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There is not a second World language
Neither do I think there will be any 2nd world language in the future.
Spanish is dominant in Latin America, Chinese in China and Taiwan, etc. With English there#s no need for a 2nd world language anymore.
I was perplex when I learned that Wikipedia in Volapuk is bigger than in Esperanto which I believe is more popular language
Guest asked: "I wonder what "enough" Japanese means."
My friend had just come back from a year-abroad program in Japan, after taking first-year Japanese in college. He knew "enough" to be conversational with the execs of the Japanese company, who offered him a position. (Not just for the language--he had other skills they wanted--but still did not yet have his college degree.) He improved his Japanese (and his job level) continuously over the years, and is now "near-native," both in speaking and writing--including very technical Japanese required for his market. He uses Japanese not only for business trips to Japan, but for daily communication with his subordinates in the Chicago office.
>>According to Google ^^! Xie said:
LOL, there you are. >>"This is not McDonald's, do not ask us for ketchup." Got it. I intended to attract cultural discussions. :) I've never heard of this type of punchlines in my native language. We'd rather put in a chicken-gut way - a bit blunt, but it almost always works. That's just like how glad some monolinguals would be if you can say a single phrase as Ni Hao. It's sooooooo touching and nice of you to say something in their language that they believe to be rather impossible for a foreigner. >>In a part of this world that is about three and half times the area of mainland China I think it's more psychologically fulfilling to say Spanish-speaking countries far outnumber that of the Sinosphere - and the commies say there is only one in it! I think we also like ironies as much as other peoples do. == Some people, I mean, some (on the internet; I've seldom seen anyone who doesn't speak a European language and seldom seen a place where no such person exist in the cyberspace) polyglots/enthusiasts are complaining about the tendency towards learning LESS - like I ranting about the same problem with some others - I'd rather say that we are learning MORE. Perhaps our American friends (now, this is a Chinese word, we love making friends....with virtually anyone you don't even know, like your audience) know this quite well, in the case of the Hispanic language. There must be some tendency taking place before certain languages can challenge English, and you can SEE it now. LanguageS, esp. remote ones (Spanish to me, for example), were UNKNOWN before the internet, just like English was unknown before China had to do "trade" with others. Spanish might be a fad in China, but with more int'l comm. links, while it might still be safe to say there isn't going to be a second world language, I won't discount Spanish as far too remote in my country, nor will it stay insignificant. Despite the fact that many of my people don't even know anything beyond English (nor is their English good, sicne we aren't Anglophone), the language students WILL be raising the status of all those lucrative languages. Many of them might not end up getting fluent, but there you are, the Chinese at least are learning many languages...that was not exactly possible 30 years ago. After we and other peoples have English under our belt, we can go on to get others...
Everybody say that Chinese and Spanish are more likely to be second. I agree.
Well, if you take into account English as example, only Chinese and Spanish win in several factors: Chinese is the most spoken language as mother tongue and as total speakers. Spanish is the most spoken language in the Americas. Spanish is also the language with more countries where is the first language. In total, Spanish is the first language of 25 countries, an important record. English is second with only 7 countries (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ, Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago). In short, only Spanish and Chinese are stronger than English in two or more factors.
We don't give a damn about Spanish (Castilian) in Brazil. Nobody can speak it properly and only Portunhol Spanish is used and taught. By the way they like to include us in their sphere but we have always rejected it historically and militarily and we always make them understand us in our own language because we are the most powerful, the most rich and the bigger country in the region.
Marinheiro eres más chulo que un ocho.
and yes you're right "they like to include us in their sphere " but this is because Lulilla likes to go to those meetings where spanish-speaking countries arrange to meet. <<we have always rejected it historically and militarily >> Han sido muchas veces o ¿qué? <<because we are the most powerful, the most rich and the bigger country in the region.>> ¡Uh qué miedo!
Brazil is the biggest country in South America, but in terms of GDP per capita it's considerably poorer than Argentina and Chile. Main Brazil's commercial partners are Spanish speaking countries. It's just a necessity to learn Spanish for them whereas on the other hand they don't care Portuguese or whatever they speak in Brazil. Even South Brazilians prefer to be part of Argentina rather than Brazil.
<<Brazil is the biggest country in South America, but in terms of GDP per capita it's considerably poorer than Argentina and Chile. Main Brazil's commercial partners are Spanish speaking countries. It's just a necessity to learn Spanish for them whereas on the other hand they don't care Portuguese or whatever they speak in Brazil. Even South Brazilians prefer to be part of Argentina rather than Brazil.>>
It's true
Presumably, in the decades ahead, Chinese will become the second world language, and then eventually become the pre-eminent world language. English will first drop to second place, and perhaps eventually to third or fourth place (or lower), as the demographic, economic, and military decline of the US and other western countries accelerates.
Everybody say that Chinese and Spanish are more likely to be second. I agree.
Well, if you take into account English as example, only Chinese and Spanish win in several factors: Chinese is the most spoken language as mother tongue and as total speakers. Spanish is the most spoken language in the Americas. Spanish is also the language with more countries where is the first language. In total, Spanish is the first language of 25 countries, an important record. English is second with only 7 countries (USA, UK, Canada, Australia, NZ, Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago). In short, only Spanish and Chinese are stronger than English in two or more factors. What?! English is official in 53 countries. Even French beats Spanish with 31. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English_is_an_official_language
Everybody talks about Hispanic America when they refer to the importance of Spanish, but what about Spain as well? It's important to include this country as well.
To JLK
I explain you that. In India and a lot of other countries English is official but not the language of the people. In India the first language or language more spoken is Hindi, in Pakistan Urdu, in South Africa several African languages, in Kenia Swahili, etc. So, English is a minority language in almost all the countries where is official, but 7. The same with French. French is official in several African countries but is not the language of the people. They usually speak Arabic, Wolof, Hausa, etc. Spanish is different. It is not only official but also the most spoken language of 25 countries, their mother tongue. That is the strengh of Spanish. |