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Useful languages
Eastern Europe is very big. For example, Russian is very useful in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
In Baltic countries, Caucasus, Moldavia, and Bulgaria is also useful. Even in Countries like Poland and Czech republic is useful because the language is similar.
In China, to a large extent, Japanese is quite useful, maybe second only to English. And I guess, in Europe, probably Germany plays a more important role than Russia.
<<And I guess, in Europe, probably Germany plays a more important role than Russia.>>
No. From Ireland to Poland you only need English, or if you prefer it, English is the lingua franca of European Union. From Poland to Siberia, of if you prefer it, former USSR (CIS nowadays) the lingua franca is Russian. So, there are two big European organizations. In each one, English and Russian are the most useful. German is not spoken in countries like UK, Italy, Spain or France. German people speak English in these countries. PD. In China, Japanese can be useful, but I think that Chinese is more useful:)
Learn Spanish. Since Spanish is the only economy that is able to keep up with china, it makes sense to learn Spanish. You can even go to the philipines and practice your Spanish. Although, as said above English is the linga Franca of eu, and learning Spanish will allow you to communicate with people in Spain France Germany uk and Italy since it is so widely studied in Europe
Lol, even Italian is more useful than Spanish in the EU. As for your economy, the Spanish government is having to bail out banks now! I think the EU will have to say goodbye to Spain!
Average Central European is able to understand only 20 - 30% of spoken Russian. Italian in Europe - about 60 mln native speakers , Spanish in Europe - 30 mln natives speakers. Numbers explain everything.
Well where did you find those numbers? You know I'm right that Spanish is dominating Europe. And besides, it is not quantity it's all about quality which Russian German and even Italian cannot compete with.
What does "useful" actually mean in your mind? It all depends.
If you wouldn't need to talk with Russians or people from former USSR in Russian, then Russian couldn't be considered as useful as you described. If you wouldn't need to talk with the Spanish or people from Latin America or Southern USA in Spanish, then Spanish couldn't be considered as useful as you described.
Franco: Why does Chinese sound so annoying? I can't stand it.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Perhaps what you heard was not Chinese, or they really speak bad Chinese.
Do you refer to Cantonese or another dialect but not Mandarin proper or just bad Mandarin?
As a Spaniard I can understand and be understood in Italian and Portuguese.
No need even to switch languages. Granted that it is much easier to be understood by Italian and Portuguese speaking Spanish than the other way around, which lead us to the conclusion that Spanish is the most useful language both in Europe and the Americas, since French-speaking people can also understand Spanish, but not the other way around.
Why can Spanish be understood by Italians, the Portuguese, and the french, but not the other way around? Is it true?
Franco: Do you refer to Cantonese or another dialect but not Mandarin proper or just bad Mandarin?
--------------------------------------- I prefer Mandarin & Minnanese(Taiwanese) to Cantonese or other dialects, but I think it also depends on the speakers you've met with, and you can't say Italian sounds annoying just because somebody did ever spoke bad Italian.
"Why can Spanish be understood by Italians, the Portuguese, and the french, but not the other way around? Is it true?"
I'm not quite certain if the Portuguese and Italians really can understand Spanish, but I'm sure the French cannot. |