<< So I've read cited a few times that by 2050, the dominant international languages will be English, Spanish and Chinese.
What do you think? Should we study Spanish or Chinese? Obviously not French...
Your reason can either be due to economic influence, cultural utility, or just which language is most interesting. >>
Yes, French, Russian, German, Italian, and even Hindi fits into your category and Spanish and Chinese are out.
French is studied as a foreign language by some 200 million people (making it the second most learnt language in the world - after English.)
http://www.stgeorges.co.uk/foreign-languages/french-courses/
Russian statistics state that 20 million foreigners studying Russian, and this, in 90 countries.
http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/francophonie/francophonie.htm
According to Spain's 20 Minutos, there are now more than 14 million people studying Spanish in 90 countries in which Spanish is not an official language. According to the Director of the Instituto Cervantes.....
http://vivirlatino.com/2007/04/27/spanish-second-most-studied-language-worldwide.php
English and French are the only working languages of the International Court of Justice
English, French, and German are the only working languages of the EU.
French is the language of The European Court of Justice
English, Russian, French, German, and Japanese are the dominant languages on science while Spanish is slipping from the list.
In the Economic and Social Council, as of 2007, there are three three are working languages (English, French, and Russian).
The working languages of NATO/OTAN are French and English
English and French are the only 2 global languages.