What language do you think is the most important to learn and why? What are the top three languages you think are most important? I have been thinking about this for a while and cannot get a good, solid answer. From anyone! You would have thought people would be more unified as to what they think the most important language is, but no, I can't fins a good middle ground. So I turn to you, internet (or the small sliver of the internet that is Armor Games) and ask you for your opinion.
I think this depends on how you view it. By population of speakers, Chinese (Mandarin) By importance: English
By job or governmental use: Spanish or Mandarin
What do you think? Of course the UN languages are important as well... so any of those six and maybe if you live in Europe German or Russian would be more useful.
However, it is long past time we should have started working towards a single language. Loooooooooong past time.
Why? Foreign languages can be so beautiful. I would hate it if our language diversity got lost.
I would agree with the OP; Mandarin is the most used language daily, but in the international aspect (politics/business/research) English is most important.
But French can also get you around on many places in this world, so it ranges quite high too I'd say.
english is obviously the most important. english is pretty much everywhere and if you dont speak it you are very limited.
except for english there is no other important language to learn. the languages you WOULD benefit the most of are chinese and.... idk... id say either german or latin.
I would hate it if our language diversity got lost.
I see absolutely no reason to keep hundreds of languages around. All they do is inhibit communication. I'm not praising one language over another, but there's no reason everyone shouldn't be able to understand each other.
No one would stop people from learning various languages, but everyone should have at least one language in common.
In my opinion Sign Language is very important(I would know). I mean how else are we going to communicate with deaf people without paper and pencil.
I also think English is also very important, but that's not the case with some other countries.
There's not really anyway possible to find out the most important language, as its just a matter of opinion, and you'd probably have to learn all the languages in the world before deciding the most important.
No. The only place where Spanish is useful is in certain areas in America, along with most of Spain. Otherwise people learn Spanish because it's easy and it helps people learn other languages down the road. It has very little purpose outside of that.
The English language is sometimes described as the lingua franca of computing.
English is the largest language on the World Wide Web, with 27% of internet users.
So considering the above, English is a dominant language across the world and in computing. Also consider the fact that traditional Chinese and Japanese have far too many characters to have practical computer keyboards (although I have come across plenty of sites in Chinese and Japanese I don't know how this is accomplished though).
Chinese most likely use Pinyin on the web (but not always) and Japanese Romaji (but not always).
So, Chinese, although spoken by more people by shear number, has limitations in it's traditional form (non-pinyin).
However, now that technology is expanding, more programming languages in native users languages, better adaptations for surfing the web for non-English speakers. English may not hold it's prominence as "the most important language" for long. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
However, it is long past time we should have started working towards a single language.
Zamenhof's goal was to create an easy-to-learn and politically neutral language that transcends nationality and would foster peace and international understanding between people with different regional and/or national languages.
In my opinion it failed, or at least never caught on to the success envisioned by it's creator.
I see absolutely no reason to keep hundreds of languages around. All they do is inhibit communication. I'm not praising one language over another, but there's no reason everyone shouldn't be able to understand each other.
No one would stop people from learning various languages, but everyone should have at least one language in common.
I would agree with declaring a sort of global language, sure. The rest of your post I don't agree with. Languages are beautiful and interesting; they're culture. There's every reason to keep them up. Only people who have diplomatic or any other kind of international or relay function should be asked to learn a language to understand everyone. For the rest of us, unlike what many seem to think, we're able to survive without such a global language pretty well. It's more a great chance and opportunity, than a must.
I take Latin! I took enough Spanish in my earlier years, so those 2 together basically are Italian, with minor exceptions. I can understand all three, but have trouble speaking in any. Except Italian. I can wave my hands around like crazy and they understand me.
Id say Chinese is going up in importance too, because of its sheer size.
I do agree that a single, universal language would be a lot easier to use to communicate with others. I just see it as more of an unattainable dream or goal. With so many people that would have to learn another language, they would just ignore it and continue speaking their mother language. Chinese seems to be important but no other country besides China. So, it would need to gain a lot of importance before it could be considered a 'world language'. If China keeps going on as far as wealth and trade it could probably reach that status.
No! It's a dead language. Even in academic usage, we only use a few words.
Chinese most likely use Pinyin on the web (but not always) and Japanese Romaji (but not always).
No, only non-native speakers use Pinyin. Use Pinyin in Chinese internet territory and you'll stick out like a sore thumb.
So considering the above, English is a dominant language across the world and in computing. Also consider the fact that traditional Chinese and Japanese have far too many characters to have practical computer keyboards (although I have come across plenty of sites in Chinese and Japanese I don't know how this is accomplished though).
We type in Pinyin, and the words magically appear. It's actually very fast.
Chinese seems to be important but no other country besides China. So, it would need to gain a lot of importance before it could be considered a 'world language'. If China keeps going on as far as wealth and trade it could probably reach that status.
Taiwan. Hong Kong. Singapore. Malaysia.
As for people who want just a sole universal language....no! Appreciate the beauty of language, the subtle nuances and intricacies that differ greatly if you close enough attention. Different language speakers think in vastly differing ways, I find myself viewing the world and the conversation at hand in another light when I switch languages. Ever tried translating say Shakespeare into another language? Does it come out awkwardly? Yes!
