is it time for us to start leaning chinese, hindi and portugese?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2011/jan/07/gdp-projections-china-us-uk-brazil

the age of western domination over international economic affairs is forcast to be at an end by 2050 with the bric countries and the 'E7' replacing the 'G7' as the predominent powers on planet earth, would it be a wise move to start learning these languages to keep with the times? :rolleyes:

discuss

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

Dreamweaver

2050, we still have plenty of time ;p

Reply 2

ilovelabradors

Original post by cl_steele

discuss

It's always good to learn new things! :smile:

But I tend not to regard forescasts... Uhm... predicting things is not my piece of cake... I like facts! :biggrin:

Reply 3

chickenonsteroids

I personally think that everyone should start learning foreign languages in general. Especially starting with schools :yep:

I don't speak a second language yet but i'm learning and I think it's a helpful skill

Reply 4

Michael Locke

I imagine English will remain dominant worldwide, but if we're going to plod along with this EU *******s we'd better sort out foreign languages in school to allow greater freedom of movement.

Reply 5

Snagprophet

Nah, they can simply continue to learn English, that way everyone need not speak more than two languages.

Reply 6

Abbadon27

They're learning english, so I wouldn't bother. Of course it is good to learn another language, but it isn't vital for us.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 7

No Man

I'll give Portuguese a go, but I'm not learning a new alphabet.

Reply 8

Aequat omnes cinis

Already learning Mandarin. There are nearly 740million rural Chinese who only speak their local Chinese dialect and Mandarin. That's 55% of China's population and about 10.6% of the world population. As China slowly moves towards global superpower status, I think the dominance of English as the lingua franca may be challenged. 1,339,724,852 people live in China, thats 19% of the world population. Nearly a fifth of the worlds population speaking one language and becoming the new global superpower is a formidable force in language projection terms.

Either way, as the rural Chinese continue to move to the cities and engage in commerce, I think the demand globally for Mandarin speakers can only grow. Plus I am interested in Chinese culture, so I enjoy learning the language in addition to it being a worthwhile pursuit.

Reply 9

D.R.E

Original post by Aequat omnes cinis

It will not. And those numbers you are citing conceal some very simple things. Firstly, more countries in the world have English as [one of] their legal language :undefined:

than any other language, and unless China is about to go around conquering 1/3 of the planet, Chinese won't overtake English in that regard. Secondly, Mandarin is only spoken within China, and that 10.6% of the world's population resides within it's borders.

An example: most of the world writes in British style English, despite the economic and cultural dominance of the U.S.

Reply 10

Dirac Delta Function

Why is Brazil not considered to be part of "the West"?

Reply 11

Aequat omnes cinis

Original post by D.R.E

It will not. And those numbers you are citing conceal some very simple things. Firstly, more countries in the world have English as [one of] their legal language :undefined:

There are 40million overseas Chinese, and 7million living in Hong Kong and 23million in Taiwan. There is also Singapore with 5million people, though admittedly not all are Chinese or will speak Mandarin. And then there are other East Asians and indeed Westerners who may also speak Mandarin as a second or third language.

To say Mandarin is "only" spoken in China simply is not true. I live in Jersey in the English Channel, population nearly 90,000. I heard a Chinese person speaking Mandarin only last week.

Even if my musings about Chinese challenging English as the lingua franca are wrong, and frankly they probably are, that doesn't change the fact that Mandarin is the language of the most populous country, and let's not forget, reform only started in the late 70s/80s, in only 30 years China has become the worlds second biggest economy and its still growing. As I said, there are still hundreds of millions of rural poor who will slowly move to cities and prosper.

Even if English remains the global language of business, for business inside China and Chinese speaking areas, the opportunity for which will only increase, it is very useful to speak, and as with any other language, it's useful for travel to the country itself and for interacting with its people and cultures.

Don't write Mandarin off just yet bro, that's all I'm saying.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 12

No Man

Original post by Dirac Delta Function

Why is Brazil not considered to be part of "the West"?

I'm guessing because they have huge divisions between rich & poor.

I don't see why Chile, Argentina and Uruguay aren't considered part of 'the west' though, since they're developed now.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 13

VY Rose

I think a second language should be taught as soon as a child enters school. Students from Sweden, Norway, anywhereinEurope etc, are fluent in English by the end of their main education...

We however, end up with the ability to buy bread in French... boulangerie, anyone?

French isn't really very useful; nor is it logical to learn... from a careers perspective, we'd be far better off all learning Mandarin. Or to be honest, anything - but properly. I wish I was made fluent in a second language by time I was sixteen!

We'll see, hmm?

Reply 14

lonelyknight

Why on earth would I want to? I'm perfectly happy speaking English, and if I ever decide to take up learning another language again, it'll be French. If I had to learn one of the three though, i'd choose Portugese.

Reply 15

LaughingBro

Original post by cl_steele

It's not called Chinese, it's called MANDARIN !!!

Reply 16

Wise Tamil Guy

I believe that another key language which should be added to the top of the list is tamil. The core population of Sri Lanka speak in this dialect and it would be a welcome change to speak in tamil than the slow English / other languages present in the world.

Reply 17

Classical Liberal

Assuming the English speaking countries continue to dominate software/programming and the major educational institutions then I cannot forsee any reason to start learning other languages other than because it can be really interesting and cool.

This notion that schools should devote resources to languages ahead of maths, science, English and critical thinking is barmy.

Reply 18

username904959

I wish I'd had the opportunity to learn more languages.

I'm currently leaning French, Latin and Italian, and I've previously had lessons in German and had the option of taking Spanish at GCSE. To be fair languages are one of the most important things in the world for me, but I really wish I'd been brought up learning other languages. Maybe not Portuguese, because if you speak the other Romance languages it's not very different, but I'd have loved to have been taught Mandarin/Russian aged 5.

Reply 19

ajtiesto

I'd really like to see the West getting taken over. They've misused their authority and power over the decades so negatively, economically within their own countries and foreign relations with the Muslim world. I think the world will be more at peace if countries like China, India and Brazil had more power because the US, UK, France and Germany haven't really got a clue what they're doing. These western countries have failed diplomatically to be bring any kind of peace in the middle east, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Afganistan. I think these rising nations can do a far better job!