The most studied languages

French reality check   Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:50 am GMT
<< The point is Spanish is just present in 3 continents and French in 5 continents. >>

My god! Have you not read any of my posts about this?! This is THE most BS claim by francophiles like you.

First off, French IS NOT official in any Asian country. Do you choose to ignore this fact? A few scattered island "territories" do not count as Asia, sorry. The ONLY official European languages in Asia of any major significance are Russian and English. (Portuguese has a minor presence only in specific areas where a native language is more dominate overall.)

Second, if you want to count French in South America because of the small French "territory" there, then fine. BUT then I can count Equatorial Guinea in Africa for Spanish.

So, taking the second point into account, I will make this fair list that every logical and sane French lover should agree with, even you.

French - 4 continents - North America, South America, Europe, Africa

Spanish - 4 - continents - North America, South America, Europe, Africa

In this way, both are "technically" spoken on the same 4 continents. If you want to add those island territories, then fine, but they do not constitute a "continent".

But now, if I only count "significant" numbers of speakers the list looks like this.

French - 3 - North America, Europe, Africa

Spanish - 3 - North America, South America, Europe

There. Now that seems more realistic, seeing that almost any big language can claim "to be spoken" on any continent.
Senorita   Mon Dec 01, 2008 4:49 pm GMT
Spanish is more spoken than French in Antarctica.
Spic Stomper   Mon Dec 01, 2008 6:04 pm GMT
Spanish speaking universities exist only in Latin America and in a part of the Iberian peninsula.

On the other hand there are French universities in Europe, the Americas, in Africa, in Asia and in the Pacific.
Francofrog   Mon Dec 01, 2008 9:47 pm GMT
Yes, I studied cannibalism in a French African University.
frog stomper   Mon Dec 01, 2008 11:25 pm GMT
<< On the other hand there are French universities in Europe, the Americas, in Africa, in Asia and in the Pacific. >>

Not nearly as many as English universities. Besides, students of French and its practical use has fallen. French universities will continue to be less and less in demand.
Hispanic Dung Beetle   Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:29 am GMT
Yes, all hispanics studied the art of eating shit in a Hispanic American University.
Dung Beetle Stomper   Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:30 am GMT
<< Not nearly as many as English universities. Besides, students of French and its practical use has fallen. French universities will continue to be less and less in demand. >>

That was in the late 80's and nineties. But now French is catching up with English, especially because of Bush and Blair tandem that wreck havoc in the world.
Tzar Bomba   Tue Dec 02, 2008 3:06 pm GMT
Ka-Boom!
frog stomper   Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:17 pm GMT
<< That was in the late 80's and nineties. But now French is catching up with English, >>

What? French is catching up with English? Ha ha! That's funny. Where the hell did this observation come from? The only French speaking country worth any real weight is France. While English has the US, Canada (majority), UK and Australia.

If anything, French was MORE popular in the last 2 decades and the trends have shown that it has steadily decreased over the last 50 years. But I thought everyone knew that. You must be a franco in denial.
French reality check   Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:01 am GMT
Again, everyone check this site out.

http://theworldwidedeclineoffrench.blogspot.com/

You can look up articles about French by country on the right hand side. A lot of reports here and very insightful.
Dung Beetle Stomper   Wed Dec 03, 2008 8:15 am GMT
<< What? French is catching up with English? Ha ha! That's funny. Where the hell did this observation come from? The only French speaking country worth any real weight is France. While English has the US, Canada (majority), UK and Australia.

If anything, French was MORE popular in the last 2 decades and the trends have shown that it has steadily decreased over the last 50 years. But I thought everyone knew that. You must be a franco in denial >>

Yeah it decreased and so did English in favor of Asian languages like Arabic, Japanese and Chinese.

The trend also showed that Spanish has not caught up with German and Italian as more studied language. It seems that of all the languages with huge number of speakers Spanish is inutile and big fiasco. Nobody wants to learn it except the 2nd generation hispanics in the US and Brazil who speak no Spanish at all.
Spanish reality check   Wed Dec 03, 2008 8:24 am GMT
Again, everyone check this out.

You can look up articles about Spanish by country. A lot of reports here and very insightful.

Argentina - Spanish (official), English, Italian, German, French

Bolivia - Spanish, Quechua, Aymara (all official)

Costa Rica - Spanish (official), English.

Ecuador - Spanish (official), Quechua, other Amerindian languages

Equatorial Guinea - Spanish, French (both official); pidgin English, Fang, Bubi, Ibo

Gibraltar - English (used in schools and for official purposes), Spanish, Italian, Portuguese

Guatemala - Spanish 60%, Amerindian languages 40% (23 officially recognized Amerindian languages, including Quiche, Cakchiquel, Kekchi, Mam, Garifuna, and Xinca)

Honduras - Spanish (official), Amerindian dialects; English widely spoken in business

Mexico - Spanish, various Mayan, Nahuatl, and other regional indigenous languages

Panama - Spanish (official), English 14%, lots of bilinguals

Paraguay - Spanish, Guaraní (both official)

Peru - Spanish, Quéchua (both official); Aymara; many minor Amazonian languages

Puerto Rico - Spanish, English

Spain- Castilian Spanish 74% (official nationwide); Catalan 17%, Galician 7%, Basque 2% (each official regionally)

Venezuela - Spanish (official), numerous indigenous dialects

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0855611.html


Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahaha

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France - French 100%, rapidly declining regional dialects (Provençal, Breton, Alsatian, Corsican, Catalan, Basque, Flemish)
Spanish reality check   Wed Dec 03, 2008 8:29 am GMT
<< Again, everyone check this site out.

http://theworldwidedeclineoffrench.blogspot.com/

You can look up articles about French by country on the right hand side. A lot of reports here and very insightful. >>

How can Spanish compete with French in technical voacational courses when the Spanish speaking world is one of the linguistic entities that lag in technical knowhow? What are they gonna offer? Siesta and indolence?

I contacted the host of this blog and they checked the IP address and told me that this blog not a website which contains lies whose head is full of lice was made in a Spanish speaking country.

GUYS DON'T BELIEVE THAT LINK. IT WAS JUST A BLOG THEREFORE IT'S CRAP.
Spanish reality check   Wed Dec 03, 2008 8:37 am GMT
Check this paragraphs taken from http://www.universia.com.br/materia/materia.jsp?materia=5739

"O francês será sempre um diferencial por ter sido, até a década de 50, o idioma dominante no mundo sendo que, até hoje, há países europeus que, profissionalmente, consideram o francês no mesmo nível do inglês", conta Keila Reis, da Unisa.

Translation:
"The French will always be a gap because it was up to the 50's, the dominant language in the world and, until now, there are European countries that, professionally, consider the French at the same level of English," says Keila Reis, the Unis.

O espanhol ainda é o segundo mais pedido do mercado, os motivos continuam os mesmos. "O espanhol ainda é mais importante por causa da proximidade dos países de língua espanhola ao Brasil, mas essa necessidade vem decrescendo, houve um boom há doze anos atrás, quando foi anunciado o Mercosul, mas agora a busca decresce", conta Roland Zotele, gerente da área de idiomas do Senac-SP.

Translation:
Spanish is still the second most in demand in the market, the reasons remain the same. "Spanish is even more important because of the proximity of Spanish-speaking countries to Brazil, but this need is decreasing, there was a boom twelve years ago, when it was announced Mercosur, but now the search decreases," says Roland Zotele, manager of the area of languages to Senac-SP.

The information that was spread by hispanic fanatics that Spanish is so in demand in Brazil was a pure hoax and myth. French remains more popular than Spanish in Brazil just like in Portugal.
Spanish reality check   Wed Dec 03, 2008 8:44 am GMT
Spanish language in Philippines

The language in fact is maintained by mestizo families and by educated youth, especially in the province of Cebu, Zamboanga and Bacolod. This is because of the historical roots Spanish has left in the Filipino culture all long the colonial era, from 1565 when the Spanish lnguage was first introduced, till the early 20th century when bagan the American hegemony. In 1990 there were around 2,658 Spanish speakers in the country. This number doesn’t consider however the 300,000 creoles that speak Chavacano, one of the 170 Philippine languages that most sounds like Spanish. Actually there are thousands of Spanish loanwords in the Filipino languages and because of the traditional base and the similarities shared by these languages, Spanish is admitted in written legal documents and courts of law. Additionaly nowadays, a great demand in call center industries has made the interest for the Spanish language growing.

Spanish ceased to be the official language of the State in 1973 as well as a required subject in college in 1987. Although the historic background of the Spanish variety spoken in Philippines, which is full of Maxican linguistic influences (Philippines were administrated by Mexico rather than by Spain itself during the colonial period), the new generation of Spanish speakers are confoming with European Spanish grammar, phonology and vocabulary.

http://www.spanish-in-the-world.net/Spanish/philippines.php

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!