Paris global city? (places, people, English, Russian)

[Simpsin]

I always heard that there are three real global cities:new york,london and tokyo.But sometimes i've also heard that paris is considered the 4th.Do you agree? I think that paris,even if is one of the most beautiful city in the world and has a lot of tourust is definitely not important as tokyo,london and ny but more like barcelona,milan,rome,berlin,munich etc because is not a very very important business center and the population is 2 milions.Do you agree?

[kikebxl]

Alpha, Beta and Gamma cities (updated 2015) | Experience cities like a local!

Paris IS a very importan business center (by any parameter you measure it) and the population is about 10 millions (metropolitan area, of course)

[french user]

Paris, in demagraphic weight and cultural and economic importance is very comparable to London. The difference is that Paris is culturally french. that many anglophone thinks that only anglo cities are important because they don't have contact with global french culture.

[1950's-americana]

Paris is quite important

[DTL3000]

Paris is probably the premier continental European city. More so than Berlin, I'd wager.

[yabanci]

Originally Posted by DTL3000

Paris is probably the premier continental European city. More so than Berlin, I'd wager.

I completely agree.

Originally Posted by french user

many anglophone thinks that only anglo cities are important because they don't have contact with global french culture.

Yeah, a non-anglophone city has to have a population of 35+million and a ridiculously large economy to be considered 'up there' with the 'big boys'.

[Ottawa2011]

It's largely due to the growth in the number of French-speaking people in the world. This means Paris is still a very influential cultural (and even economic) capital. There are many francophones around the world, from Quebec, to Haiti, Guadeloupe, etc. in the Americas, to Belgium, Switzerland, etc., the Maghreb countries, parts of the Middle East, and down to a large part of sub-Saharan Africa.

French is still one of the most-spoken countries on Earth. Right up there with Mandarin and English. Because of population growth in sub-Saharan Africa, something like 750 million francophones will exist within 30 years.

French satellite TV, news, websites, music stations, etc. are all broadcast worldwide, 24/7. Many francophones will visit Paris at least once in their lives. Some will actually live there at some point, and many do know someone who currently lives there.

[Davy-040]

Originally Posted by Ottawa2011

French is still one of the most-spoken countries on Earth. Right up there with Mandarin and English.

Mandarin/English have 3 to 4 times more speakers than French, Spanish/Arabic 2 times more.
Wouldn't call it "Right up there".

[forgotten username]

Originally Posted by Davy-040

Mandarin/English have 3 to 4 times more speakers than French, Spanish/Arabic 2 times more.
Wouldn't call it "Right up there".

Well, if you count on "number of countries" it's still pretty influent, and these countries see their population growing. I use french whenever I meet people from western african countries or places like Morrocco.

I consider Paris to be pretty global. Not at a London / NYC level, but not too far. Definitely more than Milan, Barcelona or Berlin even if those are very important cities.

[Ottawa2011]

Some good stats for top world languages here: Top 30 Language Spoken in the World by Number of Speakers

Also the number of countries with each language as an "official" language. Meaning it'd be a second or third (etc.) language for many people, especially in Africa.

Russian is spoken as a first- or second-language by 255 million or so people which is interesting... There are roughly as many Russian speakers as there are Arabic speakers. We should discuss what's holding back Moscow from becoming a global city.