Louisiana is Hispanic. Viva Louisiana.
Is French on the decline
<<...YOUR HISPANIC ALTER EGOS STARTED TO POST MESSAGES JUST BECAUSE THEY CANNOT PROVE THAT SPANISH IS THE 2ND MOST STUDIED AND USED IN THE INTERNATIONAL GATHERINGS.>>
Yes, we can.
Spanish Now Second-Most Studied Language
The French like to claim that French is the second-most taught language in the world, and this might have been true a while ago. However, some now contend that Spanish has taken up that position due to both the rise of Spanish and the decline of French:
According to Spain's 20 Minutos, there are now more than 14 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language. According to the Director of the Instituto Cervantes -- the Spanish organization that looks to promote the language all over the world -- one of the main reasons that people are choosing to study Spanish is because they believe that it willprofessionally benefit them in today's global economy. He also pointed to Brazil's decision to make Spanish an mandatory subject in schools as an example of the growing importance of Spanish in the world.
There are currently one million Spanish speakers in Brazil butMolina estimates that in 10 years there will be more than 30 million Spanish-speaking Brazilians, adding to the already 500 million Spanish speakers in America and Spain, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world, after Chinese, English and Hindi. Brazil's new Spanish initiative will call for 210,000 Spanish teachers to teach the language.
Molina, speaking at a language school conference in Coruña, Spain, also said that the United States -- currently with (according to his estimate) 36 million Spanish speakers -- is the frontier that must be conquered, calling it "a decisive platform for Spanish to reaffirm its role as the second language of international communication."
2007/04/27
http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php
PD. If you write in Google "the second most studied language worldwide" there are several updated pages where the answer is Spanish.
By the way, Spanish is yet the second most studied language in United Kingdom, France and Germany...
Yes, we can.
Spanish Now Second-Most Studied Language
The French like to claim that French is the second-most taught language in the world, and this might have been true a while ago. However, some now contend that Spanish has taken up that position due to both the rise of Spanish and the decline of French:
According to Spain's 20 Minutos, there are now more than 14 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language. According to the Director of the Instituto Cervantes -- the Spanish organization that looks to promote the language all over the world -- one of the main reasons that people are choosing to study Spanish is because they believe that it willprofessionally benefit them in today's global economy. He also pointed to Brazil's decision to make Spanish an mandatory subject in schools as an example of the growing importance of Spanish in the world.
There are currently one million Spanish speakers in Brazil butMolina estimates that in 10 years there will be more than 30 million Spanish-speaking Brazilians, adding to the already 500 million Spanish speakers in America and Spain, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world, after Chinese, English and Hindi. Brazil's new Spanish initiative will call for 210,000 Spanish teachers to teach the language.
Molina, speaking at a language school conference in Coruña, Spain, also said that the United States -- currently with (according to his estimate) 36 million Spanish speakers -- is the frontier that must be conquered, calling it "a decisive platform for Spanish to reaffirm its role as the second language of international communication."
2007/04/27
http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php
PD. If you write in Google "the second most studied language worldwide" there are several updated pages where the answer is Spanish.
By the way, Spanish is yet the second most studied language in United Kingdom, France and Germany...
<<
Shiv, as I said don't make a fool out of me because real Americans wouldn't react on messages if they're just pure discussions and especially if the English language and culture is not being attacked like what you're doing to the French language and culture. >>
Haha! You don't have to be a Hispanic to spot lies as big as yours! It's called truth and reality, get used to it! Feel free to attack English whenever you feel like it, I welcome it, but I can guarantee no trolls will come and spend hours looking up obscure links to 'offset' your attacks, because the truth is PLAIN TO SEE! The fact that you act like that is just PROOF that French is screwed, if it weren't there would be no need to get so touchy!
Shiv, as I said don't make a fool out of me because real Americans wouldn't react on messages if they're just pure discussions and especially if the English language and culture is not being attacked like what you're doing to the French language and culture. >>
Haha! You don't have to be a Hispanic to spot lies as big as yours! It's called truth and reality, get used to it! Feel free to attack English whenever you feel like it, I welcome it, but I can guarantee no trolls will come and spend hours looking up obscure links to 'offset' your attacks, because the truth is PLAIN TO SEE! The fact that you act like that is just PROOF that French is screwed, if it weren't there would be no need to get so touchy!
Visitor, just because someone doesn't agree with you or prefers Spanish to French, that doesn't mean they are automatically a hispanic. Are you so narrow minded that you think a non-hispanic would never disagree with you? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm one of those people. I disagree with you, I prefer Spanish, and I'm NOT HISPANIC. So just deal with it. When you automatically label somebody something because that don't agree with you, then you are making a weak argument and avoiding the real point of the argument. You should take a debate class.
You should take a good look at what ANGLO posted above. He made a very
good point. Well said!
I'm done with you Vistor. You're overly defensive, illogical and a poor debater...probably for the reason ANGLO posted. Adios!
You should take a good look at what ANGLO posted above. He made a very
good point. Well said!
I'm done with you Vistor. You're overly defensive, illogical and a poor debater...probably for the reason ANGLO posted. Adios!
<<Haha! You don't have to be a Hispanic to spot lies as big as yours! It's called truth and reality, get used to it! Feel free to attack English whenever you feel like it, I welcome it, but I can guarantee no trolls will come and spend hours looking up obscure links to 'offset' your attacks, because the truth is PLAIN TO SEE! The fact that you act like that is just PROOF that French is screwed, if it weren't there would be no need to get so touchy! >>
Spanish is the one that's screwed in countries like Philippines, Marianas, and Guam it's no longer speoken. In Equatorial Guinea and western Sahara is giving way to French. The next countries that Spanish will be screwed are Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia by Quechua and Aymara; Paraguay by Guarani the native language of 90% of the people; by Quiche in Guatemala; and in Mexico by Nahautl.
And what are you trying to say that I should feel free to attcak English? Oh, It's because you love to see it because you don't care for English since you're a Hispanic who has nothing on mind but Spanish.
STOP PRETENDING THAT YOU'RE AN AMERICAN BECAUSE EVEN IF I DON'T KNOW YOUR IP ADDRESS, IT SHOWS THAT YOU'RE A HISPANIC. ONE OF THE ALTER EGOS WHO USES MANY NAMES.
Spanish is the one that's screwed in countries like Philippines, Marianas, and Guam it's no longer speoken. In Equatorial Guinea and western Sahara is giving way to French. The next countries that Spanish will be screwed are Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia by Quechua and Aymara; Paraguay by Guarani the native language of 90% of the people; by Quiche in Guatemala; and in Mexico by Nahautl.
And what are you trying to say that I should feel free to attcak English? Oh, It's because you love to see it because you don't care for English since you're a Hispanic who has nothing on mind but Spanish.
STOP PRETENDING THAT YOU'RE AN AMERICAN BECAUSE EVEN IF I DON'T KNOW YOUR IP ADDRESS, IT SHOWS THAT YOU'RE A HISPANIC. ONE OF THE ALTER EGOS WHO USES MANY NAMES.
<< Yes, we can.
Spanish Now Second-Most Studied Language
The French like to claim that French is the second-most taught language in the world, and this might have been true a while ago. However, some now contend that Spanish has taken up that position due to both the rise of Spanish and the decline of French:
According to Spain's 20 Minutos, there are now more than 14 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language. According to the Director of the Instituto Cervantes -- the Spanish organization that looks to promote the language all over the world -- one of the main reasons that people are choosing to study Spanish is because they believe that it willprofessionally benefit them in today's global economy. He also pointed to Brazil's decision to make Spanish an mandatory subject in schools as an example of the growing importance of Spanish in the world.
There are currently one million Spanish speakers in Brazil butMolina estimates that in 10 years there will be more than 30 million Spanish-speaking Brazilians, adding to the already 500 million Spanish speakers in America and Spain, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world, after Chinese, English and Hindi. Brazil's new Spanish initiative will call for 210,000 Spanish teachers to teach the language.
Molina, speaking at a language school conference in Coruña, Spain, also said that the United States -- currently with (according to his estimate) 36 million Spanish speakers -- is the frontier that must be conquered, calling it "a decisive platform for Spanish to reaffirm its role as the second language of international communication."
2007/04/27
http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php
PD. If you write in Google "the second most studied language worldwide" there are several updated pages where the answer is Spanish. >>
You're supporting link is invalid because it's written by a lying hispanic and it's full of liies just like your head full of lice. The link is based on the wrong information made by INSTITUTO CERVEZA.
http://www.fll.vt.edu/French/whyfrench.html
<< By the way, Spanish is yet the second most studied language in United Kingdom, France and Germany... >>
BOBO, you have no evidence that Spanish is the 2nd most studied language in UKa nd Germany. Here's an anecdote to your lies.
About 80% of UK primary schools that currently teach any foreign language teach French.
Which are Europe's most-talked languages?
( based on a contribution by Graham Davies to LinguanetForum, 25 August 2006)
Which Western European language gives you most people to speak to?
A survey in 2005 of languages spoken by people in the European Union (EU) + candidate coountries (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey) asked EU citizens which language they spoke as their Mother Tongue (MT) and first Foreign Language (FL).
The figures for the main languages are:
English: 51% (MT 13%, FL 38%)
German: 32% (MT 18%, FL 14%)
French: 25% (MT 12%, FL 13%)
Italian: 16% (MT 13%, FL 3%)
Spanish: 15% (MT 9%, FL 6%)
Studying languages at school
Overall, 77% of European citizens considered that children should learn English as their first FL. Only the UK, Ireland (64%) and Luxembourg (8%) considered French to be the first FL that children should learn.
When asked which two FLs UK children should learn at school, UK citizens answered:
French: 77%
Spanish 39%
German: 34%
http://www.earlystart.co.uk/which-lang.htm
Most Germans also learn English as first foreign language in schools. Sometimes French or Latin are taught first, but usually it is English, with Latin and French as common second or third foreign languages, as well as Spanish. Ancient Greek, Italian, Russian, Polish, Dutch, or other languages are also learned in schools (often depending on geographical location).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Germany
23% of the British speak French as secondary language and 8% Spanish. 15% of the Germans has French as secondary language while Spanish is just 4%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eu_languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Germany
Spanish Now Second-Most Studied Language
The French like to claim that French is the second-most taught language in the world, and this might have been true a while ago. However, some now contend that Spanish has taken up that position due to both the rise of Spanish and the decline of French:
According to Spain's 20 Minutos, there are now more than 14 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language. According to the Director of the Instituto Cervantes -- the Spanish organization that looks to promote the language all over the world -- one of the main reasons that people are choosing to study Spanish is because they believe that it willprofessionally benefit them in today's global economy. He also pointed to Brazil's decision to make Spanish an mandatory subject in schools as an example of the growing importance of Spanish in the world.
There are currently one million Spanish speakers in Brazil butMolina estimates that in 10 years there will be more than 30 million Spanish-speaking Brazilians, adding to the already 500 million Spanish speakers in America and Spain, making it the fourth most spoken language in the world, after Chinese, English and Hindi. Brazil's new Spanish initiative will call for 210,000 Spanish teachers to teach the language.
Molina, speaking at a language school conference in Coruña, Spain, also said that the United States -- currently with (according to his estimate) 36 million Spanish speakers -- is the frontier that must be conquered, calling it "a decisive platform for Spanish to reaffirm its role as the second language of international communication."
2007/04/27
http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php
PD. If you write in Google "the second most studied language worldwide" there are several updated pages where the answer is Spanish. >>
You're supporting link is invalid because it's written by a lying hispanic and it's full of liies just like your head full of lice. The link is based on the wrong information made by INSTITUTO CERVEZA.
http://www.fll.vt.edu/French/whyfrench.html
<< By the way, Spanish is yet the second most studied language in United Kingdom, France and Germany... >>
BOBO, you have no evidence that Spanish is the 2nd most studied language in UKa nd Germany. Here's an anecdote to your lies.
About 80% of UK primary schools that currently teach any foreign language teach French.
Which are Europe's most-talked languages?
( based on a contribution by Graham Davies to LinguanetForum, 25 August 2006)
Which Western European language gives you most people to speak to?
A survey in 2005 of languages spoken by people in the European Union (EU) + candidate coountries (Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and Turkey) asked EU citizens which language they spoke as their Mother Tongue (MT) and first Foreign Language (FL).
The figures for the main languages are:
English: 51% (MT 13%, FL 38%)
German: 32% (MT 18%, FL 14%)
French: 25% (MT 12%, FL 13%)
Italian: 16% (MT 13%, FL 3%)
Spanish: 15% (MT 9%, FL 6%)
Studying languages at school
Overall, 77% of European citizens considered that children should learn English as their first FL. Only the UK, Ireland (64%) and Luxembourg (8%) considered French to be the first FL that children should learn.
When asked which two FLs UK children should learn at school, UK citizens answered:
French: 77%
Spanish 39%
German: 34%
http://www.earlystart.co.uk/which-lang.htm
Most Germans also learn English as first foreign language in schools. Sometimes French or Latin are taught first, but usually it is English, with Latin and French as common second or third foreign languages, as well as Spanish. Ancient Greek, Italian, Russian, Polish, Dutch, or other languages are also learned in schools (often depending on geographical location).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Germany
23% of the British speak French as secondary language and 8% Spanish. 15% of the Germans has French as secondary language while Spanish is just 4%.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eu_languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Germany
<< Haha! You don't have to be a Hispanic to spot lies as big as yours! It's called truth and reality, get used to it! Feel free to attack English whenever you feel like it, I welcome it, but I can guarantee no trolls will come and spend hours looking up obscure links to 'offset' your attacks, because the truth is PLAIN TO SEE! The fact that you act like that is just PROOF that French is screwed, if it weren't there would be no need to get so touchy! >>
Haha! You don't have to be a French to spot lies as big as yours! It's called truth and reality, get used to it! Feel free to attack English whenever you feel like it, I welcome it, but I can guarantee no trolls will come and spend hours looking up obscure links to 'offset' your attacks, because the truth is PLAIN TO SEE! The fact that you act like that is just PROOF that Spanish is screwed, if it weren't there would be no need to get so touchy!
Haha! You don't have to be a French to spot lies as big as yours! It's called truth and reality, get used to it! Feel free to attack English whenever you feel like it, I welcome it, but I can guarantee no trolls will come and spend hours looking up obscure links to 'offset' your attacks, because the truth is PLAIN TO SEE! The fact that you act like that is just PROOF that Spanish is screwed, if it weren't there would be no need to get so touchy!
Le Français comme une Langue étrangère
Elle est également la langue qui progresse le plus rapidement sur l'ensemble du continent africain (comme langue officielle ou comme langue étrangère). Le français est enseigné dans de nombreuses universités partout à travers le monde et il jouit d'un rayonnement notamment dans les mondes diplomatique, journalistique, judiciaire et universitaire. Le français est la deuxième langue étrangère la plus enseignée dans les écoles de l'Union européenne (l'espagnol arrivant seulement loin derrière en 4e position). Avec l'entrée de la Roumanie et de la Bulgarie dans l'Union européenne depuis janvier 2007, le français repasse devant l'allemand en tant que langue étrangère la plus enseignée dans l'Union après l'anglais. De façon générale, le français demeure une des langues les plus enseignées dans le monde.
En raison du cas particulier d'un bloc linguistique hispanophone important en Amérique latine, seul continent où l'on retrouve de façon significative la langue espagnole (à part l'Espagne même), les États-Unis sont le seul grand pays anglophone du monde où le français n'est pas la première langue étrangère enseignée, laquelle est ici l'espagnol depuis les années 1980 ; c'était auparavant le français. Dans d'autres pays anglophones (Irlande, Canada anglophone, etc.), le français conserve le privilège d'être la première langue étrangère enseignée et loin devant les autres langues.
In English:
French as a Foreign Language
It is also the language that the fastest growing throughout the African continent (as the official language or foreign language). French is taught in many universities around the world and it has a particular influence in the worlds diplomatic, journalistic, legal and academic. French is the second foreign language taught in most schools in the European Union (Spanish only arriving far behind in 4th position). With the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the European Union since January 2007, the French became equal with German once more as the second most widely taught foreign language in the EU after English. In general, French is one of the most widely taught languages in the world.
Because of the particular case of a Spanish language major bloc in Latin America, the only continent where there are significantly Spanish (Spain from the same), the United States is the only major English-speaking country in the world where French is not the first foreign language, which has been Spanish since the 1980s and was previously French. In other English-speaking countries (Ireland, English-speaking Canada, etc..), The French retain the privilege of being the first foreign language taught and well ahead of other languages.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ais
Elle est également la langue qui progresse le plus rapidement sur l'ensemble du continent africain (comme langue officielle ou comme langue étrangère). Le français est enseigné dans de nombreuses universités partout à travers le monde et il jouit d'un rayonnement notamment dans les mondes diplomatique, journalistique, judiciaire et universitaire. Le français est la deuxième langue étrangère la plus enseignée dans les écoles de l'Union européenne (l'espagnol arrivant seulement loin derrière en 4e position). Avec l'entrée de la Roumanie et de la Bulgarie dans l'Union européenne depuis janvier 2007, le français repasse devant l'allemand en tant que langue étrangère la plus enseignée dans l'Union après l'anglais. De façon générale, le français demeure une des langues les plus enseignées dans le monde.
En raison du cas particulier d'un bloc linguistique hispanophone important en Amérique latine, seul continent où l'on retrouve de façon significative la langue espagnole (à part l'Espagne même), les États-Unis sont le seul grand pays anglophone du monde où le français n'est pas la première langue étrangère enseignée, laquelle est ici l'espagnol depuis les années 1980 ; c'était auparavant le français. Dans d'autres pays anglophones (Irlande, Canada anglophone, etc.), le français conserve le privilège d'être la première langue étrangère enseignée et loin devant les autres langues.
In English:
French as a Foreign Language
It is also the language that the fastest growing throughout the African continent (as the official language or foreign language). French is taught in many universities around the world and it has a particular influence in the worlds diplomatic, journalistic, legal and academic. French is the second foreign language taught in most schools in the European Union (Spanish only arriving far behind in 4th position). With the entry of Romania and Bulgaria into the European Union since January 2007, the French became equal with German once more as the second most widely taught foreign language in the EU after English. In general, French is one of the most widely taught languages in the world.
Because of the particular case of a Spanish language major bloc in Latin America, the only continent where there are significantly Spanish (Spain from the same), the United States is the only major English-speaking country in the world where French is not the first foreign language, which has been Spanish since the 1980s and was previously French. In other English-speaking countries (Ireland, English-speaking Canada, etc..), The French retain the privilege of being the first foreign language taught and well ahead of other languages.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ais
In the Americas, Haitian Creole is the second most spoken language in Cuba, where over 300,000 Haitian immigrants speak it. It is recognized as a language in Cuba and a considerable number of Cubans speak it fluently. Most of these speakers have never been to Haiti and do not possess Haitian ancestry, but merely learned it in their communities. In addition, there is a Haitian Creole radio station operating in Havana.The language is also spoken by over 150,000 Haitians (although estimates believe that there are over a million speakers due to a huge population of illegal aliens from Haiti) who reside in the neighboring Dominican Republic, although the locals do not speak it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Creole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Creole
Cuba and Dominican Republic are Francophones. Vive le Cuba et la Republique Dominicaine
HERE'S ANOTHER THREAT TO SPANISH RIGHT IN ITS OWN TURF!
Across Hispanic America, Mandarin Is in the Air
By Juan Forero
Washington Post
September 22, 2006
Elizabeth Zamora is a busy mother and executive. Still, for three hours every Saturday, she slides into a battered wooden desk at Bogota's National University and follows along as Yuan Juhua, a language instructor sent here by China's government, teaches the intricacies of Mandarin.
Zamora already speaks German and English, but she struggles to learn written Chinese characters and mimic tones unknown in Spanish. She persists for a simple reason: China is voraciously scouring Latin America for everything from oil to lumber, and there is money to be made. That prospect has not only Zamora but business people in much of Latin America flocking to learn the Chinese language, increasingly heard in boardrooms and on executive junkets.
"It's fundamental to communicate in their language when you go there or they come here," said Zamora, 40, a sales executive for the German drugmaker Bayer, which is growing dramatically in China. "If you don't know their language, you're lost."
Latin America, with its vast farmlands and ample oil reserves and mineral deposits, has become a prime destination for investors and others from China, whose economy has been growing at 9 percent annually. The total value of trade between China and Latin America rose from just over $10 billion in 2000 to $50 billion last year, according to Chinese trade data.
"Latin American countries want to diversify their markets, and they see a huge opportunity, not just in the present but in the potential for growth," said Chris Sabatini, a senior director of policy for the New York-based Council of the Americas, a business association that encourages trade in the Americas. "Latin Americans, as people in any country, should be opportunistic, and they see opportunity with China."
Chinese companies are investing in farmland and energy installations in Brazil. Beijing has signed a free-trade agreement with Chile, its first with a Latin American country, while announcing investments in the Chilean copper industry and gas and oil fields in Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia. Beijing has also cemented a $5 billion oil deal with President Hugo Ch�vez of Venezuela, which is seeking to diversify exports to other countries beyond the United States.
The arrival of China in a largely Spanish-speaking region half a world away might seem unusual. But Beijing is in a relentless quest for oil, coal, iron ore and copper for its factories, soybean and poultry to feed its 1.3 billion people, lumber for housing, and fish meal for its livestock. President Hu Jintao's government, which two years ago pledged $100 billion in investments for several South American countries, said it also wants to bankroll road, port and railroad developments that would help bring exports more quickly to China.
Veering toward China, though, is far from easy for entrepreneurs and students from a region that has long been intertwined with the giant to the north. The United States remains the biggest investor in Latin America, its trade with the region eight times that of China's. English prevails as a second language.
Mandarin, on the other hand, is considered far harder to learn, with dialects and a tenor significantly different from the phonetic cadences of Spanish and Portuguese. Yet the Chinese language is making gains, as is the revolutionary idea of looking west across the Pacific for business opportunities.
"The world is divided into east and west, and the culture is completely different," said Miguel Angel Poveda, president of the Colombo-China Chamber of Commerce in Bogota. "The only way to get around it is to understand the culture and learn to do business with them, but in their language."
Many of those taking up the challenge are young, like Leidy Catalina Ortega, 17, who recently dropped an English-language class in favor of Mandarin. Her parents want to import clothing from China to sell in Bogota. If she learns the language, she will help manage the business. "If you're interested and work hard, you can learn and talk almost like they do," she said. "You are afraid at first. Later you get it and move on."
Universities across Latin America, from Mexico to Buenos Aires, are founding Asian studies programs and teaching Chinese. Institutions of all kinds -- some are expensive one-on-one tutorials and others are fly-by-night language academies staffed by illegal Chinese immigrants -- are being inundated with new students.
The University of Buenos Aires started its Chinese-language department in 2004 after Hu led a high-level delegation to Argentina, Brazil and other countries. "It generated so much interest, and people started to say, 'Where is there a place to learn Chinese?' " Maria Chao, the coordinator of the department, said by phone from Buenos Aires. "They see the language as a way to communicate and cut some distance between the two countries."
But in her wildest dreams, Chao said, she could not have foreseen how intense the interest would be. Instead of twenty students, as she expected, more than 600 signed up for classes. Now there are more than 1,000 students studying Chinese at the university, she said, in nearly 70 classes. Chao, who was born in China and immigrated to Argentina at age 5, said she has been astounded by the interest people have in China. She recently asked a policeman for directions and, without missing a beat, he responded: " Ni hao ma ," Mandarin for "How are you?"
In Peru, which has a dynamic Chinese immigrant community and an economy that is growing at 5 percent annually, business people are looking for classes that can quickly give them an advantage as the country's trade with China grows. Joseph Cruz, 46, who has been teaching Chinese for 23 years, will soon launch a course for executives costing $2,200 a year, a hefty sum in Peru.
The course, to be taught at Lima's Catholic University, will not just deal with grammar and vocabulary, but with the trappings of Chinese culture and history, from Confucian philosophy to the importance of tea. "The idea is to use these courses to teach people how Chinese thinking is reflected in modern China," Cruz said. "We're not going to waste their money."
China, too, sees great opportunity in Latin America, said Zhao Xingtian, cultural counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Bogota. He spoke on a recent night as a Colombian-Chinese salsa band -- singing in both Mandarin and Spanish -- prepared to play at a cocktail party given by the Colombo-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
"Many Chinese would like to come to this country, know its people, drink its coffee," said Zhao, speaking a fluid Spanish. "It makes us very happy that many Colombians want to learn Chinese. It's a good beginning. It's a good cultural exchange between Latin America and China."
China is dispatching teachers abroad, sending people like Yuan Juhua to countries that just a few years ago gave short shrift to the idea of strengthening ties with Beijing. Yuan arrived here just two years ago to help launch the National University's Mandarin program. Now, her 12-year-old daughter speaks fluent Spanish, and Yuan divides her time between teaching university students during the day and business people on weekends.
The university "didn't have any resources for the Chinese program, so after I came here, everything was a challenge for me," Yuan said. She also found teaching Spanish speakers a challenge. "These two languages are very different, and because of that, it's difficult for Chinese people to study Spanish and people here to study Chinese," Yuan said. Many drop out after level one, the first of four offered. "If they don't have patience and enthusiasm, it's hard to get to level two," she said.
In a break from Yuan's class, Miguel Aroca, a petroleum engineer for France's Total oil company, recounted the difficulties of reaching level two. Aroca, 33 and fluent in English and French, said he wanted to study Mandarin as a hobby. Now he realizes it is a career tool. Mastering it will not be easy. "It went from being a hobby to being real work," he said. "The last exam, I was really stressed out."
http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/2006/0922mandarin.htm
Across Hispanic America, Mandarin Is in the Air
By Juan Forero
Washington Post
September 22, 2006
Elizabeth Zamora is a busy mother and executive. Still, for three hours every Saturday, she slides into a battered wooden desk at Bogota's National University and follows along as Yuan Juhua, a language instructor sent here by China's government, teaches the intricacies of Mandarin.
Zamora already speaks German and English, but she struggles to learn written Chinese characters and mimic tones unknown in Spanish. She persists for a simple reason: China is voraciously scouring Latin America for everything from oil to lumber, and there is money to be made. That prospect has not only Zamora but business people in much of Latin America flocking to learn the Chinese language, increasingly heard in boardrooms and on executive junkets.
"It's fundamental to communicate in their language when you go there or they come here," said Zamora, 40, a sales executive for the German drugmaker Bayer, which is growing dramatically in China. "If you don't know their language, you're lost."
Latin America, with its vast farmlands and ample oil reserves and mineral deposits, has become a prime destination for investors and others from China, whose economy has been growing at 9 percent annually. The total value of trade between China and Latin America rose from just over $10 billion in 2000 to $50 billion last year, according to Chinese trade data.
"Latin American countries want to diversify their markets, and they see a huge opportunity, not just in the present but in the potential for growth," said Chris Sabatini, a senior director of policy for the New York-based Council of the Americas, a business association that encourages trade in the Americas. "Latin Americans, as people in any country, should be opportunistic, and they see opportunity with China."
Chinese companies are investing in farmland and energy installations in Brazil. Beijing has signed a free-trade agreement with Chile, its first with a Latin American country, while announcing investments in the Chilean copper industry and gas and oil fields in Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia. Beijing has also cemented a $5 billion oil deal with President Hugo Ch�vez of Venezuela, which is seeking to diversify exports to other countries beyond the United States.
The arrival of China in a largely Spanish-speaking region half a world away might seem unusual. But Beijing is in a relentless quest for oil, coal, iron ore and copper for its factories, soybean and poultry to feed its 1.3 billion people, lumber for housing, and fish meal for its livestock. President Hu Jintao's government, which two years ago pledged $100 billion in investments for several South American countries, said it also wants to bankroll road, port and railroad developments that would help bring exports more quickly to China.
Veering toward China, though, is far from easy for entrepreneurs and students from a region that has long been intertwined with the giant to the north. The United States remains the biggest investor in Latin America, its trade with the region eight times that of China's. English prevails as a second language.
Mandarin, on the other hand, is considered far harder to learn, with dialects and a tenor significantly different from the phonetic cadences of Spanish and Portuguese. Yet the Chinese language is making gains, as is the revolutionary idea of looking west across the Pacific for business opportunities.
"The world is divided into east and west, and the culture is completely different," said Miguel Angel Poveda, president of the Colombo-China Chamber of Commerce in Bogota. "The only way to get around it is to understand the culture and learn to do business with them, but in their language."
Many of those taking up the challenge are young, like Leidy Catalina Ortega, 17, who recently dropped an English-language class in favor of Mandarin. Her parents want to import clothing from China to sell in Bogota. If she learns the language, she will help manage the business. "If you're interested and work hard, you can learn and talk almost like they do," she said. "You are afraid at first. Later you get it and move on."
Universities across Latin America, from Mexico to Buenos Aires, are founding Asian studies programs and teaching Chinese. Institutions of all kinds -- some are expensive one-on-one tutorials and others are fly-by-night language academies staffed by illegal Chinese immigrants -- are being inundated with new students.
The University of Buenos Aires started its Chinese-language department in 2004 after Hu led a high-level delegation to Argentina, Brazil and other countries. "It generated so much interest, and people started to say, 'Where is there a place to learn Chinese?' " Maria Chao, the coordinator of the department, said by phone from Buenos Aires. "They see the language as a way to communicate and cut some distance between the two countries."
But in her wildest dreams, Chao said, she could not have foreseen how intense the interest would be. Instead of twenty students, as she expected, more than 600 signed up for classes. Now there are more than 1,000 students studying Chinese at the university, she said, in nearly 70 classes. Chao, who was born in China and immigrated to Argentina at age 5, said she has been astounded by the interest people have in China. She recently asked a policeman for directions and, without missing a beat, he responded: " Ni hao ma ," Mandarin for "How are you?"
In Peru, which has a dynamic Chinese immigrant community and an economy that is growing at 5 percent annually, business people are looking for classes that can quickly give them an advantage as the country's trade with China grows. Joseph Cruz, 46, who has been teaching Chinese for 23 years, will soon launch a course for executives costing $2,200 a year, a hefty sum in Peru.
The course, to be taught at Lima's Catholic University, will not just deal with grammar and vocabulary, but with the trappings of Chinese culture and history, from Confucian philosophy to the importance of tea. "The idea is to use these courses to teach people how Chinese thinking is reflected in modern China," Cruz said. "We're not going to waste their money."
China, too, sees great opportunity in Latin America, said Zhao Xingtian, cultural counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Bogota. He spoke on a recent night as a Colombian-Chinese salsa band -- singing in both Mandarin and Spanish -- prepared to play at a cocktail party given by the Colombo-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
"Many Chinese would like to come to this country, know its people, drink its coffee," said Zhao, speaking a fluid Spanish. "It makes us very happy that many Colombians want to learn Chinese. It's a good beginning. It's a good cultural exchange between Latin America and China."
China is dispatching teachers abroad, sending people like Yuan Juhua to countries that just a few years ago gave short shrift to the idea of strengthening ties with Beijing. Yuan arrived here just two years ago to help launch the National University's Mandarin program. Now, her 12-year-old daughter speaks fluent Spanish, and Yuan divides her time between teaching university students during the day and business people on weekends.
The university "didn't have any resources for the Chinese program, so after I came here, everything was a challenge for me," Yuan said. She also found teaching Spanish speakers a challenge. "These two languages are very different, and because of that, it's difficult for Chinese people to study Spanish and people here to study Chinese," Yuan said. Many drop out after level one, the first of four offered. "If they don't have patience and enthusiasm, it's hard to get to level two," she said.
In a break from Yuan's class, Miguel Aroca, a petroleum engineer for France's Total oil company, recounted the difficulties of reaching level two. Aroca, 33 and fluent in English and French, said he wanted to study Mandarin as a hobby. Now he realizes it is a career tool. Mastering it will not be easy. "It went from being a hobby to being real work," he said. "The last exam, I was really stressed out."
http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/2006/0922mandarin.htm