[Steve]

I will be attending a language expo in Germany in November. The following chart shows the interest in learning different languages amongst people who visited the language expo in 2005.

English 73%
Spanish 51%
French 37%
German 17%
Italian 15%
Russian 15%
Polish 10%
Portuguese 8%
Arabic 6%
Japanese 4%
Turkish 4%
Chinese 3%
Other 14%


I was surprised. Obviously people are more interested in learning the languages of people they are most likely to come into contact with. I would have thought Chinese would be higher on the list. This will probably change over the years. It will not be just the economic growth of China that will do it, but rather the sense that people want to use Chinese to communicate with people and make friends.

[简阿妲]

My guess for the "73%" English learners: Probably more than half of them are Chinese and East Indians. Think about the Chinese and East Indian's population. And I don't think it is going to have a big change on learning Chinese very soon unless the East Indians want to. LOL

[Steve]

Most people attending this conference are Europeans.

[凡凡]

not surprised. 3% is a normal figure. It's not bad./

[MEETUP]

What can you learn from Chinese? Not really much today. Almost everything going on in China is about the English world. I don't know how Spanish sells in Europe, Hollywood does sell English culture worldwide.

On another hand, it may be worth looking at the language interests among Chinese population. Highly likely English will be the most interested language for native Chinese speakers as well. If that's the case, it's a good indication that there are more Chinese interested in the outside world than non-native Chinese who are interested in the Chinese world.

[Chinese_difficult]

Only those intelligent enough dare show any interest in Chinese learning.

[青城]

这个跟国家影响力有关, 当你不得不用的产品,文化制品,科技文献, 都是用中文书写, 不得不找的工作,客户都是要求中文的, 自然而然学习中文的愿望就上升了.

大家在加拿大西方,没几个有愿望学习法文尽管也是官方语言.

[Steve]

Chinese_difficult _BBCODE_WROTE:

Only those intelligent enough dare show any interest in Chinese learning.

Language learning is about motivation not intelligence. Unfortunately the way languages are normally taught discourages people from learning. I know many people interested in learning Mandarin. When we do Mandarin at The Linguist next year, I am sure we can provide an enjoyable experience for our learners and they will learn.

Re language learning and intelligence. I have noticed the difficulty that many Mandarin speakers have in learning Cantonese. Is that because of a lack of intelligence or a lack of motivation?

[Steve]

青城 _BBCODE_WROTE:

这个跟国家影响力有关, 当你不得不用的产品,文化制品,科技文献, 都是用中文书写, 不得不找的工作,客户都是要求中文的, 自然而然学习中文的愿望就上升了. 大家在加拿大西方,没几个有愿望学习法文尽管也是官方语言.

At present the interest in Mandarin is either cultural or for people wishing to do business with China or Chinese people. Chinese is basically not used as an international language by speakers of other languages, (although it is used between speakers of different regional Chinese languages) whereas English, Spanish and maybe Arabic are used as a convenient third languages for communication. The power of English is not limited to the economic power of the US or the UK. It has a power of its own because it is so well established as the most convenient language to use in most parts of the world by non-native speakers of English.

I think the fact that most Chinese speakers are in one area of the world, and the obstacle of the Chinese writing system will prevent Chinese from becoming an international language in the near future.

[青城]

你没有去东南亚走走? 除了印度支那(越南北部其实没有问题)和印尼, 其他的使用中文都没有问题.

二战前, 在中国德文和英文的重视程度都差不多, 而且以前中国的德国产品不亚于英国, 重要的科技文献也是用德文书写.

以前大家对日本菜都没有兴趣, 中国人更是对日本人吃生鱼生肉不齿, 现在日本的影响力强了, 自然会改变对他们文化,语言的看法.


另外, 英语的普及也是个殖民主义的后遗症而已.

Steve _BBCODE_WROTE:

青城 _BBCODE_WROTE: 这个跟国家影响力有关, 当你不得不用的产品,文化制品,科技文献, 都是用中文书写, 不得不找的工作,客户都是要求中文的, 自然而然学习中文的愿望就上升了. 大家在加拿大西方,没几个有愿望学习法文尽管也是官方语言. At present the interest in Mandarin is either cultural or for people wishing to do business with China or Chinese people. Chinese is basically not used as an international language by speakers of other languages, (although it is used between speakers of different regional Chinese languages) whereas English, Spanish and maybe Arabic are used as a convenient third languages for communication. The power of English is not limited to the economic power of the US or the UK. It has a power of its own because it is so well established as the most convenient language to use in most parts of the world by non-native speakers of English. I think the fact that most Chinese speakers are in one area of the world, and the obstacle of the Chinese writing system will prevent Chinese from becoming an international language in the near future.