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It depends on what you mean by "most important language to know." In terms of what? For employment, in order to make a decision, you have to evaluate WHERE the languages are spoken and what JOBS are available there.
Do you want to live where they speak it, or do you want to live here and work WITH people who speak it?
Exactly. The answer is mostly geographical. If a person reads ancient Greek manuscripts for a living, he/she would need to learn Greek. If a person teaches Italian to high school students, he/she would need to know Italian. It depends, just like everything else in the world.
Chinese (but there's problem here -- Mandarin or Cantonese?)
Mandarin. Cantonese has been essentially relegated to Hong Kong, Macau, and ex-pats. So in Canada and the US, it's mostly Cantonese, especially in Canada. Thailand, Vietnam the Chinese spoken is mostly Cantonese.
Mainland China, the official language is Mandarin.
As to Quebequois, it has a large number of differences with "Parisian" French.
By the time I got out of High School, I spoke (in addition to English, and in descending order of fluency) Spanish, German, Italian, and French. The position of Italian on the list is somewhat fluid, as it is very similar to Spanish (Some spellings and pronunciations are slightly different, but the construction of sentences, verb tenses and grammar are much the same).
Trying to talk to Puerto Ricans, after having learned Spanish as it is spoken in Spain was a bit difficult. I'd have to keep telling them to slow down- at their normal rate of speaking, with dialect differences and other issues, I'd be lucky to get one word out of twenty. Speaking Spanish in countries south of the US when I was in the military was a little easier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeyyc
As to Quebequois, it has a large number of differences with "Parisian" French.
Ain't that the truth. I was fortunate to grow up with a French Canadian kid and spent much time with his family, so I was not completely unprepared when I eventually traveled to Quebec City. My main difficulty was that it had been so long between school and getting there I found that I had pretty much forgotten most of what I had known.
Even so, despite having been told that, as an American, I would be treated very rudely there, I found it quite pleasant. The only rudeness I experienced was one parking-lot attendant...and I think he was just a [jerk] to *everyone*. Perhaps my experience was different from what I was told to expect, because I didn't *expect* everyone else to know English and try to speak *my* language. I did my best with their language and everything worked out fine...I know that some were more than mildly amused at my lack of knowledge, but I was more than happy to acknowledge my ignorance and laugh with them.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life
There is no "except." You and I are sharing two different statistics.
Mine was about a language spoken in more countries, and yours is about a language spoken by more people.
Two.different.things.
So which is more important?
I would argue that from an economic point of view, it has to relate to the number of people who speak it, as that is where the GDP will be. If you're just counting countries, find, but how does that impact the real world?
People, please remember which forum you're in. Several posts have been deleted, including those relating to menus in Chinese restaurants.
Your posts should be relevant to Work & Employment. Thanks.
.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wmsn4Life
That's up to the OP, who asked the question.
They asked what language was more important; it seems reasonable that if one is talking economics, it would be the language that is spoken the most. Chinese is spoken essentially only in two countries, yet no one would deny how important they are in economic terms, would they?
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