Which Language is most beneficial to learn in global context After English? (college, income)

[Sandpointian]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

China is about the most capitalistic country you can find on the planet in every sense of the word.

Agree. For those thinking India vs. China, there really is no comparison. Expect the growth rate differential between China and India to remain 1-3% points per annum. That India is now plugged into the global economy is a good thing. But to often I have read these over-reaching articles on the India surpassing the US and China and other assorted nonsense. This is sheer folly.

Now for the individual, India can be a gold mine. And pockets of India are already booming. But the poverty there is so widespread and culturally-bound, I see no comparison with the potential of China.

Besides, the most useful language in the whole of India remains English not Hindi.

S.
P.S. Please don't interpret the above as anti-India. It is not. I have many Indian friends and think very highly of the Indian intellectual tradition. But when one looks at the conduct of business in a hyper competitive arena, give me the Chinese and Americans every day of the week and twice on Sunday over any other country. Both countries see business as fun, an opportunity to socialize, and a playground for dreams. In India and in Muslim countries, there are questions of "social worth" such that free enterprise is restricted and must be filtered through social apparati.

[grmike]

unless you plan on working in China Madarin like Hindi is not very significant.

in the future the Spanish language could be almost as popular as English in the US which should be the world's largest economy for at least the next 2 decades, and very close to the largest for the next century.
other countries Mexico, Brazil, could both become top 10 world powers in the next couple decades with lots of people.

right now nominal gdp
south america and mexico 4 trillion
china 4.4 trillion
exports
south america and mexico 850 billion
china 1.435 trillion

if you include the US and Spain it's pretty obvious Spanish will be a more important language than Madarin or Hindi unless China or India plan to invade other countries.

many of the countries that speak arabic are unstable and based on oil (resource will eventually run out, renewable energy sources are slowly replacing it). unless you think most muslim countries will become like dubai, there aren't many reasons to learn the language. if anything the rest of the world is distancing itself from muslim countries and vice versa.

i wouldn't be surprised if
-more than half of the people in every country in the world speaks English.
-a very small minority of people in the countries that represent more than 85 % of the world's economy know mandarin.

the best way to determine what languages will do well in the future is to look at trends in the world's most ethnically diverse countries.

[WildWestDude]

If you look into history the original "english" or lingua franca was Greek in many old civilized parts.
Anyone that was educated or of a certain status had to know it!

good info here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_...reek_and_Latin

[glass_of_merlot]

Originally Posted by yayoi

definitely chinese for global jobs. Spanish for us jobs.

:d

[bamba_boy]

[quote=grmike;11097496]unless you plan on working in China Madarin like Hindi is not very significant.

in the future the Spanish language could be almost as popular as English in the US which should be the world's largest economy for at least the next 2 decades, and very close to the largest for the next century.
other countries Mexico, Brazil, could both become top 10 world powers in the next couple decades with lots of people.]

The only problem with that statement is that the largest population and largest economy (and probably growing the fastest) south of the Rio Grande (Mexico to the tip of S. America) is Brazil which doesn't speak Spanish but Portugues. They are closely related however. I work with folks from Brazil, Angola, Mexico, Columbia, and Argentina and most of the 1st language Spaniards have a lot of trouble initially understanding Portuguese at all but learn it much much quicker than English speakers. The Portuguese speakers usually understand (although they might speak it with a lot of mistakes) Spanish almost immediately.

For the businessman it's probably more useful to learn Portugues for the shear economic significance of Brazil in the world economy although many smaller countries speak Spanish - especially because of the ease in learning Spanish once you already know Porto.

[rory00]

Originally Posted by Hasdrubal

I don't think Mandarin will be that important. China is experiencing some skyrocketing growth because they started from zero thus their economy is currently booming but it will take centuries until they achieve the level of Western countries. If you're an American, Spanish is the obvious choice, not only because the grocery's clerck is from Mexico, but also for the unlimited opportunities of doing business in Latin America.

I don't think mandarin will be important because it's too hard to learn, for one. i also don't think there will be a world superpower in the future as in one country dominating all others and i don't think it should be like that anyways, i think america was a jumpstart for the world economy though and all countries will eventually share power and do well for themselves, which is how it should be. but china went from 85th to 3rd largest economy in thirty years. i don't think it will take them "centuries". it sounds a little out of touch.

i find the idea of world superpowers an immature pissing contest in ideology because that is not the point of life or goal in itself but to improve your life. china is also investing in africa and helping to build infrastructure etc and giving them a hand up. they are passing on their blessing as well and they can do that now. this makes sense as better neighbors make for a better world. this is really what it's about. every country improving for themselves, despite all the growing pains and mistakes and imperfections along the way.

[Kate222]

I also think that it is Spanish or Chinese.

[AliveandWell]

As much as people want to talk about Chinese being one of the so-called "best" languages to learn in a global context after English, it is a TOUGH language to learn. Spanish on the other hand is easy and with the way the US does business with the Spanish speaking nations and the fact that everywhere I go, Spanish is spoken right in front of me, Spanish is the one to go with for sure. But as i said in a previous post, it also depends on what the person's goals and aspirations are and where they will be working. For the US job applicants, I'd say Spanish is the best choice. If you will be working in China or Taiwan then yes, Chinese is the best option.

[chacho_keva]

Originally Posted by dennis s

In my opinion Spanish for obvious reasons. Second, Manderin.

In my opinion Madarin (given that China's economy is rapidly expanding) followed by Spanish (given that China is expanding it's influence into several countries in the Americas).

[Thomas R.]

I'd basically agree with the above Mandarin, then Spanish.

Although French seems to be spoken in more nations than Spanish, going by my Almanac, Spanish has more speakers. So it's actually a bit of a toss-up, but I guess I'd go with Spanish too.