Even worse than claiming French is the language of culture is when they claim French is 'the language of love'. Seriously??! Other cultures don't know romance?! If there is love going on in France, it's most likely in Arabic.
The most studied languages
I thought this was funny. There is a website dedicated to the decline of French - http://theworldwidedeclineoffrench.blogspot.com
This is there most recent article about the glorious French language in the Netherlands.
"French is under fierce competition from English, German and now even Spanish in vocational education. (...) Its knowledge is increasingly passive: students can read the language well, but cannot write or speak it. Universities also have seen french enrolment numbers decrease constantly (there are more students of Dutch in France than of French in the Netherlands!)."
This is there most recent article about the glorious French language in the Netherlands.
"French is under fierce competition from English, German and now even Spanish in vocational education. (...) Its knowledge is increasingly passive: students can read the language well, but cannot write or speak it. Universities also have seen french enrolment numbers decrease constantly (there are more students of Dutch in France than of French in the Netherlands!)."
So who are the Spanish speakers in the USA? Are they from Spain or Hispanic America or what? I find it hard to believe there are more Spanish speakers than Russian speakers, which are everywhere.
Even worse than claiming Spanish is the language of culture is when they claim Spanish is 'the language of love'. Seriously??! Other cultures don't know romance?! If there is love going on in Castilia, it's most likely in HINDI.
<< Spanish is by far #1, and French a solid second. The biggest growth has been in ASL, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic. >>
What Italian? German is ahead of Italian in every country.
This is one of the spams made by a hispanic making Italian very important just because of its huge similarity to Spanish.
What Italian? German is ahead of Italian in every country.
This is one of the spams made by a hispanic making Italian very important just because of its huge similarity to Spanish.
<< Where did you get this info??? Spanish is # 3 or 4 now. >>
It's obvious that those languages are preferred over Spanish all over the world.
<< What decade are you living in? Language of diplomacy?! Uh, sorry, not anymore. It's clearly English unless you are in denial. >>
I'm referring to this decade. French maybe now second to English but at least far ahead of Spanish.
<< And as for "culture", how do you define that? Do you mean you have to know French to be "cultured"? Do you mean it's the culture of the world, of humanity? I hear francophiles say this sometimes and it seems very ethno-centric and arrogant. Every country has their own culture and I don't see what makes French so superior in "culture" - especially in today's world. Sorry, but there are other "rich cultures" out there and French can no longer be claimed as the most influential. >>
Stop getting envy because Spanish can never become the language of Culture not even English.
Ask the English speakers from Hispanic World, Japan, China, India, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Anglophone world which language is considered as the language of culture and they will readily say FRENCH.
<< And thank you for proving my point by emphasizing the PAST. Get over it. The French golden age is over.>>
We're not in the past but present and English has not displaced French as the language of culture.
Get over with your hallucination for Spanish because it will never reach half the status what French gained. Spanish has no glory in the past, present, and Future. NEVER
Maybe Portuguese will have its glory and the proof is non-lussophone countries joined Lussofonia just like Lussophone countries that joined La Francophonie.
It's obvious that those languages are preferred over Spanish all over the world.
<< What decade are you living in? Language of diplomacy?! Uh, sorry, not anymore. It's clearly English unless you are in denial. >>
I'm referring to this decade. French maybe now second to English but at least far ahead of Spanish.
<< And as for "culture", how do you define that? Do you mean you have to know French to be "cultured"? Do you mean it's the culture of the world, of humanity? I hear francophiles say this sometimes and it seems very ethno-centric and arrogant. Every country has their own culture and I don't see what makes French so superior in "culture" - especially in today's world. Sorry, but there are other "rich cultures" out there and French can no longer be claimed as the most influential. >>
Stop getting envy because Spanish can never become the language of Culture not even English.
Ask the English speakers from Hispanic World, Japan, China, India, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Anglophone world which language is considered as the language of culture and they will readily say FRENCH.
<< And thank you for proving my point by emphasizing the PAST. Get over it. The French golden age is over.>>
We're not in the past but present and English has not displaced French as the language of culture.
Get over with your hallucination for Spanish because it will never reach half the status what French gained. Spanish has no glory in the past, present, and Future. NEVER
Maybe Portuguese will have its glory and the proof is non-lussophone countries joined Lussofonia just like Lussophone countries that joined La Francophonie.
There is only ONE true world language of diplomacy - English. All the others are regional or subregional. Spanish/Portuguese in Latin America. French/English in Africa. Russian in the former Soviet Union, etc.
<< There is only ONE true world language of diplomacy - English. All the others are regional or subregional. Spanish/Portuguese in Latin America. French/English in Africa. Russian in the former Soviet Union, etc. >>
There are TWO true world language of diplomacy - English and French. Whether you like it or not that's the reality and English speakers were the one who made that statement.
There are TWO true world language of diplomacy - English and French. Whether you like it or not that's the reality and English speakers were the one who made that statement.
There WERE two true world languages of diplomacy: English and French.
Your opinions, mon ami, and your data are from 1950, when French WAS an important language.
Officially, there ARE 6 World languages in UNO: Chinese, English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and French.
All of them are the most spoken language in an important area, but French: English in North America, European Union and Oceania, Spanish in Latin America, Chinese in Asia, Arabic in Africa and Middle East and finally, Russian in Eastern Europe and CIS.
French is the predominant language NOWHERE, but France. It is the less spoken of the international languages and according to several experts, David Graddol, for instance, French is the international language that will suffer the most important fall this century.
All your data, and I speak to everybody, should add a serious webpage to confirm your opinions.
Secondly, the second most studied language, after English, according to several webs is Spanish:
There are now more than 17.8 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language.
BRAZIL: There are currently one million Spanish speakers in Brazil but experts estimate that in 10 years there will be more tan 30 million Spanish'speaking Brazilians, adding to the already 500 million Spanish speakers in America and Spain.
USA: United States is the second Spanish-speaking country in the World, after Mexico, with 44 million of Hispanics. According to Instituto Cervantes, there will be over 132 million of Hispanics in this country by 2050, becoming the first Spanish-speaking country in the World.
WORLD: There will be 600 million of Spanish-speakers worldwide by 2050, confirming Spanish as a Global language of the XXI century.
http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php
http://ourlatinamerica.blogspot.com/2007/04/expert-spanish-second-most-studied.html
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/espanol/segundo/idioma/estudia/mundo/Instituto/Cervantes/elpepucul/20070426elpepucul_8/Tes
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/10/21/cultura/1224553747.html
http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:9JcIaaOZjcYJ:www.diariometro.es/es/article/efe/2008/10/03/691122/index.xml+instituto+cervantes+millones+estudiantes+espa%C3%B1ol&hl=es&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=es
Your opinions, mon ami, and your data are from 1950, when French WAS an important language.
Officially, there ARE 6 World languages in UNO: Chinese, English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and French.
All of them are the most spoken language in an important area, but French: English in North America, European Union and Oceania, Spanish in Latin America, Chinese in Asia, Arabic in Africa and Middle East and finally, Russian in Eastern Europe and CIS.
French is the predominant language NOWHERE, but France. It is the less spoken of the international languages and according to several experts, David Graddol, for instance, French is the international language that will suffer the most important fall this century.
All your data, and I speak to everybody, should add a serious webpage to confirm your opinions.
Secondly, the second most studied language, after English, according to several webs is Spanish:
There are now more than 17.8 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language.
BRAZIL: There are currently one million Spanish speakers in Brazil but experts estimate that in 10 years there will be more tan 30 million Spanish'speaking Brazilians, adding to the already 500 million Spanish speakers in America and Spain.
USA: United States is the second Spanish-speaking country in the World, after Mexico, with 44 million of Hispanics. According to Instituto Cervantes, there will be over 132 million of Hispanics in this country by 2050, becoming the first Spanish-speaking country in the World.
WORLD: There will be 600 million of Spanish-speakers worldwide by 2050, confirming Spanish as a Global language of the XXI century.
http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php
http://ourlatinamerica.blogspot.com/2007/04/expert-spanish-second-most-studied.html
http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/espanol/segundo/idioma/estudia/mundo/Instituto/Cervantes/elpepucul/20070426elpepucul_8/Tes
http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2008/10/21/cultura/1224553747.html
http://209.85.129.104/search?q=cache:9JcIaaOZjcYJ:www.diariometro.es/es/article/efe/2008/10/03/691122/index.xml+instituto+cervantes+millones+estudiantes+espa%C3%B1ol&hl=es&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=es
Unless Quebec becomes an independent country and Africa improves a lot I doubt French will recover its grandeur.
The language of the future is Russian and everyone is beginning to realize this.
<<Unless Quebec becomes an independent country and Africa improves a lot I doubt French will recover its grandeur. >>
Wouldn't that have the opposite effect? Right now Quebec is important because it is part of Canada which is, while not a great player, not a minor player either (part of the G8 and such). If Quebec became independent Canada's importance would be greatly reduced and Quebec's importance would be relegated to one similar to Slovakia, New Zealand or Botswana. There are already plenty of Botswana-esque countries which speak French, and French doesn't need any more of them. What it does need is more biggish players who speak French, which Canada is.
<<The language of the future is Russian and everyone is beginning to realize this. >>
Russia is falling into another 1998-esque disaster. And most of it's development has been superficial. It is hated in Eastern Europe and unlikely to bring hordes of students there. Russian is losing influence in Ukraine and the Baltics thanks to Nazi-esque efforts by those governments to eliminate it. It is losing influence in Kazakhstan and Mongolia to Chinese. Russian never has been hugely popular in Latin America and that is likely to continue with their siding with freaks like Chavez, whose countries are unstable and hated by their neighbours and may even make appearances in the Haague in future years. Russia is becoming totalitarian and everyone is sick of Putin, his ugly snake head is enough to put people off Russian.
Wouldn't that have the opposite effect? Right now Quebec is important because it is part of Canada which is, while not a great player, not a minor player either (part of the G8 and such). If Quebec became independent Canada's importance would be greatly reduced and Quebec's importance would be relegated to one similar to Slovakia, New Zealand or Botswana. There are already plenty of Botswana-esque countries which speak French, and French doesn't need any more of them. What it does need is more biggish players who speak French, which Canada is.
<<The language of the future is Russian and everyone is beginning to realize this. >>
Russia is falling into another 1998-esque disaster. And most of it's development has been superficial. It is hated in Eastern Europe and unlikely to bring hordes of students there. Russian is losing influence in Ukraine and the Baltics thanks to Nazi-esque efforts by those governments to eliminate it. It is losing influence in Kazakhstan and Mongolia to Chinese. Russian never has been hugely popular in Latin America and that is likely to continue with their siding with freaks like Chavez, whose countries are unstable and hated by their neighbours and may even make appearances in the Haague in future years. Russia is becoming totalitarian and everyone is sick of Putin, his ugly snake head is enough to put people off Russian.
It's nice to see that there are other that see the reality with French. BTW for the francos that attack me with the lame arguement that I'm a "hispanic", well sorry, but I'm a native English speaking American with a German-Irish background. So don't use stupid labels to try to invalidate my points. Also, I like French and appreciate the history and culture, but these things can't change the reality that it is far less important in today's world.
Arizona made some good points:
<< There WERE two true world languages of diplomacy: English and French. >>
Yes, as I've said, Francophiles are constantly looking in the past and using it to assert that French is still really important today...when it's not. Ok, it has importance, but not as much as these people claim, wish, or want to admit.
<< Officially, there ARE 6 World languages in UNO: Chinese, English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and French.
All of them are the most spoken language in an important area, but French: English in North America, European Union and Oceania, Spanish in Latin America, Chinese in Asia, Arabic in Africa and Middle East and finally, Russian in Eastern Europe and CIS.
French is the predominant language NOWHERE, but France. It is the less spoken of the international languages and according to several experts, David Graddol, for instance, French is the international language that will suffer the most important fall this century. >>
This is a point that is hard for francophiles to argue. All these languages are dominate in a region...except for French, which is #3 in Europe after German and English. And as for Africa, it is not always the most spoken language where it is official. Plus it's sandwiched by Arabic and English and Swahili.
I think the second most studied language may still be French, but the trends from various sources don't show a bright future. Other languages of the world are coming up and there will be more competition for French as a secondary foreign language.
English is THE ONLY language where you can go almost anywhere in the world and have a decent chance of running into someone who speaks English. You can't say this with French or any other language. Again, I think French is important. But in today's world, it really isn't any more important than Spanish or Chinese. It's only useful in some areas, not worldwide like English clearly is.
<< Russia is falling into another 1998-esque disaster. >>
That seems to be a fair observation. Apparently the economy has been hit harder than they want to admit. I was considering Russian as another language to learn, but I have doubts about it's future. Either Russia will become powerful again or it will remain a giant former superpower baby constantly demanding respect. Putin tightening his political grip and the current demographic trends of Russia don't help either.
Arizona made some good points:
<< There WERE two true world languages of diplomacy: English and French. >>
Yes, as I've said, Francophiles are constantly looking in the past and using it to assert that French is still really important today...when it's not. Ok, it has importance, but not as much as these people claim, wish, or want to admit.
<< Officially, there ARE 6 World languages in UNO: Chinese, English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and French.
All of them are the most spoken language in an important area, but French: English in North America, European Union and Oceania, Spanish in Latin America, Chinese in Asia, Arabic in Africa and Middle East and finally, Russian in Eastern Europe and CIS.
French is the predominant language NOWHERE, but France. It is the less spoken of the international languages and according to several experts, David Graddol, for instance, French is the international language that will suffer the most important fall this century. >>
This is a point that is hard for francophiles to argue. All these languages are dominate in a region...except for French, which is #3 in Europe after German and English. And as for Africa, it is not always the most spoken language where it is official. Plus it's sandwiched by Arabic and English and Swahili.
I think the second most studied language may still be French, but the trends from various sources don't show a bright future. Other languages of the world are coming up and there will be more competition for French as a secondary foreign language.
English is THE ONLY language where you can go almost anywhere in the world and have a decent chance of running into someone who speaks English. You can't say this with French or any other language. Again, I think French is important. But in today's world, it really isn't any more important than Spanish or Chinese. It's only useful in some areas, not worldwide like English clearly is.
<< Russia is falling into another 1998-esque disaster. >>
That seems to be a fair observation. Apparently the economy has been hit harder than they want to admit. I was considering Russian as another language to learn, but I have doubts about it's future. Either Russia will become powerful again or it will remain a giant former superpower baby constantly demanding respect. Putin tightening his political grip and the current demographic trends of Russia don't help either.
Shoo wrote:
"What Italian? German is ahead of Italian in every country.
This is one of the spams made by a hispanic making Italian very important just because of its huge similarity to Spanish."
Shoo, do you actually bother reading? The post clearly listed German in third place, with Italian in fifth place. And the gain in Italian (and the other languages) is indicated by the statistics, not by a "spam-making hispanic.":
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0905275.html
I guess it's easier to idly throw out prejudicial remarks than to look things up.
"What Italian? German is ahead of Italian in every country.
This is one of the spams made by a hispanic making Italian very important just because of its huge similarity to Spanish."
Shoo, do you actually bother reading? The post clearly listed German in third place, with Italian in fifth place. And the gain in Italian (and the other languages) is indicated by the statistics, not by a "spam-making hispanic.":
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0905275.html
I guess it's easier to idly throw out prejudicial remarks than to look things up.
<< Officially, there ARE 6 World languages in UNO: Chinese, English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and French. >>
All of them are the most spoken language in an important area, but Castillian Spanish: French in Africa, English in North America, European Union and Oceania, Chinese in Asia, Arabic in Africa and Middle East and finally, Russian in Eastern Europe and CIS.
Castillian is the predominant language NOWHERE, but Castillia. It is the less spoken of the international languages and according to several experts, Spanish is the international language that will suffer the most important fall this century because IT WILL DISINTIGRATE INTO SEVERAL NUMEROUS NEO-SPANISHES LIKE LATIN.
This is a point that is hard for hispanic fanatics like to argue. All these languages are dominate in a region...except for Castillian Spanish, which is #11 in Europe after German, English, French....... And as for Western
Hemisphere, it is not always the most spoken language where it is official. Plus it's sandwiched by English, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani, Lunfardo, Quiche, and Italian. Anfd for Spain it's being swandwiched by Catalan, Basque, Galicia, Aragonese, Leonese, and Asturian.
English is the one that is threatned in Africa in it's former colonies by Afrikaans, Swahili, and Arabic where it is less and less used often in favor of these languages.
French and English are THE ONLY language where you can go almost anywhere in the world and have a decent chance of running into someone who speaks English. You can't say this with Spanish or any other language. Again, I think Spanish is not important. In today's world, it really isn't any more important than Hottentot, Telugu, Miao and Hiri Motu . It's only useful in some areas, not worldwide like French and English clearly is.
All of them are the most spoken language in an important area, but Castillian Spanish: French in Africa, English in North America, European Union and Oceania, Chinese in Asia, Arabic in Africa and Middle East and finally, Russian in Eastern Europe and CIS.
Castillian is the predominant language NOWHERE, but Castillia. It is the less spoken of the international languages and according to several experts, Spanish is the international language that will suffer the most important fall this century because IT WILL DISINTIGRATE INTO SEVERAL NUMEROUS NEO-SPANISHES LIKE LATIN.
This is a point that is hard for hispanic fanatics like to argue. All these languages are dominate in a region...except for Castillian Spanish, which is #11 in Europe after German, English, French....... And as for Western
Hemisphere, it is not always the most spoken language where it is official. Plus it's sandwiched by English, French, Portuguese, Dutch, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani, Lunfardo, Quiche, and Italian. Anfd for Spain it's being swandwiched by Catalan, Basque, Galicia, Aragonese, Leonese, and Asturian.
English is the one that is threatned in Africa in it's former colonies by Afrikaans, Swahili, and Arabic where it is less and less used often in favor of these languages.
French and English are THE ONLY language where you can go almost anywhere in the world and have a decent chance of running into someone who speaks English. You can't say this with Spanish or any other language. Again, I think Spanish is not important. In today's world, it really isn't any more important than Hottentot, Telugu, Miao and Hiri Motu . It's only useful in some areas, not worldwide like French and English clearly is.