Will Spanish and Chinese overcome English?
If the economies of Latin America can take off, and if the US eventually becomes a Spanish speaking country de jure, instead of de facto which it is today, then I can see Spanish replacing English on a planet wide level. 15 percent of the US population already speaks the language.
For some odd reason, the entire world looks to the 'Americas' and more specifically the USA for the latest trends on everything. Their seems to be this pull, this attraction, for everything emanating from the 'Americas', felt around the world. Whatever happens hear fascinates Europeans, Africans, Asians, Pacific Islanders... If Castilian Spanish can eventually become the lingua franca of the 'Americas', I can see it becoming the lingua franca of the world, easily.
Mandarin is too dificulut for Westerners to master without years and years of practise. The Chinese, unlike Latin Americas, are so eager to learn English and anglicize their country. They don't want Mandarin to become the global language if they are so eager to communicate with the outside world in English, not Mandarin. Most Latin Americans do not see English as a godsend to this earth, they see it more like a hindrance. Go to any Latin American government portal website, and you will rarely see an english version. Go to an Asian country's website, and you are guaranteed an 'English version'. Asians are pushovers, they are provincial and apparently inferior to Western and -specifically- anglo-saxon culture. Most Romance language speakers do not seem to suffer the same fate.
ridiculous statement
so Veritas you suggest chinese people don't learn any second language?
as in your opinion 'They don't want Mandarin to become the global language if they are so eager to communicate with the outside world in English, not Mandarin'.
the importance of mandarin is decided by the influence of china as english is made important because of US. more and more western people have already started learning mandarin.
If the people of this planet must choose one language, it should be English.(If someone argues for spanish, please help translate all english materials throughout the world into spanish, can you?)
And if the people of this planet must choose two languages to keep this world diversified, it should be one western language and one eastern languge, which means English and Chinese.
Two languages is enough for most people on the planet and more language learning would cost too much time, anyway the main mission of the people is creating wealth rather than studying languages. Therefore all other languages will share the same status as various dialects of this world.
Veritas : « For some odd reason, the entire world looks to the 'Americas' and more specifically the USA for the latest trends on everything. »
De moins en moins, à mon avis. Il faut dire que les toutes dernières "tendances" (Bush, Iraq, Iran, Corée-du-Nord, Liban) en ont refroidi beaucoup.
kawaii : « If someone argues for spanish, please help translate all english materials throughout the world into spanish, can you? »
Ce sera d'autant plus facile à réaliser que le poids de l'anglais en ce domaine repose sur des bases récentes et fragiles.
i want to write my name(Lydia) from english to chines languge can i ?
We CAN translate them, by its pronunciation, just like you English speakers use our pinyin.
Another thing: Chinese, in fact, is the most-spoken language in the world. There are over 1,500,000,000 people speaking it, which takes up 25% (a quarter) of the world's population. English is the wideliest-spoken one, or in other words the language spoken in the most places. As for Spanish, I don't even see one people around on internet speaking it... though it's the third language.
Mandarin and Cantonese are as close as German and English.
Chinese people cannot communicate orally, only written communication is possible (thru pictograms). Chinese government is banning all dialects (except Cantonese) and forcing everyone to speak Mandarin.
Mandarin, Korean and Japanese share the same pictograms.
(Yes Korean has its on Hangul and Japanese hiragama, but their are considered limites/inferior to China-imported pictograms)
2,000 of them are enough for written communication?
Should we include Korean and Japanese into Chinese because they use the same pictograms?!
A very difficult task.
Presently, 800 million of people speak Mandarin.
If I draw a house, it can be ''read'' HOUSE in English, HAUS in German, CASA in Italian and Portuguese. So, here we go, we have some European pictograms. Why not proclaim EUROPEAN LANGUAGES the most ''written'' ones?
The chinese government is not FORCING anyone to speak mandarin. The chinese government does not ban dialects. There are many dialect tv stations in china. People can speak any language or dialects they want in China. Please back up your claims with proof Llorenna.
"Mandarin and Cantonese are as close as German and English"
no, mandarin and cantonese share the almost identical grammar system and vocabulary. they're much closer than german and english.
What Guest and Lu are saying is not true.
Wikipedia says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghainese
''Shanghainese is not encouraged to be spoken in schools and written in newspapers, and the media are strongly discouraged from broadcasting in contemporary Shanghainese. There is a lot of uncertainty between what gets aired in Shanghainese and what becomes censored (due to government fears of regionalism), thus most producers do not take this risk and only produce in Mandarin. Several television advertisements in Shanghainese have been removed shortly after airing. But there have been some TV series in Shanghainese that were approved since the mid-1990s. Back in 1995, a TV play series called "Nie Zhai" (the Evil Debt) was in Shanghainese; while it was broadcasted in other places in China, mainly in adjacent Wu-speaking provinces, subtitles in Mandarin were added rather than make a Mandarin version of the TV series. Another TV comedy programme "Lao Niang Jiu" (Old Uncle) has been broadcasting since 1999, and is still quite popular among Shanghainese residents. In 2004, a Tom and Jerry cartoon program dubbed with Shanghainese was blocked from broadcasting. Older and more rural forms of Shanghainese are still heard on the radio (catering to farming communities in the suburbs). But the Shanghainese are strongly encouraged by the government to speak Mandarin and celebrities are put on billboards with slogans like "Be a modern Shanghai person, speak Mandarin."
In August 2005, there were media coverages reporting that Shanghainese would be taught in secondary school. This introduced great controversy. Proponents argue that this will make the students know their hometown better and help preserve local culture. Opponents argue that this will encourage discrimination based on people's origin.
In September 2005, the Shanghai municipal government also launched a campaign to encourage Mandarin speaking in Shanghai. Among other requirements, all service-industry workers in Shanghai will be required to greet customers in Mandarin only, and pass Mandarin-fluency test by 2010. Those with bad or heavily-accented Mandarin must enroll in remedial Mandarin classes.''
Obviously, Chinese goverment is banning dialects. So horrible.
Mandarin is certainly spoken by everyone in China nowadays, but its depth of penetration in the South is still far from desirable, at least from the self-righteous Northern point of view. I have a mate from the Chaozhou (Teochew) region of China who said that the medium of education was the Teochew vernacular and not Mandarin back in primary school. Of course, there is an important caveat to this argument: He was from Chaoyang (Teo Yio), a relatively unimportant hamlet and not from bustling Shantou (Swatow).
Also, people over 40 in the Teochew region of China are generally monolinggual in their mother tongue. For those from the North who are unaware of such a region, it is situated ih the southeastern corner of Guangdong province, just south of Fujian.
Guangdong is the richest province of China if one excludes Shanghai. If not everyone in the most economically developed area of China is able to hold their own in the national tongue, what makes you think Mandarin'd get you far in the remoter hamlets of inland provinces? Most peasants from the central regions of China arguably speak a patois that sounds familiar to standard Mandarin speakers, though. However, they speak a Mandarin dialect and some of these dialects are so far removed from standard Mandarin that a translator is practically essential.
So Mike is right to a certain extent. We're not talking about Shanghai where practically every Shanghainese from all generations can speak Mandarin as well as Shanghainese. Just visit Shenzhen or Guangzhou alone and I can guarantee you that a goodish number of people would give you a blank look if you speak Mandarin.
Also, I must add that 'dialects' (I detest this disparaging term) are not banned in China. The central government discourages it, certainly. However, policies vary wildly from province to province. Shanghai is a special case as it is seen as the New York of China and the central government has a vested interest in making Shanghai not just a provincial city with its local quirks and practices, but also a shining example of a Chinese city. A Chinese city must necessarily be a Mandarin-speaking city, or so the CCP would have us to believe.
Out of curiosity, I wonder if any Chinese participants here are able to speak a regional Chinese tongue that is not Mandarin.
Somehow, a little bird tells me otherwise.
dialects in china are treated this way: discouraged, yes; banned, not.
one will certainly notice the popularity of shanghainese among local people if he visits shanghai: they're using it everywhere, well maybe not during an interview and at school but cetainly most informal occasions.
"Out of curiosity, I wonder if any Chinese participants here are able to speak a regional Chinese tongue that is not Mandarin. "
yes Ben, you're right.