So they used [URL]https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2098.html[/URL] as their source.
Portugal is a mystery (only around 5000 people speak Mirandese and it doesn't list any other languages at all) and the Netherlands should be Frisian, if they count Official local languages, which they obviously do or Mirandese wouldn't be there.
I'm sure you can find more if you look for it.
I study Korean. I wish that it was available in my higschool. If I had my way, we would've dumped either french or german in exchange for Korean and maybe Arabic or Farsi. Those three languages are actually spoken around where I live (korean especially).
[QUOTE=BenJammin';46385180]America should be practically nothing.
I know 0 people born anywhere in america that isnt cali or texas that knows decent spanish. Including myself.
Murricans think it's below them to learn a second language or something, I myself was never taught really anything about second languages properly. It was always for one semester and I couldn't remember anything afterwards.[/QUOTE]
What do you call someone who can speak more than one language? [sp]Bilingual[/sp]
What do you call someone who speaks only one language? [sp]American[/sp]
[editline].[/editline]
I'm guilty of it too.
There's a lot of argentinians that can speak italian (mostly older people), but there's [I]way[/I] more people that can speak english, since it's a subject starting from the last year of kindergarten.
[editline]1st November 2014[/editline]
Although recently I found out I'm going to have to learn italian in order to study automotive design ughghgh
[QUOTE=BenJammin';46385180]America should be practically nothing.
I know 0 people born anywhere in america that isnt cali or texas that knows decent spanish. Including myself.
Murricans think it's below them to learn a second language or something, I myself was never taught really anything about second languages properly. It was always for one semester and I couldn't remember anything afterwards.[/QUOTE]
You know all the hispanic people living in america
They're americans fyi
[editline]1st November 2014[/editline]
Also, the language families here are somewhat outdated. In every teaching of korean linguistics I've seen since the 1970s, Korean and Japanese (as well as turkish and other central eurasian languages) have been included in what's called the "altaic" language family, so to say that "Koreanic" is the most common second language family in Japan is a bit of an outdated identifier. Obviously Korean is the most commonly spoken second language, but grouping by language families requires accurate identifiers
[t]http://i.imgur.com/1vzQgBD.png[/t]
Maybe I understood the point of this wrong, but in Germany in Austria I know for a fact that the second most spoken language is English. We start learning English in elementary school FFS.
[QUOTE=Robber;46386020][t]http://i.imgur.com/1vzQgBD.png[/t]
Maybe I understood the point of this wrong, but in Germany in Austria I know for a fact that the second most spoken language is English. We start learning English in elementary school FFS.[/QUOTE]
You make the same mistake as the american guy does up there: you assume they're only asking white people. Spanish in america is widely spoken by: [sp]Hispanic people[/sp]. Just as turkish is widely spoken by: [sp]turkish people[/sp]. Don't think that they don't count because they're not white.
This map is wrong as fuck. Particularly South America, like, what the fuck. I've never seen ANYBODY in Venezuela speak Wayuu other than the actual Wayuu people who live in the Guajira. Portuñol isn't even language, and English is spoken WAY more as a second language in South America than any Amerindian language.
[editline]1st November 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=proboardslol;46386050]You make the same mistake as the american guy does up there: you assume they're only asking white people. Spanish in america is widely spoken by: [sp]Hispanic people[/sp]. Just as turkish is widely spoken by: [sp]turkish people[/sp]. Don't think that they don't count because they're not white.[/QUOTE]
What kind of ass backwards racism is this lol.
Glad to see that we (tatars) got the second place in russia :v:
EDIT: Nvm they weren't talking bout the crimean tatar.
[QUOTE=BenJammin';46385180]America should be practically nothing.
I know 0 people born anywhere in america that isnt cali or texas that knows decent spanish. Including myself.
Murricans think it's below them to learn a second language or something, I myself was never taught really anything about second languages properly. It was always for one semester and I couldn't remember anything afterwards.[/QUOTE]
Statistics > Your anecdote.
The United States has the third largest population of fluent Spanish speakers in the world after Colombia and Mexico, comprising 10% of the world's Spanish speakers.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;46384848]Why do so many people want to learn French, it's a fucking horrible language[/QUOTE]
ho ho ho
viva la france
baguette
Wow. There's a lot of languages I'd never heard of before in there.
[QUOTE=BenJammin';46385180]Murricans think it's below them to learn a second language or something, I myself was never taught really anything about second languages properly. It was always for one semester and I couldn't remember anything afterwards.[/QUOTE]
Get off your high horse, that's not the reason at all. The reason is unless you're going into certain types of business, politics, military, intelligence, or you live in a minority community, there's no reason to. English is used all over this country, in Canada, and widely used in trade. The average American will never find themselves needing another language, so it's optional and extra expense (or being self-taught), rather than mandatory / free like some places. It's also one of the hardest things to learn, so with no need for it, few people bother with it. Aside from the reasons I already mentioned, the only reason most people would have is bragging rights (using the second language to brag is optional).
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;46387292]Get off your high horse, that's not the reason at all. The reason is unless you're going into certain types of business, politics, military, intelligence, or you live in a minority community, there's no reason to. English is used all over this country, in Canada, and widely used in trade. The average American will never find themselves needing another language, so it's optional and extra expense (or being self-taught), rather than mandatory / free like some places. It's also one of the hardest things to learn, so with no need for it, few people bother with it. Aside from the reasons I already mentioned, the only reason most people would have is bragging rights (using the second language to brag is optional).[/QUOTE]
Except that many universities in the United States now expect or even require for you to have taken at least two, and often three, years of a second language during high school. So, there is necessity. Ultimately, with an increasingly globalizing economy, knowing a second language makes you more marketable in that economy. While, yes, a person can work in Germany in modern times without speaking German, they will, by default, find it easier if they do know German.
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;46384848]Why do so many people want to learn French, it's a fucking horrible language[/QUOTE]
Because if your first language is English, its a relatively easy language to pick up and because its still available to be taught in a lot of schools along with German.
[QUOTE=KillerJaguar;46385897]What do you call someone who can speak more than one language? [sp]Bilingual[/sp]
What do you call someone who speaks only one language? [sp]American[/sp]
[editline].[/editline]
I'm guilty of it too.[/QUOTE]
Hey I'm Canadian and only speak one language thank you very much.
Language education should have more focus in the United States. Every American should be able to speak at least one other language of their choice fluently
[QUOTE=Native Hunter;46384898]I was honestly surprised that Turkish is spoken so much in Germany and Austria[/QUOTE]
By what I remember my German teacher saying there has been a pretty good amount of immigration from Turkey to Germany (started in the 1960s during an economic boom) so Turks do make up a notable chunk of the population, memory serving the largest ethnic minority in Germany and the largest Turkish community in western Europe. She also said that putting a Turkish character in media is Germany's equivalent to America's token black guys (note: I don't watch really any German media so I can neither confirm or deny this).
Also a state by state breakdown of the US would be kind of interesting to see.
[QUOTE=Hiccuper;46384563]Why why why do Americans always call Irish "Gaelic", nobody here uses the term unless referring to Gaelic football or Scots Gaelic, which is a completely different language.[/QUOTE]
My grandpa always used to call it Gaelic and he was an Irish immigrant who spoke it.
[QUOTE=Griffster26;46384695]Afrikaans is one of the main languages.[/QUOTE]
But English is well spoken in that country as well, either way one of them should have been secondary
[QUOTE=Explosions;46388054]My grandpa always used to call it Gaelic and he was an Irish immigrant who spoke it.[/QUOTE]
Sure he didn't say Gaeilge? It's "Irish" in Irish. But the word Gaelic refers to three different languages spoken in the British Isles. If someone whose nationality I didn't know said "I speak Gaelic" I'd probably assume they meant Scots Gaelic first.
[QUOTE=Hiccuper;46388769]Sure he didn't say Gaeilge? It's "Irish" in Irish. But the word Gaelic refers to three different languages spoken in the British Isles. If someone whose nationality I didn't know said "I speak Gaelic" I'd probably assume they meant Scots Gaelic first.[/QUOTE]
Maybe that's what he said. He had a thick accent.
[QUOTE=BenJammin';46385540]It's hard to understand, [b]but it's just the lazy culture here. [b]We think that we don't need to learn another language to get by and anyone visiting should learn english instead of us learning their language. I have to admit I am guilty of that myself. I would always get frustrated trying to learn a new language in school and then I just gave up and didn't learn anything about it, and every single one of my second language teachers in middle and highschool had no balls and let class clowns basically do anything they wanted and didn't really care, so every language class I had was one of those fuck around classes.
That doesn't apply to everyone here though, but that is how it is for the general american suburban population. You get a few smart kids who actually give a shit here and there.[/QUOTE]
Everything else aside, honestly I think someone visiting a foreign country [i]should[/i] take the time to at least understand the basics of the local language/culture. I wouldn't travel to Germany, Mexico, France, etc. and expect everyone there to know English just because I'm visiting, that's a tad bit pretentious don't you think?
I'm not attacking you or disagreeing with the rest of your post or anything, I just think you got that one part a little backwards, with all due respect. We are unfortunately a lazy culture for the most part without a doubt, like you said, especially in regards to understanding other cultures of the world when considering the general populace, but the specific example you've listed is far from the best to display that fact.
people going "but I haven't ever seen it!" are being dumb as hell :v:
How can a delicious forum of meat be Russia's second language?
[QUOTE=Ganerumo;46384848]Why do so many people want to learn French, it's a fucking horrible language[/QUOTE]
It's far from being the most practical language when it comes to technical stuff, but for literary purposes it's very good.
[QUOTE=davidrb18;46389899]It's far from being the most practical language when it comes to technical stuff, but for literary purposes it's very good.[/QUOTE]
I don't see how one language can be the "best" at technical stuff. that said, french is very common in the scientific world, and in the political world; so it would be a useful language to learn simply because of that.
Can someone explain why Polish in the UK is funny? The least you can do is let the refugees settle there after you betrayed them twice :v:
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;46393218]Can someone explain why Polish in the UK is funny?[/QUOTE]
Polandball.
[quote][img]http://i.imgur.com/bviGk5o.png[/img][/quote]
[quote][img]http://i.imgur.com/mS2GdLu.png[/img][/quote]
[QUOTE=glitchvid;46390077]I don't see how one language can be the "best" at technical stuff. that said, french is very common in the scientific world, and in the political world; so it would be a useful language to learn simply because of that.[/QUOTE]
French is one of the main languages of the EU, and there are normally pockets of French speakers pretty much all over the world. It's especially useful in Europe and North Africa, where people might know very small amounts of English, but probably a fair bit more French.
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