chinese language

knewman   Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:01 am GMT
Whether chinese language could be lingua franca as french in future?
CHINESE   Wed Apr 05, 2006 5:09 am GMT
NO, Never!
greg   Thu Apr 06, 2006 5:25 am GMT
Bien qu'encore très peu répandu, l'apprentissage du chinois se développe très fortement en France.
Marinheiro   Thu Apr 06, 2006 11:34 am GMT
Depende da economia
Depende da demografia
Depende da tecnologia
Depende da política
Presentemente observamos um incremento da língua chinesa

Grego é língua franca !
Latim é língua franca !
Línguas Latinas se comunicam entre si !

Português do Brasil - Língua de 200.000.000
Principal Língua da América do Sul
Sigma   Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:36 pm GMT
Sin embargo de momento el Chino esta limitado geográficamente a la China contiental, lo cual puede demorar el que se convierta en lengua franca en un futuro próximo.
Viri Amaoro   Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:58 pm GMT
Well, if 200 m. people speak portuguese in South America maybe portuguese should become the common language in South America. It would be easy for spanish speaking people to learn portuguese.
Guest   Fri Apr 07, 2006 12:54 pm GMT
I think that it is very likely that chinese could be a linga franca like french in the future together with spanish.
knewman   Sat Apr 08, 2006 5:22 am GMT
The number which are learning chinese in USA have increased several times in the last 5 years. Maybe, chinese will be an important second foreign language in the world 10~20 years later.

http://www.chinaqw.com/news/2006/0406/68/23188.shtml
Alicia   Sun Apr 09, 2006 3:58 pm GMT
Surprising... I was browsing through the archives of this forum: This topic has been brought up many, many times, but never has the general response been as positive as in this thread.

Sometime, I should ask my Japanese friends if more people in Japan are learning Chinese than ever before.
Guest   Sun Apr 16, 2006 2:18 pm GMT
>> The number which are learning chinese in USA have increased several times in the last 5 years. <<

Yeah, but think about how many Americans actually learn a foreign well enough to actually speak it, and not just to get their foreign language requirement credit, and then forget half of it within a year's time. I've only heard 3 people around here that could speak Spanish at an acceptable level; most of the other people could barely remember five words in the language, or could speak a few phrases but understand nothing back! And Spanish is considererably easier to learn than Chinese for an Anglophone, especially because of the similar words that are cognates of the Norman derivatives in English. Not to mention the fact that Europeans/Americans have a great deal of trouble with the tones in Chinese, and the correct pronunciation of the non-aspirated voiceless stops. So, I think that the number has increased simply because they thought that Chinese would be a minty language to take to fulfill the requirement, and would be more fun than Spanish or French.
knewman   Sat Apr 22, 2006 6:47 am GMT
But, Chinese is a lingua franca in the internet as google scholar statistics now, and exceeded French.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_preferences?hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&output=search
Shiny   Sat Apr 22, 2006 3:55 pm GMT
>> But, Chinese is a lingua franca in the internet as google scholar statistics now, and exceeded French.

http://scholar.google.com/scholar_preferences?hl=en&lr=&newwindow=1&output=search <<

It has nothing to do with lingua francas.

It only because China is a potential big market considering the population of China and China's rapidly growing economy.

As Chinese, I don't think Chinese will be a lingua franca.
greg   Sat Apr 22, 2006 8:55 pm GMT
« Guest » : « So, I think that the number has increased simply because they thought that Chinese would be a minty language to take to fulfill the requirement, and would be more fun than Spanish or French. »

Convaincant. Les comportements évolueront quand l'apprentissage du chinois ne sera plus ressenti comme une simple aventure sans conséquence mais perçu comme une ardente nécessité.
Mandarin in canada   Tue Apr 25, 2006 3:10 pm GMT
Mandarin is the second foreign language after French now.
Canada (22)
French 15 68%
Mandarin 6 27%
Spanish 6 27%
Japanese 4 18%
English 4 18%
Portuguese 4 18%
German 3 14%
Russian 3 14%
Swedish 2 9%
Esperanto 2 9%
Korean 2 9%

Data come from:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/languages.asp?submenu=targetbylocation
Tan   Wed Apr 26, 2006 7:15 am GMT
Je m'en fiche de l'apprentissage de chinois au Canada.