The Six Languages to Learn

Andy,At first glance, I noticed and am sort of surprised that three countries with significant populations and economies are excluded on the UN official languages maps.Germany (German), Japan (Japanese), & Brazil (Portuguese).There's a push to make Hindi the seventh language, but not these other three?World Population Rank:Brazil #5Japan #10Germany #14GDP Nominal Rank:Japan #2Germany #3Brazil #14I suppose if I looked real close I'd find others. I also think that those 3 languages don't really span multiple countries quite like the 6 languages shown do, and might be a reason they aren't so "official".???Eric

Surely you get 2.5 because you speak English?

Ash, you are right, 2.5.Germany is almost a zero on the need to learn languages of the world. Japan the same.Portuguese though is big, but really comes under the French and Spanish or Latino influence.The Sphere of Influence of these languages and the fuzzy nature of language is here. The UN has the right languages.Hindi is huge, but the India people want to speak English so why make it more complicated. Japan is a very racist country, they do not go spread out like the Chinese.Hmmm China Town...This list is pretty good if you wanted to talk in most countries on the planet. But really English is great except for French Africa.

German is big in the USA because 23-6 percent of the country is German. However, the rest of the planet does not have German on the list of languages to Learn. French is lucky because of Africa and really French needs to remain as it represents Africa.All of Asia is studying English as a second language. Here in West Africa the youth are switching to English as they see that French is to universal language of business or commmerce, English is the language of the world.All the Spanish people learn English as a second language. German is good in Germany, not much more, a couple of colonies in Africa.

Hi Andy,Just wanted to say I love the blog. I'm new to this myself, but I enjoy reading your analysis. Although population-wise German might not be a useful language, the business climate is ripe in that area of central Europe. Switzerland, Austria and Germany all have bustling economies--but I'm biased I guess.I want to learn so many languages. I guess French is up next for me.Anyways, keep up the good work. Check out my adventures in Germany if you ever get bored.Travishttp://www.tcthompson.blogspot.com

If I was in the Auto Industry I would learn German, Portugese and Japanese. I am the job of wandering the planet and these are correct.But I think the huge money is to get in on the ground floor of the new China and India.Note, Arabic would be better to learn to write it than to talk it, as I believe it all stays the same in writing, but the spoke is different.As best I can see there is more Islamic signs and Arabic here in Togo and Togo was a former half colony of Germany.This is for muse, for FUN, I found a dictionary of Ewe, I may learn some Ewe to talk with the locals here in Togo. I speak English and soon French, with French, English and Spanish I have little need to learn more.Chinese would be good though, the Arabs these English.

That's a good point about Europeans drawing support from Muslim nations. I wholeheartedly agree. While Europe has much to offer, some of the unfounded criticism of the US takes us a step in the wrong direction, I feel. But it's all good for developing stronger dialogue I suppose.Thanks for visiting the site..you can pretty much count on me being a regular around here now. I hope you'll come backTravishttp://www.tcthompson.blogspot.com

In defence of German: German is the 3rd most popular foreign language world-wide (after English and French). It is the most popular foreign language in Japan and the second language of the internet. Finally, it is one of the most "neutral" of studied foreign languages (i.e. two speakers communicating in German, it being a native language for neither one).

I think a very good complement to this kind of sites is to practise with a real teacher like in Linkua, live language tutoring. Classes are done via videoconference