Mipik

Id did make living there so much easier.
Was pretty essential in my work as well.

But than it was time to move on and Australia was an easy choice.

katongkaren

Don't you just hate these clever people (only joking).

Well I can order my fruit and veggies from my Thai greengrocer in Thai. I can also swear in Greek (not terribly useful at the moment)

Now how about you Seasider?

Kooky.

I can order drinks in several languages and I can say some very rude words in Hokkien. I think my Thai is limited to Hello and Thank you, as is my Bahasa.

I now find it hard to believe I was a star pupil in French and German classes, as I've forgotten most of it - use it or lose it, I guess. I have been known to speak German to fellow holidaymakers in the Canaries, Caribbean, etc., whilst very drunk. Badly, I am sure, but at least I try.

dunmovin

with those language skills you are entitled to show off good for you mate

fionamw

So back to the question of global languages, would a Mandarin or Cantonese (either one or both!) person find it easier to learn English or learn Spanish? I'm still trying to speculate on which of the four I put forward: English, Spanish, Mandarin & Arabic, is likely to prove 'the' language for the future. No pressure then

dunmovin

both mandarin and cantonese do not have any grammar as such, therefore learning a language such as english would be quite difficult

fionamw

....so the same would apply to Spanish? Or is the relatively more straightforward, phonetic, pronunciation of Spanish, likely to be learned more easily?
nb fascinated with the concept of no grammar - is there an easy way of explaining that?

Father Jack

I don't think it's going to make much difference. Many speakers of either Cantonese or Mandarin will have had some exposure to English already, but I don't see that helping much to be honest. What I can say is that people I have met in my 10+ years living in Chinese-speaking countries is that people who learn non-English languages tend to speak them very well. I think this is because for them to choose these languages rather than English they generally have a real interest in them, as opposed to the majority of those who learn English because they have to.

It's not true to say there's no grammar in Chinese. There is no conjugation of verbs and there is no declension of nouns, but there is definitely a grammar of sorts, it's just not as prescriptive as in English or French. I don't know how to describe it, but it's a lot more touchy feely, and when it comes to Mandarin, there are definite differences in words and phrases between Mainland and Taiwanese Mandarin, and even Mandarin in different parts of China. Of course Mandarin has to be flexible because in China, for example, most people who speak it actually speak it quite badly. There is of course a political element to it as well which would have to be the subject of another thread....

If I had to choose the top four languages for the future they would be English, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Spanish. And if I was doing a study of a multi-lingual society I would look at Malaysia.

Also, with Chinese I think there are two levels to aim for. Speaking good Mandarin is great for easing your lifestyle living in the country, but if you are going to bother learning the characters I think it only makes sense if you're going to be able to read and write at a high level, in other words be able to use it in your job. ABCs etc who have native-level spoken language are often disappointed to find that when they arrive in Asia they can't get a job because they need to review and comment on documents written in Chinese.