Languages of the "Educated"?
What language or languages are generally needed for someone to be considered "educated"?
For example, in the past, Latin was a necessity for the educated man or woman. What current languages would fall into that category? (note: You may include Latin if that's your opinion, I was just using it as an obvious example.)
Absolutely French
English as a must in mordern world
On the other hand, Spanish and Russian are languages of the uneducated.
<<On the other hand, Spanish and Russian are languages of the uneducated. >>
Hahaha . Si tú eres educado , yo soy el Papa de Roma.
I think you're so moron that you don't get to see how uneducated you are.
I don't believe in the notion of an "educated" or "uneducated" language. All languages are equally capable of expressing ideas, from the greatest literature to the lowest insults, including English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Sanskrit, Swahili, Navajo, Ebonics, and so on.
Speakers of certain languages might be more educated than speakers of other languages, but the language itself has nothing to do with that.
- Kef
You're dodging the question, furrykef.
There are certain languages, which at given points of time, have been considered the languages of the "educated." Centuries ago it was Greek. More recently Latin. Certainly there must be a language or two that qualifies by today's standards. My aim is to find a consensus on what it may be.
Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Julio Iglesias, Placido Domingo or Antonio Banderas are educated.
People that speak English in Uganda, Botswana or Malawi are not really educated.
Nice try, but life is not black & white. These stereotypes are very old.
Since it is the second most studied language in the world, according to several sources.
<< You're dodging the question, furrykef.
There are certain languages, which at given points of time, have been considered the languages of the "educated." Centuries ago it was Greek. More recently Latin. Certainly there must be a language or two that qualifies by today's standards. My aim is to find a consensus on what it may be. >>
I was just pointing out that the whole notion struck me as nonsensical.
Hmm. I was going to say that English probably best fits right now, considering its lingua franca status, but then, English isn't always popular with everybody... but I think it'd probably still fit better than any other individual language, considering how much influence it has over the entire world at the moment.
- Kef
I think people look to English and French as the languages of the educated; however, simply speaking one or the other as a native speaker does not make one educated.
Often the key to being educated and achieving some success is having ANOTHER skill (not related to language) combined with the second language skill, but JMO.
AN EDUCATED PERSON SPEAKS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE OR MORE THAN ONE.
WHATEVER (W-H-A-T-E-V-E-R) LANGUAGE AND NOT THE ONE SOME PEOPLE CLAIM IT MUST BE AT TOP.
THERE IS NOT A LIST FOR THE CULTURE AND THERE IS NOT A LIST OF "MUCH ACCULTURED" LANGUAGES.
TO ME, I CONSIDER AN ACCULTURED PERSON A PERSON WHO CAN SPEAK JAPANESE OR ITALIAN, JUST FOR EXAMPLE.
A PERSON WHO CAN SPEAK TIBETAN IS MUCH MORE INTERESTING TO ME THAN A PERSON WHO SPEAK FRENCH OR ENGLISH.
SO IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF TASTE.
THE EUROCENTRISM IS FINISHED SINCE LONG TIME.
French is the language of the educated, and the second most studied second language in the world. Rack it!