World languages

Breiniak   Sat Aug 23, 2008 12:43 am GMT
Spanish is easy to understand btw. Sin embargo, no hablo mas el español. I should learn to use it properly. Over here in Europe it's not a hated language anyway.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 12:51 am GMT
Russian is definitely growing in importance. By 2016 65% of Russians will be middle class.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 1:28 am GMT
Respondiendo a JLK

<<So while on paper it looks like a lot of Americans are learning Spanish, only a small amount of people, perhaps in the thousands can speak it fluently. I'm not familiar with the situation in Brazil, but considering Spanish and Portuguese are mere dialects of the same language, Brazil shouldn't even be included in the figure. The reality remains. All Hispanics can brag about is the native speaker base because nobody is learning Spanish. >>

Pues que siga asi, como hasta ahora, que nadie aprenda el espannol y que sea un dialecto. Ahora, que un idoma como el Frances sea superado por un dialecto como es el espanol, pues eso quiere decir que valla Mierda de idioma debe ser el frances, que cuando hablas parece que estas escupiedo "flemas". Que se quede el mundo con el Frances, aunque tal como va, me da que se quedaran con el ingles o el chino o el arabe o tal vez con un dialecto.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 3:07 am GMT
Spanish trumps French in all aspects.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:41 am GMT
We can use English as the language to compare to other languages.

For instance, there are only 3 languages that are more important than English in some factors:

Chinese: more native speakers than English. The most spoken language of Asia.

Spanish: more native speakers than English. The most spoken language of the Americas. More countries than English where is the dominant language.

Arabic: The most spoken language of Africa. More countries than English where is the dominant language.


All other languages are less important than English in all the most important points.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:44 am GMT
<<Over here in Europe it's not a hated language anyway.>>

Esta es la verdad absoluta, y lo dice un europeo aunque aqui 2 o 3 mierdecillas que no tienen nada mejor que hacer intenten envenenar la mente de los usuarios normales que aunque pecezca mentira, son la mayoría aunque los 2 o 3 mierdecillas traten de aparentar lo contrario.

Recuerdo el partido entre España y Suecia en el último europeo de fútbol en Austria y Suiza. En la grada de Suecia se podía leer un cartel que decía "Sweden loves Spain" y si uno viaja por europa puede darse cuenta que la frase "Over here in Europe it's not a hated language anyway" vale también para los españoles y para el pais. Este foro esta contaminado de gente que odia a otras personas solo por el lugar de nacimiento o por el idioma materno, es asi de triste pero es asi.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:50 am GMT
Not just Europe. The only place Spanish might be hated by a large number of people (but still a minority) is the USA. It's certainly not hated in Latin America, ie in Brazil. Nor is Portuguese hated in Spanish speaking countries. So Spanish is not hated at all except for a few rednecks.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 8:51 am GMT
<<Russian is definitely growing in importance. By 2016 65% of Russians will be middle class.>>

Yes. It could be. But the problem of Russian is that of the former USSR (15 countries), it is only official in 4 of them: Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

It is not official in some important countries like Baltic Countries, Uzbekistan or Ukraine. For example, in the last one, almost everybody speaks it, but they have an Anti-russian President.

Perhaps, South Ossetia is the next :)
Ralf   Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:02 am GMT
I agree. Nobody hates Spanish or French in Europe. Only these 2 or 3 people who have "some problems in their head". I have American friends and I can assure that they don't have any problems with Spanish or Portuguese. Even they told me most people in america don't have problems with Spanish speakers.

I think the real problem is these people who only know to insult, etc... like these 2 or 3 guys in this forum.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:38 am GMT
<<
It is not official in some important countries like Baltic Countries, Uzbekistan or Ukraine. For example, in the last one, almost everybody speaks it, but they have an Anti-russian President.>>

Yes, 29% of Ukranians consider Russian their mother tongue, and 50% use Russian at home. Furthermore 68% are fluent in Russian (while only 57% are fluent in Ukranian).


In other countries where Russian is not official:

In Latvia 29,6% of the population are Russian and 94% are fluent in Russian.

In Lithuania 78% of the population speak Russian - 49% of which consider themselves to speak it 'more or less fluently'. Only 7% have no knowledge at all of Russian.

In Estonia, 30% of the population speaks Russian natively and many more are fluent in it and it is widely used in state institutions.

Expressing interest in increasing their knowledge of the Russian language were 65% in Tadjikistan, 55% in Armenia, 22% in Georgia and 18% in Moldavia.

In Moldavia it is spoken by 12% of the population and spoken as a second language by about 50% of the population.

Russian is also the de facto language of the break away regions Abkhazia, South Osetia and Transitria.


More far afield, 16% of the population of Israel speaks Russian natively and it is even 'semi-official' in some regions. It has an unusual tendency to be passed on to the younger generation, in contrast to immigrant languages in other parts of the world.




It's a shame people have to associate languages so closely with the countries where it is spoken. It is only a language - speaking Russian shouldn't have to mean you support the Russian government, and speaking Ukrainian shouldn't have to mean you are anti-Russian. Anyhow, Russian in Ukraine is here to stay.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:47 am GMT
I think Russian will remain important regardless of whether people hate Russia or not. A lot of people hate the USA but there are still loads of people learning English all over the world. Even in Iraq and Cuba there are plenty of English speakers (Fidel himself included!).
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:50 am GMT
<<It's a shame people have to associate languages so closely with the countries where it is spoken>>

Yes. But it is exactly the situation of Russian in Ukraine.

I think that the percentage of Russian speakers in Ukraine is even higher, and Ukrainian Government changed the data in favor of Ukrainian. I don't understand why some Russian speakers in Ukraine vote to an Anti-Russian President.

I am sure that, if People there, vote to the Pro-Russian President, Russian would be also official in one week.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:55 am GMT
''or Ukraine. For example, in the last one, almost everybody speaks it, but they have an Anti-russian President.''

Before 1990, Ukraine had been heavily Russified, and using Ukrainian was discouraged (the same thing that is happening in today's Belarus). After 1990, Ukraine language was reborn: Western Ukraine is 100 % Ukrainian-speaking while Eastern Ukraine is bilingual (because of the mixed marriages Ukrainian-Russian of people living there). Russian is as important in Ukraine as Italian is in Switzerland, most people don't speak it.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:57 am GMT
-I don't understand why some Russian speakers in Ukraine vote to an Anti-Russian President.-


I don't understand why some Italian speakers in Switzerland vote to an Ani-Berlusconi President.
Guest   Sat Aug 23, 2008 9:59 am GMT
-I am sure that, if People there, vote to the Pro-Russian President, Russian would be also official in one week.-

Irish people may speak better English than Irish, but that does not make them automatically British. Language has nothing to do with countries, think US, they don't give a damn about the official language, in New Mexico, Spanish is official.