[PRCo] Re: Answer to Fred III's post on bilingual drivers

[Fred Schneider]

I guess from an economic standpoint ...  Chinese is one of those we  
should be learning.   I'm not going to say with whom we should cozy  
up.  It's probably going to happen whether or not you or like it.    
The world has a population of about 6.6 billion people.    China is  
the world's largest country with a population of 1.3 billion or  
almost 20 percent of the world.

We don't have to worry about learning Hindi or any of the numerous  
languages on the Indian subcontinent because English is already the  
language that ties those people together.   Now between China and  
India we've taken care of 40% of the world's population.

We need not worry about the Europeans because they've already decided  
they need to learn English to sell to the Americans because we're too  
lazy to learn their languages.   Lazy is my word, not theirs.  They  
would be a whole lot more polite than I am.   Most German's speak  
English.   I've never encountered a Swede or a Fin in the public  
service that did not speak English.   Same goes pretty much for the  
French, the Swiss, the Italians, the Portuguese.   Almost all Dutch  
speak English.   The Flemish Belgians mostly speak English; the  
French Belgians speak it to a lesser degree.

Spanish is probably used by about 400 million people, mostly in South  
America excluding Brazil, or about 6 percent of the world's  
population.   It is very important to us as Americans in our own  
cloistered environment.   If your kid wants a job as a service write  
up man with the local Ford dealer and he can tell the agency, "I  
speak English and Spanish fluently and I understand cars and people  
and I can sell."... he just got himself (or herself) a job.

What we have not discussed here is should we learn African or Middle  
eastern tongues?   Farsi anyone?   Or do we feel we should just steal  
the oil?   Is that the American way?

++++++++++++

I've long known that English was and is  the official language for  
aviation.  Why?   Because of British colonization of the world?    
Because we became a super power after World War II?   Where's EHL?


On Dec 10, 2007, at 6:21 PM, Herb Brannon wrote:

> If I were in the same position today as in 1960 when deciding which  
> language to take I might still select Spanish. However, Mandarin  
> would come in as a close second. This, inasmuch as the US has seen  
> fit (I do not agree with this governmental decision) to cozy up to  
> China and bring them into our economic system. I am quite sure we  
> will have good reason to use Mandarin at some point in the not too  
> distant future.
> robert simpson <bobs at pacbell.net> wrote:
> English is the the official language of more countries than any  
> other language - estimated at 480 million. Spanish is second with  
> 332 million. Mandarin, however, is ranked number one with 1,120  
> million but is spoken in fewer countries! see: http:// 
> www.photius.com/rankings/languages2.html
>
> English is the required and official language for aviation.
>
>
>
> Herb Brannon
>
>