The most studied World languages
I read that the the most studied World languages are English, Spanish, French, German and Italian.
I do not know why Chinese, Arabic, Hindi or Russian, for example are so studied as Italian, 5th, that it is a language not very spoken.
What do you think?
Arabic is definately more studied than Italian. The problem is people don't take into account countries they don't care about or are ignorant of when compiling such statements which they pass of as 'facts'.
That is interesting. You say that in these reports, they only take in account European countries, but not African ones.
So, you think that Arabic is at least 5th, do not you?
But if that it is true, which are really the most studied languages, if you take in account Africa and Asia?
Perhaps English, Spanish, Chinese and Arabic are really the most studied languages if you take in account Africa and Asia too.
I don't think Chinese. The majority of people who learn Mandarin are Cantonese speakers, there are a lot of them but it's a kind of different situation, as they are learning a national language... Spanish is not so widely studied except in USA and Brazil. Elsewhere it is about on par with German, and lower than French, but higher than Italian. Arabic is widely studied in all Muslim countries, though how proficient most Arabic learners become I do not know. Italian is only studied in Europe mainly, and even so it's more of an 'academic' language rather than a 'practical' language for most foreigners.
Do Arabic learners just learn to recite certain passages from the Koran in Arabic (kind of like Europeans often know some phrases in Latin , but don't really know the language), or do they actually learn the language in its entirety?
* I was referring to people in Muslim countries who learn Arabic for religious reasons.
In Philippines Spanish will be compulsory subject next year.
It depends on the people that you take in account.
For example, Chinese is one of the most studied languages if you take in account Cantonese speakers and other people that speak Chinese of Shanghai or Tibetan. More than 100 million of Chinese people study Mandarin.
The same with Spanish. It is studied in USA, European Union, Brazil, Belize, Guyane, Trinidad and Tobago, North Africa, Phlippines, etc, but it is also studied in Mexico, Central America, South America, Spain, etc by several million people that speak other language, like Guarani, Quechua, Aymara or Basque.
You must take in account all these people.
So, my top seven is:
1. English
2. Spanish or Chinese
3. Chinese or Spanish
4. Arabic. It is a religious language in the Muslim World
5. French
6. German
7. Italian
More than 1.3 billion people in the world study Chinese(Mandarin).
In India, Hindi is the compulsory course in primary schools.
I think:
1.English
2.Chinese(Mandarin)
3.Hindi
Yes. you must add Hindi, and perhaps Urdu, Bengali, Persian and Indonesian.
If you add all the people that really study these languages French, German and Italian are not in the top ten.
What would happen if everyone spoke Chinese?
What would happen if everyone spoke Chinese?
aaaa, entonces todos hablarían chino, ¿no es verdad?