimes that Mr Ostler, fascinated by ancient uses of language, wanted to write a different sort of book but was persuaded by his publisher to play up the English angle.

热衷于语言的历史用途的奥斯勒先生时常萌发一个想法，写与众不同的书，而出版商规劝他要着眼于英语的角度。

But Nicholas Ostler, a scholar of the rise and fall of languages, makes a surprising prediction in his latest book: the days of English as the world's lingua-franca may be numbered.

但是研究语言盛衰的学者尼古拉斯·奥斯特勒在他的新书中做出了惊人的预测：英语作为世界通用语已经时日不多了。