Which languages are riding a wave of popularity?
"As for Brazil, the popular languages (For work) are as follows:
1) English
2) Spanish
3) German, French, Italia
4) Chinese
5) Japanese
However, it's interesting to note that the interest in Spanish has declined, in comparison with its boom when Mercosul started.
Taken from:
http://www.universia.com.br/materia/materia.jsp?materia=5739
As for Japan (Languages after English), the languages are as follows:
1) French
2) Chinese
3) Korean
4) Italian
5) German
However, I used the "general" (There's also division by gender and age) rank given in the following website:
http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/ranking/44771/
Cheers!!"
Always the same after English:
1.French
2.Italian
3.German
Hey Invitado, thanks for those up to date articles. They were very interesting.
<< Always the same after English:
1.French
2.Italian
3.German >>
I think it's more like
1. English
2. French ???
3. German/Spanish ???
I don't know. Are there any clear sources for the 2nd and 3rd most studied languages? I've haven't seen any. Just heard people's assumptions.
In the US, its:
1)English
2)Spanish
3)French
In Canada, its:
1)English
2)French
3)Spanish
Can't speak for other countries although I imagine French is 2) for Britain. The rest of Europe, its english or german followed by french in terms of second languages.
sorry for not sourcing, this has just been my personal experience.
<<sorry for not sourcing, this has just been my personal experience. >>
My personal experience, as a Papau New Guinea specialist, is the people I meet are mostly learning Hiri Motu.
Russian due to the booming economy that has resulted form massive oil revenues.
<<future of the Middle East>>
Well, Israel is, for all intents and purposes, a European style democracy with a market system... Iran is gaining in power and who knows what their political or economic future holds... the smaller gulf states are all very wealthy... Egypt seems to do fine... I guess a lot of it depends on what your definition of the Middle East is... as a geographic region it's much smaller than if you're thinking a cultural region (but one must be careful in defining those borders, as there is a great deal of variation between Morocco and Pakistan).
Oh, in answer to your question... Who knows? lol
Things don't look good for the Middle East...
Israel = theocracy, hated by all its neighbours, never ending problems and quite demagogic
Iran = theocracy, hated by a lot of its neighbours, as well as foreign powers, overly dependent on oil, any prosperity will only last until it their foolish leaders piss someone off enough to be embroiled in war, and then it's Iraq 2.
Pakistan = increasingly extremist, politically unstable, hostile neighbours, only a matter of time before it loses out on sovereignty
Egypt = poor and bungling, hasn't changed in decades, doesn't look likely to any time soon
Arabian states = 100% dependent on oil, wealth squandered by the elite, medieval political and social systems, they may become more wealthy but they that doesn't mean they're about to attract people to learn their languages
North African states = languishing in post-colonial decadence since forever
Horn of Africa = anarchy and piracy are in fashion, if you're into that kind of thing
Central Asia = poor and languishing in post-soviet stagnance, dependent on oil, totalitarian political systems
Caucasus = unstable, geopolitical battlefield, poor and stagnant since forever
Syria/Lebanon etc...= do these countries even exist? They are so insignificant one would have their doubts...
Lebanon is not so insignificant if in that country there are 5.000 Italian and French soldiers.
lebanon as a state is insignificant, as a territory it has geopolitical value
No country is insignificant because it has enormous value for all its inhabitants and smart people.
trust me, lebanon does not have enormous value for it's inhabitants; usa, israel, siria, iran, eu do
<<No country is insignificant because it has enormous value for all its inhabitants and smart people. >>
Sorry, you obviously do not understand the term 'geopolitics'.
I can perfectly understand the term "geopolitcs", for this reason I think Lebanon is one of the most "important" countries in the area. They have been fighting to control it for many years...
<<They have been fighting to control it for many years... >>
The land is what is important, the people are insignificant. What language they speak is irrelevant. The people will be treated like ants by whoever happens to be in power at the time, and they will end up speaking the language of their master. Therefore, there is EXTREMELY small chance that Lebanese Arabic will soon find itself 'riding a wave of popularity'. (we're talking popularity of languages remember)