5th language by number of speakers. 3rd Romance language after French and Italian, but European Champions.
Because of the power and presence of English...
I'm tired of French spammer that only post false information just for make believe to us that her language of bathroom serves for something. English has actually closer to 400 million native speakers. But if the FrenchANUS trolls are going to include countries in West Africa that are 99,9999999% Hausa, wolof, Bambara, Nyabwa, Ngumba, Basaa, Arabic speaking than I am entitled to include all the countries with English as an official language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:English-as-Official-Language.png
That amounts to nearly 2 billion people who already speak or will eventually speak English. Then factor in the amount of English speakers in Europe and the rest of the world. It is laughable to me that one could attempt to compare French with the mighty English language.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:English-as-Official-Language.png
That amounts to nearly 2 billion people who already speak or will eventually speak English. Then factor in the amount of English speakers in Europe and the rest of the world. It is laughable to me that one could attempt to compare French with the mighty English language.
<<It is laughable to me that one could attempt to compare French with the mighty English language. >>
You're really pretentious, real JLK
But yes, english is everywhere and nobody can deny that and Africans and Asians don't want to be isolated and underdeveloped any longer. So they are chosing english as a lingua franca. That's a fact. In latin america it's happening the same.So english is the language to speak if you want to keep up with this global world. But hopefully ,english people are beginning to understand that there are other languages that can be as much important as english. Look at this advert :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p9AWfmoF1c&feature=related
This is why i like england humour.
I love Liverpool
PS: LIBRE in spanish and french means FREE. ¿Isn't it beautiful?
You're really pretentious, real JLK
But yes, english is everywhere and nobody can deny that and Africans and Asians don't want to be isolated and underdeveloped any longer. So they are chosing english as a lingua franca. That's a fact. In latin america it's happening the same.So english is the language to speak if you want to keep up with this global world. But hopefully ,english people are beginning to understand that there are other languages that can be as much important as english. Look at this advert :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p9AWfmoF1c&feature=related
This is why i like england humour.
I love Liverpool
PS: LIBRE in spanish and french means FREE. ¿Isn't it beautiful?
Me siento muy triste... ¿por qué Dios me ha maldicho de esta manera tan cruel? ¿Por qué me ha obligado a hablar este idioma tan repugnante que solo hablan los pobres que limpian los inodoros? ¡Ay de mí! ¿Por qué no me dejó nacer en Francia para que pudiera hablar el idioma más bello del mundo? Pero ya no tiene remedio, estoy condenado a hablar este idioma de mierda... no soy capaz de aprender francés porque de tanto hablar castellano mi cerebro se ha atrofiado. ¡Ay de mí!
>>How many Chinese students are taking it now, 300 million, 400 million?
Haha, that's interesting. But I'm still thinking that you and I don't have to have that hard feeling. At the height of British imperialism, we could see literature that says "they (Indians) aren't British, but we can turn them British". I don't deny, in general, that ESL is becoming ever more popular, and there could be some danger of language death/shift. But when more people know ESL, ... I don't know to put it very precisely, it still doesn't mean their languages should die very soon. By the same token, should Anglophones sound even more stupid (no offense intended, really) if more ppl speak English and they are "less" motivated? I think these are all imaginations... not what the truth you could possibly see in a foreign land (and you, in the US).
I know, I know, many of us are still struggling with English, and I myself have posted a lot of things I can call "rants" against this language, well, as part of my creative writing here... but I still know that newspeak wouldn't possibly happen. Some more affluent societies (esp. in Europe) might think they are more desperate in the swarm of ESL, which *might*, some of them say, be swallowing their native languages together, but it sounds more like a myth.
Again, it's like the question of whether some English words have become Chinese as well, when I say "OK" all the time, as a synonym of anything that means OK in my native language. It all rests on definitions. And in general, I could see academic theories often struggle with these discussion gaps and find ways of creating more theories to convince others. But that still doesn't change the society of my place, for example, where *many* people still don't know English and thus my language isn't in danger.
Haha, that's interesting. But I'm still thinking that you and I don't have to have that hard feeling. At the height of British imperialism, we could see literature that says "they (Indians) aren't British, but we can turn them British". I don't deny, in general, that ESL is becoming ever more popular, and there could be some danger of language death/shift. But when more people know ESL, ... I don't know to put it very precisely, it still doesn't mean their languages should die very soon. By the same token, should Anglophones sound even more stupid (no offense intended, really) if more ppl speak English and they are "less" motivated? I think these are all imaginations... not what the truth you could possibly see in a foreign land (and you, in the US).
I know, I know, many of us are still struggling with English, and I myself have posted a lot of things I can call "rants" against this language, well, as part of my creative writing here... but I still know that newspeak wouldn't possibly happen. Some more affluent societies (esp. in Europe) might think they are more desperate in the swarm of ESL, which *might*, some of them say, be swallowing their native languages together, but it sounds more like a myth.
Again, it's like the question of whether some English words have become Chinese as well, when I say "OK" all the time, as a synonym of anything that means OK in my native language. It all rests on definitions. And in general, I could see academic theories often struggle with these discussion gaps and find ways of creating more theories to convince others. But that still doesn't change the society of my place, for example, where *many* people still don't know English and thus my language isn't in danger.
>>This is a good point. Being a native English speaker is convenient, but it can suck to not know any other languages while non-natives know yours. At least that's how I think.
Guess what, the internal, obscure national policy among some PPC officials is to let their children study in the US (and particularly the US) using the money they *might have got* thru illegal ways. This is 1) part of a hostage policy, to keep the officials in the country and 2) to let their children learn at least something, no matter what that is, in your country. I don't see English as a threat, but as an investment tool, because, as I wrote, the more English they learn in China or in the US, the more linguistically powerful they might become. Would that mean their native language must decline / become rusty, or would that mean Americans would be even more linguistically challenged? Despite the need, from a Chinese perspective, of creating brand-names to, I don't know, increase national power perhaps, it won't really hurt to learn more about brand-names in English, steal from them, and eventually create technology, brand-names, cultural products, economic opportunities... of the Chinese themselves.
These days I think this was the way how Japan learned from China, and when it found China sucked, from the US, and particularly after 1945. And this was how America prospered with immigrants (the extreme majority). I'm not European and I don't know what linguistic protectionism means. I only know by common sense that assimilation leads to integration and gradual growth in strength. Even if such a remote language as Chinese had imported millions of English words, it's still a language in its own right when it has a convincing definition of still being a language, not an ESL creole or corrupted English.
Guess what, the internal, obscure national policy among some PPC officials is to let their children study in the US (and particularly the US) using the money they *might have got* thru illegal ways. This is 1) part of a hostage policy, to keep the officials in the country and 2) to let their children learn at least something, no matter what that is, in your country. I don't see English as a threat, but as an investment tool, because, as I wrote, the more English they learn in China or in the US, the more linguistically powerful they might become. Would that mean their native language must decline / become rusty, or would that mean Americans would be even more linguistically challenged? Despite the need, from a Chinese perspective, of creating brand-names to, I don't know, increase national power perhaps, it won't really hurt to learn more about brand-names in English, steal from them, and eventually create technology, brand-names, cultural products, economic opportunities... of the Chinese themselves.
These days I think this was the way how Japan learned from China, and when it found China sucked, from the US, and particularly after 1945. And this was how America prospered with immigrants (the extreme majority). I'm not European and I don't know what linguistic protectionism means. I only know by common sense that assimilation leads to integration and gradual growth in strength. Even if such a remote language as Chinese had imported millions of English words, it's still a language in its own right when it has a convincing definition of still being a language, not an ESL creole or corrupted English.
>>many of us are still struggling with English
To put it literally:
Now, an average Chinese in any part of China can't be a university student without English. So, the simplest definition of those freaking exams is to be somewhat Anglophone. But first, it won't really hurt our Chinese (this is also an exam subject); second, most of us would still stay in our country and just live as we've been used to. There might be some rants against English or some against ESL teachers (esp. foreign), despite their help, for all that commercialism, but I know, until I leave my country, "English" is a language skill for survival, not for deepening any hard feelings.
And even if you speak this language natively, you are still nothing more than an ordinary citizen in your country...and an outsider in any country that doesn't speak English (almost ?200? of them in the world). Even if you remain a monolingual Anglophone as a professor in Hong Kong and live there for 20+ years, you are still a willing (as I'd think you are, this is my opinion) outsider and I wouldn't want to talk to you much as a student, exactly because you don't/won't/can't even learn random phrases of my language. Even with all that money such a person earns as a scholar (AND as a foreigner; many Chinese are often obsessed with criticizing "admiring foreigners"), s/he won't really live a normal life here in my country, but as an expat I don't even know how to talk to. S/he would probably remain in his/her academic circle (where Chinese isn't even used) and remain socially isolated.
Well, this is the way how many scholars live in Hong Kong, but who cares, if I were a foreigner of such kind, I, too, wouldn't worry too much for still being linguistically challenged. Language is at large for oral communication, and it doesn't hurt if I'm challenged linguistically in any way. The only worries I can speak of is true social isolation (these scholars, no).
To put it literally:
Now, an average Chinese in any part of China can't be a university student without English. So, the simplest definition of those freaking exams is to be somewhat Anglophone. But first, it won't really hurt our Chinese (this is also an exam subject); second, most of us would still stay in our country and just live as we've been used to. There might be some rants against English or some against ESL teachers (esp. foreign), despite their help, for all that commercialism, but I know, until I leave my country, "English" is a language skill for survival, not for deepening any hard feelings.
And even if you speak this language natively, you are still nothing more than an ordinary citizen in your country...and an outsider in any country that doesn't speak English (almost ?200? of them in the world). Even if you remain a monolingual Anglophone as a professor in Hong Kong and live there for 20+ years, you are still a willing (as I'd think you are, this is my opinion) outsider and I wouldn't want to talk to you much as a student, exactly because you don't/won't/can't even learn random phrases of my language. Even with all that money such a person earns as a scholar (AND as a foreigner; many Chinese are often obsessed with criticizing "admiring foreigners"), s/he won't really live a normal life here in my country, but as an expat I don't even know how to talk to. S/he would probably remain in his/her academic circle (where Chinese isn't even used) and remain socially isolated.
Well, this is the way how many scholars live in Hong Kong, but who cares, if I were a foreigner of such kind, I, too, wouldn't worry too much for still being linguistically challenged. Language is at large for oral communication, and it doesn't hurt if I'm challenged linguistically in any way. The only worries I can speak of is true social isolation (these scholars, no).
*I won't reverse cause and effect, but I do think not having the need to learn is the exact reason why some scholars still remain linguistically challenged. That said, they are still living and working normally here. So what's all the fuss about "challenge", "language death" and all that?
The fact that they are still doing fine in an non-Anglophone environment with English only already suggests something magic there.
The fact that they are still doing fine in an non-Anglophone environment with English only already suggests something magic there.
People say there exist multiple registers in where I live. They say you only need English to do business (and earn buckets of money); but you need the local language (where Mandarin would be useless) to understand news reports, technical language, TV... and the colloquialisms to understand localers perfectly.
This still doesn't change the fact that we view foreigners differently (and at times, quite negatively, due to misunderstandings and naturally limited knowledge), and that a young person, and as understanding as I, would consider other young people - but as foreigners - in that exact way. The Xie now, me, still think my language is hardly transparent (and so I'd speak English almost all the time, and I do type it almost all the time here).
While some of us might worry how poor our English is, as foreigners, in an Anglophone country, I know, too, that foreigners can't stay without remaining really foreign, and probably forever, and never get to anything close to a normal "localer" in this homogeneous society.
This still doesn't change the fact that we view foreigners differently (and at times, quite negatively, due to misunderstandings and naturally limited knowledge), and that a young person, and as understanding as I, would consider other young people - but as foreigners - in that exact way. The Xie now, me, still think my language is hardly transparent (and so I'd speak English almost all the time, and I do type it almost all the time here).
While some of us might worry how poor our English is, as foreigners, in an Anglophone country, I know, too, that foreigners can't stay without remaining really foreign, and probably forever, and never get to anything close to a normal "localer" in this homogeneous society.
<<What the hell is this "newspeak" Xie is always talking about? >>
Was that a version of English spoken back around 1984?
Was that a version of English spoken back around 1984?
Newspeak is the language George Orwell had his characters use in his book '1984.'
Now you want to see the Eurobarometer?
Now you trust in this?
before no but yes now?
Ok, Ok, the Eurobarometer shows that the Spanish speakers have doubled 3% to 6% because of the illegal hispanic immigration in countries such as France, UK, Germany, Italy, etc. Those 2nd speakers outside Spain are actually hispanic americans.
The truth is Spanish is fading because of the very low birth rate in Spain. It's just rplenish by immigration from hispanic americas whose people multiply like virus.
Now you trust in this?
before no but yes now?
Ok, Ok, the Eurobarometer shows that the Spanish speakers have doubled 3% to 6% because of the illegal hispanic immigration in countries such as France, UK, Germany, Italy, etc. Those 2nd speakers outside Spain are actually hispanic americans.
The truth is Spanish is fading because of the very low birth rate in Spain. It's just rplenish by immigration from hispanic americas whose people multiply like virus.
<< I don't see English as a threat, but as an investment tool, because, as I wrote, the more English they learn in China or in the US, the more linguistically powerful they might become. Would that mean their native language must decline / become rusty, or would that mean Americans would be even more linguistically challenged? >>
This type of thinking will only help the Spanish language.
As Americans are linguistically challenged by this, it is likely
that more and more of them will turn to Spanish in order to
maintain the status quo.
The most commonly spoken language in America is Spanish.
There may be other data which challenges this, but even this data
should at least show Spanish having almost as many speakers as English.
Therefore, fully associating America with English presents a warped view of the actual situation
The government of American Spanish speaking countries such as Cuba (An island near the American continent) and Venezuela has much more in common with the Goverment of China than the Governments of the American English speaking countries
This type of thinking will only help the Spanish language.
As Americans are linguistically challenged by this, it is likely
that more and more of them will turn to Spanish in order to
maintain the status quo.
The most commonly spoken language in America is Spanish.
There may be other data which challenges this, but even this data
should at least show Spanish having almost as many speakers as English.
Therefore, fully associating America with English presents a warped view of the actual situation
The government of American Spanish speaking countries such as Cuba (An island near the American continent) and Venezuela has much more in common with the Goverment of China than the Governments of the American English speaking countries
Question: ... English?
Anwer of Spanish Spammer: ... Spain ... Espana ... Spanish ...
Anwer of Spanish Spammer: ... Spain ... Espana ... Spanish ...