What will be the second language to know over the next 30 years for someone based in the US?

[Atomicus]

Originally posted by: Ronstang

Originally posted by: mariok2006
chinese /thread

Not likely. You guys seriously overestimate your importance and ability. China is facing huge problems but like all communist countries hide those to make it look like they are stronger than they are. If the US crashes China goes right with it, and that is what it would take for Chinese as a language to become important here. Without a US economy the Chinese economy collapses right in step. There are not enough Chinese people in the US to influence the language in the US that much anyway. You guys need a reality check.

Ironic! You're from Texas :roll:

Jokes aside, the problem with your analysis is that you're concerned about the number of Chinese in the US. The OP stated: What will be the language to know over the next 30 years for someone based in the US?

If you're based in the US, who cares how many are in the US! If you can communicate with one of the largest labor and material providers in the world, then your business is set. Isn't making a profit the only matter most American business owners care about?

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: aswedc

Originally posted by: Turkish

Originally posted by: aswedc
Why don't you stick with Arabic? The Middle East is going to be huge. Countries with the most contruction cranes 1) China, 2) UAE.

Actually UAE (mainly Dubai) has 2/3 of world's construction cranes :shocked:

I really doubt that is true. From reputable media sources I've seen numbers for Dubai anywhere from 16% to 33%. Seems like no one really knows exactly how many cranes there are in the world.

Well, I do hear that the national bird of...

 

[Turkish]

Originally posted by: aswedc

Originally posted by: Turkish

Originally posted by: aswedc
Why don't you stick with Arabic? The Middle East is going to be huge. Countries with the most contruction cranes 1) China, 2) UAE.

Actually UAE (mainly Dubai) has 2/3 of world's construction cranes :shocked:

I really doubt that is true. From reputable media sources I've seen numbers for Dubai anywhere from 16% to 33%. Seems like no one really knows exactly how many cranes there are in the world.

Well I am someone else's liar... actually a magazines.. maybe TIME magazine or something but it was one of the big ones. I read it 4-5 months back.

 

[Rubycon]

Mathematics. It's the universal langauge. Can't go wrong with that, right?

 

[cavemanmoron]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman
Hi all,


In light of current events and where the world is headed, which direction would you go with foreign language? Let's assume you were starting at zero: All you can speak is English.

American, with the various geographical variations.

{you ever try to understand somebody from cajun Louisiana, when your from
upper NY State?}

 

[Semidevil]

Elvish

 

[thirdlegstump]

Whatever the language they speak in Khazakstan.

 

[JDrake]

Spanish

 

[ruffilb]

Spanish FTW. Lots of people in the US actually speak spanish.

 

[Mill]

For the US I still think that English and Spanish will be key. I really do NOT see the need for Chinese just yet. In fact, how many Chinese only (language wise) citizens do we even have? Sure, if you expect China to take over business in the future it might become realistic later, but right now it isn't. English is still the language that drives the world through the media and culture. You see it everywhere overseas. I'd say that Spanish is second most important to the US because of our citizens that speak it as well as our Latin American neighbors. After Spanish I'd have to say it is a tossup among several languages depending on your region or locale. In Alabama, Japanese is probably the most important after Spanish with German and Korean coming in a bit behind it. Chinese or Russian would be useless here. This is mainly due to an emerging auto industry that has Japanese, Korean, and German owners.

 

[z0mb13]

chinese so u can order good food in chinatown

 

[EatSpam]

To live and work in the United States? Spanish. George W. Bush, John "Amnesty" McCain, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and all the other traitors will ensure that the United States will become known as Mexico Del Norte.

International? Chinese, as China is poised to surpass the United States. While we worry about religion and oil, they're working to surpass us in the sciences and produce far more engineers than us.

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: mariok2006
chinese /thread

Let's also throw ROI into the mix...Chinese might be great skill to have, but wouldn't it also be the hardest to learn?

...or is that a myth?

Myth.
English is still the hardest language in the world.

Mostly because there are more exceptions than rules.
And those exceptions have rules.

Well yeah, but I can already read Latin characters.

 

[b0mbrman]

Ok...lots of people are picking British English without explaining why.

 

[Staples]

More and more people are speaking English everyday. I think 50% of the population of industrialized nations will speak it in 50 years. Hate to say it but just sticking to English is probably all you need to know.

 

[B00ne]

I would say Spanish or French, both are widely spoken and the only countries you usually dont get by with English alone are spanish and french speaking countries.

I doubt you need much more than English in business though. Here, English (at least for highly educated employees) isnt even regarded as foreign language - it's standard, a requirement, expected.

 

[RichardE]

English, Spanish, Chineese and Arabic... You got cheap labous X2, oil and the west

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: Staples
More and more people are speaking English everyday. I think 50% of the population of industrialized nations will speak it in 50 years. Hate to say it but just sticking to English is probably all you need to know.

Ah, I get it...

In the poll, I meant British English as a second language to American English

 

[bdww00]

enlish of course first we need to learn english

 

[b0mbrman]

But you already know English...

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: shortylickens

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: mariok2006
chinese /thread

Let's also throw ROI into the mix...Chinese might be great skill to have, but wouldn't it also be the hardest to learn?

...or is that a myth?

Myth.
English is still the hardest language in the world.

Mostly because there are more exceptions than rules.
And those exceptions have rules.

Disagree. I would say German, for example, is harder than English. Although there are lots of exceptions to our rules, you can learn to communicate very quickly in english. Our verb conjugations are non-existant for the most part (I ran, she ran, he ran, they ran). True, we have many exceptions about the past tense, but those learning the language can certainly get by without speaking perfectly. We also have no subjunctive (well, to be fair, we do, but nothing changes when you use it). Our progressives are easy to form. Grammatically, English is German dumbed down.

 

[mugs]

None of the above. Good old American English is all you need. Everyone wants to do business with us, so everyone learns our language Why bother learning someone else's language when they can all speak ours?

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
Whatever the language they speak in Khazakstan.

So Russian then?

 

[Gibson486]

Chinese or Spanish

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: mugs
None of the above. Good old American English is all you need. Everyone wants to do business with us, so everyone learns our language Why bother learning someone else's language when they can all speak ours?

For resume padding? Also, for the whimsy of it all?