If you had a baby...?

Guest   Sat Jun 14, 2008 2:43 pm GMT
If you had a baby which 3 languages should he/she study?

The question is real, and the point is the most important languages in 2028, more or less.


Thanks for your opinion.
Guest   Sat Jun 14, 2008 3:00 pm GMT
1. English

2. Chinese or Arabic (one Asiatic)

3. Spanish, Portuguese or French (a Romance language).


It depends on the country that you live.
Guest   Sat Jun 14, 2008 3:22 pm GMT
1. RP English

2. Castilian Spanish


3. Classical Latin
Guest   Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:51 pm GMT
1. Spanish

2. Globish

3. Chinese
Guest   Sat Jun 14, 2008 4:56 pm GMT
1. Spanish

2. Polari

3. Esperanto
Guest   Sat Jun 14, 2008 5:56 pm GMT
English and nothing else.
Guest   Sat Jun 14, 2008 8:18 pm GMT
1. WestCoast US English
2. Brasilia's Brazilian Portuguese
3. Parisienne French
K. T.   Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:27 pm GMT
What a question! What language a child should learn depends on many factors, imo.

a. Child should learn Mom and Dad's languages. If Mom speaks French and Dad speaks Spanish then the child should learn both of these languages if the parents are willing to do this. Mom should use French and Dad should use Spanish when talking to the child.

b. The child should learn the primary language of the country where he or she resides. Get a native nanny or babysitter to help with this if the language is one that the parents don't speak well.


For an child in the US with English-speaking parents, I would choose
Spanish and French, unless there were grandparents who spoke other languages and were willing to share their languages with the child.

For someone who has a child who already knows Spanish and English and if the child wants to learn another language, I would suggest Mandarin.

In Europe, South America, and in other locales the choices will vary.
Guest   Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:44 pm GMT
Child should learn Mom and Dad's languages. If Mom speaks French and Dad speaks Spanish then the child should learn both of these languages if the parents are willing to do this. Mom should use French and Dad should use Spanish when talking to the child.


That is the theory. In practice both Mom and Dad speak the language of Mom to the children.
Guest   Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:20 pm GMT
For a US American:

1. English, as this is thelanguage spoken in US America.
2. Spanish, the second language of US America.
3. Russian, because Russia is an important world player and is growing in prowess.
K. T.   Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:11 am GMT
I agree that Russian is also a wise choice. Russia has interesting natural resources and Mr. Putin seems to be courting Libya and Iran. If not courting them, then I would say that he seems to be interested in them.

Of course, then we could go for Arabic and Farsi, but neither is going to be easy for most US citizens to practice.

What are we trying to accomplish here? Know your rivals? Know your neighbours? Know your business competitors?

I wonder if this question is a veiled one, another way to get a political discussion going here.

It would be great if children grew up with three languages, but it takes some cooperation on the part of the parents. Charles Berlitz grew up in a multilingual household. Reportedly he spoke in different languages to different family members and household staff.

In my area of the country there is a French school, preschools with Spanish, a Chinese school, a Japanese school, and there used to be a Korean school. All of those are good choices.
Guest   Sun Jun 15, 2008 12:52 am GMT
<<Child should learn Mom and Dad's languages. If Mom speaks French and Dad speaks Spanish then the child should learn both of these languages if the parents are willing to do this. Mom should use French and Dad should use Spanish when talking to the child. >>


In practice both Mom and Dad speak the language of Dad to the children. Is simple, is simple, the child need to learn languages that will be useful in her life, this mean that they will prefer to use Spanish for the simple reason that it is a language used internationally. There are marriages between French and spaniards with children, children end up knowing both languages but chose Spanish as lingua franca. Why? I don't know, i suppose that speak a language that comprise 500 million people on five continents is a good reason, in addition, recent studies talk about that in 2020 7.5% of the world population will speak Spanish as first or second language.
Guest   Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:30 am GMT
<<In practice both Mom and Dad speak the language of Dad to the children. Is simple, is simple, the child need to learn languages that will be useful in her life, this mean that they will prefer to use Spanish for the simple reason that it is a language used internationally. There are marriages between French and spaniards with children, children end up knowing both languages but chose Spanish as lingua franca. Why? I don't know, i suppose that speak a language that comprise 500 million people on five continents is a good reason, in addition, recent studies talk about that in 2020 7.5% of the world population will speak Spanish as first or second language.>>

Yes, totally agre. Here you can see a good example

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=M76N_YxONTc&amp;feature=related

He is spaniard, she is french, they have two sons and live in philippines. The two children speak Spanish as their first language, like his father, and use Spanish as lingua franca in the family, even she that is French (from paris), speak in Spanish to their children. Spanish is the king.
Guest   Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:35 am GMT
Is normal to speak in Spanish, parents want the best for their children, so they speak in Spanish to their children.
Guest   Sun Jun 15, 2008 1:36 am GMT
Why is he practicing crusifiction? I thought it was not civilised to crucify people!