Which Foreign Language Should I Learn? by Vanessa Anderson

The world has become so connected that learning a foreign language has never been more important. With the advancement of technology, we can communicate with anyone anywhere. Foreign languages allow is to communicate with other cultures. So which foreign language should you learn?
Everyone will have their own reasons for learning a foreign language
and generally, being able to speak one or two foreign languages can help you get ahead.

Choosing which foreign language to speak might be decided by the number of native speakers throughout the world or how important it is in economic and political contexts. In the book “Ethnologist” by M. Paul Lewis, the ten most spoken native languages in the world are Chinese (Mandarin), Spanish, English, Arabic, Hindi, Bengali, Portuguese, Russian, Japanese and German.

Spanish

Spanish is the second most spoken language around the globe with 400 million native speakers across 44 countries. It's the only language that is spoken natively across all the inhabited continents which makes it the most beneficial language to learn. If you want to do global business, Spanish is particularly useful in Spain and across Latin America. Similarly, there's the potential in other emerging Spanish-speaking markets. For example, 13% of the US speak Spanish as a first language and by 2050, it's set to become home to the largest number of Spanish speakers in the world.

Americans wanting to work in law, social services, and business could benefit from learning Spanish. In Europe and the US, Spanish is the most spoken language after English. It's also the third-most-common language online.

It's regularly considered a pretty good language to learn as it's easier to read and pronounce than French, for example. You can learn Spanish in places like Spain, Argentina, and Guatemala.

With around 600 hours of classroom time (less than six months) most learners can achieve a good level in Spanish.

You can use this language in developing markets in Argentina, Chile, Columbia as well as other markets in Central and South America.

French

If you're looking to give your career a boost, French could help. With over 290 million speakers, it's the fifth most spoken language worldwide.

French has become a global language over time and is the official language of 29 countries including France, Canada, Switzerland, Monaco, Luxembourg, and many nations in Africa. French is also the official language of NATO, the United Nations, the Olympics Games, the Red Cross, and many other global organizations.

According to a survey by Forbes.com, there will be around 750 million French speakers in the world by 2050 which could lead to it overtaking English and Mandarin.

Learning French can lead to opportunities in fields such as pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, aeronautics, energy production, and more.

French can be very beneficial for international careers as it can open business opportunities all over the francophonie.

With Spanish being the most commonly taught language in the US, learning French as a foreign language could give you an edge over other job seekers.

French is also often considered one of the easier languages for English speakers to learn.

Chinese

China has a rapidly growing population and plays a huge role in the global economy, making learning the Chinese language incredibly helpful.

Chinese is not one language but it is a group of dialects, and this the official language of China and Taiwan, where it's called Standard Chinese. The most common of these dialects is Mandarin.

With 995 million native speakers, Chinese can open many doors in the world of business. Similarly, diplomatic and military professions tend to find a knowledge of Mandarin Chinese very useful.

Knowledge of Mandarin can give you an advantage over monolingual job candidates, too. Those who have competency in Mandarin have a competitive advantage over their monolingual corresponding fellows.

While Mandarin might seem quite difficult, the grammar, conjugation, and tenses tend to be simpler than some other common languages.

It's expected that China will take over the United States in terms of GDP by 2028. The best places to learn Chinese languages are China, Taiwan, and Singapore.

German

In terms of native speakers, German is the most common language in Europe. It is mostly spoken in Germany, Austria and the large parts of Switzerland. Germany is an academic, political, and economic hub, making German a great language to learn if you're interested in any of these fields.

Furthermore, Germany is an important trade partner for many countries so if you're looking a career in trade, you should start learning German immediately.

To be proficient in the German language, you'll probably need to spend around 900 classroom hours studying. The most popular places to learn German are Germany and Austria.

Arabic

According to the British Council, Arabic is the 5th most important language in the world. Arabic can provide opportunities in both the public and private sectors.

Arabic is a macrolanguage that's made up several related dialects. Speaking the Arabic language can provide plenty of opportunities for work and travel and across several different businesses and industries.

Since the Arab-speaking region is considered to be the richest linguistic region with a GDP of $600B, learning Arabic is a great way to gain access to many markets. A survey by the US Foreign Service Institute shows that Arabic is one of the most difficult foreign languages for English speakers to learn and you will need around 88 weeks of class time to become competent speaker of it.

Learning a new language is a great investment and speaking a foreign language can do wonders for your career. This is why many big businesses get professional translation services, particularly into Chinese, in order to expand into different global markets.

Vanessa Anderson is an enthusiastic creative writer. In addition to writing for multiple foreign corporations, she enjoys writing poems on current social issues.

5 Second Language Options that Can Change the Way You See Your Career in Translation by Manoj Rupareliya

We all know that English is the global language for business, but it's not even many countries' first language. This is why learning a second language can provide you with a competitive edge. For example, translators and interpreters all over the world tend to earn quite well.

The median salary is $49,930 for translators and the unemployment rate is just 3.1%. If your second language is English, becoming a translator might be an obvious choice! However, if English is your first language, which languages would be best for becoming a translator?

1. Chinese/Mandarin

One of the most spoken languages, Chinese is a macrolanguage that includes dialects like Mandarin, Wu, Min, Xiang, Gan, Hakka, and Yue. Of all these dialects, Mandarin accounts for 70% of Chinese. Mandarin, which is predominantly spoken in Taiwan and Beijing, is considered the "standard Chinese language" and is mostly spoken in Taiwan and Beijing provinces.

Chinese might be a divided dialect, but knowledge of Mandarin will help you communicate with 

a large percentage of Chinese people.

2. Spanish

After Chinese, Spanish tops the table with more than 410 million native speakers worldwide. It's also the first language in 20 countries and a popular second language in countries like Belize, the Philippines, and even the United States.

Spanish to English is a popular language pair for translations and there are plenty of countries needing content translated.

3. French

French is often ranked as one of the most beautiful languages in the world and as the fifth most spoken language in the world, it's quite a popular second language.

It's a native language for many in Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, and, of course, France. Additionally, it's quite an important language in international business.

4. German

With 130 million speakers, German is the most spoken first language in the EU. As a minority language, there are also 7.5 million German speakers across 42 countries in which German isn't the most common language.

German learners are often impressed by the structure and grammar of the language and how nouns combine to form new words.

Learning German can improve your career prospects, especially in translation. Furthermore, it's never been easier thanks to all the online resources and the efforts of many mobile app developers.

5. Russian

Russian is one of six official languages on the United Nations. It has more than 144 million speakers in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. and is one of the most widely spoken Slavic languages.

Russian is an important language for business and tourism across several nations, making it a great choice for anyone interested in becoming a translator or interpreter.

Second languages can now be used for much more than just talking to others, you can use it to further your career. With business becoming increasingly globalised, it makes sense to speak more than just one language.

With technologies like Artificial Intelligence an

d the Internet of Things (IoT), the need for interpreters that can produce native content based on global demand has increased and created more opportunities.

Manoj Rupareliya is the Online Marketing Expert and Blogger. He is an experienced writer with expertise in the field of technology, blockchain, crypto, AI, Digital Marketing and SEO. All the blogs he writes are aimed at providing credible help and insights for readers who want to stay updated all the time. You can find him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Languages Online: The Best of July 2017

As it's the start of a new month, we're back with some of the internet's best stories and content from last month. Let's have a look:

10: Pollie-speak: 9 uniquely Australian political terms on Oxford Dictionaries

The Oxford Blog brought us some fascinating terms on Australian political speak in this article. Do you know your barbecue stopper from your wombat's tail? Don't worry if you don't! Find out about these interesting English terms in this article.

9: 7 Ways to Embrace Mistakes When Speaking a Foreign Language on I Will Teach You a Language

Anyone learning a language will appreciate this one. While making mistakes in a foreign language can be embarrassing, you should own those mistakes and use them to improve your foreign language skills. This article tells you how!

8: 5 Obscure Words For Everyday Feelings And Emotions on Mental Floss

You ever had a feeling you can't put into words? This article explaining words for weird sensations and feelings might help!

7: Raising a Truly Bilingual Child on The New York Times

Whether you're having a baby, trying to raise one bilingual, or just interested in child language acquisition, this is an article you should be reading!

ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

6: Cantonese v Mandarin: When Hong Kong languages get political on The BBC

This article discusses the languages spoken in Hong Kong and how the linguistic landscape has changed since the UK handed it back over to China in 1997.

5: Do you want fries with that? Data shows Americanization of English is rising on The Guardian

If you're American, this won't bother you. However, if you're a speaker of British English, you may feel a little annoyed. It turns out that English is becoming more and more American but that doesn't mean that there's anything to worry about.

4: End Result Irrelevant on Itchy Feet

We just love the comics on Itchy Feet. Especially this one! (You should also check out their Kickstarter for their travel card game here.

3: Bilingual Baby: How to Teach Your Baby Two Languages on Fluent in 3 Months 

Here's another article on child language acquisition. However, the article's focus is on making your baby bilingual. If you're interested in raising your child in a multilingual environment, here's how!

2: Babies can understand the difference between two languages while in the womb, scientists find on The Independent 

According to a recent study, babies can distinguish languages before they can even speak them. Check out this intriguing article about the study carried out by the University of Kansas.

1: We still have no idea why humans speak over 7,000 languages on Quartz

This month's most popular piece is an article on what would seem like a non-story. It turns out we don't know why there are so many languages in the world! If you'd like to know more about why we don't know stuff, you should check out this article.

Were there any other articles or content online this month that we should have featured? Tell us about them in the comments below.

8 Tips for Those Who Find Learning a Language Difficult

Learning a foreign language can be really difficult. It's probably even more difficult if you're surrounded by gifted learners making it look really easy and speaking like it's their native language. Does it feel like you aren't progressing as quickly as you should? Are you desperate to become bilingual? Then here are some tips to help you!

1: Immerse Yourself

This doesn't necessarily mean moving to a country where the language is spoken! You can immerse yourself in plenty of ways. Here are a few that I find useful...

Put flashcards all over your house to help you learn new vocabulary.

Make sure your phone is in the language you're trying to learn. If you're like me, your face is probably glued to your phone most of the time. Consider it free language learning on the go!

Read the news in the language you're learning, listen exclusively to music in that language, and only watch TV and films that will help you.

You'll be amazed at the phrases and vocabulary that you'll learn by doing just a few of these. You'll probably also learn a lot about the places where your new language is spoken since language and culture go hand in hand!

2: Go To Classes

If you've been studying at home using things like Duolingo and Rosetta Stone but you've only picked up a few new words and phrases, perhaps it's time to learn a foreign language with language lessons.

While online language learning can be beneficial, signing up to language courses means you'll have a teacher in front of you who can help you grasp the grammar. Furthermore, learning a new language with others in a classroom can be a great way to meet people and have lots of fun!

3: Get a Private Tutor

If classes aren't working, then maybe you need one on one tuition. If you want to learn French. spending a few hours a week studying and practicing with a native speaker will help you develop your language skills on put you on the right track towards fluency.

Remember, you should always work with somebody who teaches, not just somebody who can speak the language!

4: Go To Language Exchanges

If you live in a large or diverse city where people speak lots of different languages, there'll probably be language exchanges where you can learn a foreign language.

A language exchange is where you meet native speakers of the language you're learning in order to practice. What's the catch? You also have to help other people learning the language you speak. They're great if you want to speak your second language at a conversational level!

5: Change Things If They Aren't Working

Are you doing all of the above and still struggling? If you've been studying at home, consider changing the resources you've been using and rediscover how to learn a language.

Have you been taking lessons for what seems like ages but still finding things difficult? You should tell your teacher or what you're finding difficult, they'll probably be happy to adapt their approach.

If nothing seems to be working, perhaps it's time to move to the country where the language is spoken. Personally, I find immersion the best way to learn a new language and if you're surrounded by it every second of every day, you'll be fluent in no time!

6: Don't Compare Yourself to Others

Every language learner is different and needs to go at their own speed. A lot of people who think they're struggling with a language. In fact, they just think they are because they're comparing their own language learning experience to others, often those who learn languages with ease.

Don't get demotivated by what you read online. Stories of people learning their first foreign language are rarely published. Instead, you'll read about somebody who was once a monolingual English speaker but now thanks to their special learning process, they've gained proficiency in Mandarin, Portuguese, Arabic, etc.

Just remember: These are the rare special cases, don't get demotivated by them!

7: Don't Dwell on Mistakes

When you learn a foreign language, you will make mistakes. In fact, people make mistakes in their mother tongue all the time, so they're even more likely in their second language. Use your mistakes to help you learn, not to tell yourself you're terrible at languages!

8: Be Proud of Your Progress

As I said at the beginning, learning languages is difficult! Every time you learn something, give yourself a pat on the back! Focus on the progress you make, rather than the journey you have ahead of you. This will help motivate you. If you're motivated, you will learn!

Do you have any other tips for those being demoralized by learning a language? Tell us your advice in the comments below!

The Sorry State of Languages at GCSE

Here in the UK, yesterday marked the day that children in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland received their GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) grades. The results for the Standard Grades, the equivalent in Scotland, were published earlier in the month.

For those not familiar with the UK education system, the GCSEs are the qualifications generally taken by students over their final two years of compulsory education (between 14 and 16 years old). This is the time of year when regardless of the results, people will complain.

If the trend is that grades are getting worse, then it is assumed that kids today are not as smart as those who studied before them. If the results are better, then the exams must be getting easier. I don't subscribe to either of those opinions because it's almost impossible to standardise the exams each year and the percentages for each grade given are fairly arbitrary.

Over a decade has passed since foreign languages were removed as compulsory subjects at GCSE, and the trends for foreign language education in the UK are not looking good. It seems every year the number of students taking a foreign language at GCSE decreases, and this year is no exception.

Declining Numbers

Perhaps one day all of these new Portuguese students
will be able to understand a performance at the
Municipal Theatre of São Paulo in Brazil!

In 2013, around 332,000 students were taking foreign language GCSEs. This figure dropped in 2014 to 321,000 students. This year it dropped yet again by an even greater amount to just over 300,000 students. It goes without saying that as a language lover, this doesn't feel great.

Those who do choose to study a modern foreign language at GCSE are also moving away from languages traditionally taught in the UK, such as French and German. Spanish has dipped in popularity this year, but this does follow nearly a decade of increasing popularity. Mandarin is doing well, with the number of students studying the subject increasing by nearly a fifth. More students have also been choosing to study Portuguese, Polish, and Arabic.

Some figures have suggested that foreign languages are being squeezed out by what I would call "modern" subjects, such as ICT (information and communications technology) and computing. It's hardly surprising that students are opting for these subjects given the world we live in and the increasing use of computers.

However, I don't think these two types of subjects are in competition. In fact, I believe the spread of telecommunications is the reason that languages are more important than ever. As the world becomes more and more connected, we've seen a rise in the demand for both communication technologies and foreign language abilities; it's just that the latter seems to have gone unnoticed by a number of students taking their GCSEs.

Easy "A"s (or "A*"s)

There are also stories going around that an increased number of migrants are taking the foreign language GCSE of their mother tongue. There have been suggestions that students are being encouraged to do this to either boost their school's performance or their own. While I suppose this isn't really in the "spirit" of taking a foreign language qualification, it would balance out having to take a number of other GCSEs in your second language.

The beautiful countryside and mountains of Crete, Greece.

This trend has also been said to be the reason for the increase in some of the less-common languages, such as Polish, Urdu, Turkish, Bengali, Punjabi, Gujarati, Farsi, Modern Greek, and Modern Hebrew.

The Reaction

Obviously, few are calling any of this a good thing. Negative adjectives are being thrown around as they seem to be every year. The UK is miles behind so many countries across Europe and the world in terms of foreign language education, and it's not going to close the gap if things continue as they are.

I find this all pretty abhorrent because it's certainly not caused by the teachers who are constantly given more bureaucratic hoops to jump through, more work to do, less pay, and yet still attempt to impart their knowledge upon the teenagers of this country.

What I find even worse is that although several groups with a bigger voice than me have spoken out about these disappointing trends, little seems to be changing.

What are your thoughts on the decline of foreign languages at GCSE? Any ideas on how to improve the matter? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

Why the Hardest (or Easiest) Language in the World Doesn't Exist

There are plenty of lists around the internet of the hardest and easiest languages to learn. While these lists can be interesting and helpful if you're trying to decide upon a new language to learn, they're inherently flawed due to the idea that such languages actually exist.

Hold on! I'm not saying languages don't exist; that'd be completely absurd. Of course they do! What I'm saying is that it's pretty much impossible to classify languages as difficult or easy to learn. However, I have seen a number of clever criteria for attempting to create these classifications, so I'd like to look at a few of them today.

Hong Kong, the home of both Chinese and English!

Similarity to your Native Language

One of the first ways many people classify language difficulty comes down to similarity to the learner's native language. While I agree that I've seen plenty of evidence to support this statement, this does mean that the world's hardest or easiest language differs depending on your native language. Does this mean it could also be affected by which dialect of your native language you speak? I'd love to see some studies about that...

Complexity

The complexity of a language is said to influence how easily somebody can learn it. However, "how complex is a language?" is as difficult to answer as "how difficult is a language to learn?". If one language uses more phonemes in speech, is it more difficult than one that uses more characters in its alphabet? How do we assign value to each component part? We couldn't possibly all come to an agreement on which elements complicate a language the most and which parts the least.

Time Spent Studying

Time is a fairly scientific way of measuring progress. The less time taken to become proficient in a language, the easier the language must be. However, at what point is a speaker "proficient"?

I don't find language learning to be a journey from A to B with a definite endpoint, but rather an ongoing adventure. I definitely couldn't pinpoint an exact moment when I became proficient in any of the languages I speak.

If proficiency is judged by passing a test, then the tests would have to be standardised across the entire world. I'm sure they're not...

All roads lead to Rome, but do all Romance languages lead to
a simple language learning experience?

Easy Languages

When it comes to English speakers, most lists put the Romance languages in the easy category. French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese tend to feature regularly as easy languages to learn because of their similarity to English.

Difficult Languages

The languages that generally get lumped together as the most difficult languages tend be geographically and linguistically distant from English (at least if you consider the language to be from the UK, as I tend to do). Languages from Europe don't tend to be included in this list.

Many of these languages make use of a different writing system to English, such as Arabic, Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese. However, I'm sure Mandarin speakers wouldn't struggle as much with the Japanese writing systems as someone more familiar with the Latin alphabet would.

With all that said, I tend to find that similarities can also make something more difficult to learn instead of simpler. For example, I know how to walk and I know how to drive. If you make me walk on ice, I struggle, and if you put me in a car that I'm not familiar with, I have to spend a while working out where everything is. However, I can still walk to the car and start driving and start walking when I get out the car, despite the two being completely different activities. Differences can make something more memorable!

While these are all fair ways to measure how difficult a language might be, they all ignore a number of factors. I'm not disparaging those who have tried to measure something that's seemingly immeasurable, I'm just saying that you can comfortably ignore a lot of these lists. If you want to learn Tagalog before you learn French, then go for it!

Everyone has their own experiences while learning a language. In fact, in a recent post I complained about the subjunctive tense and a few of the reasons that English speakers may find it difficult. That said, I know plenty of people who comfortably master it without even breaking a sweat!

What I'm trying to say is that when learning a language, there will always be things you find easy and things you find difficult. You'll never get to find out which is which if you don't start!

Luck and Languages: Superstition Around the World

As today is the 13th, an unlucky number for some, I thought I'd delve a little deeper into how fortune and luck differs across languages. It seems that numbers play a huge role in superstition, and since there are plenty of countable objects that we deal with in everyday life, numbers seem to have made their way into the superstitions of almost every culture.

I won't get through them all today because almost anything can be considered lucky or unlucky, so I thought I'd just pick out a few of the most interesting numbers associated with luck.

4

Numbers are everywhere when it comes to fortune and misfortune. The number 4 is considered to be terribly unlucky in the Chinese culture and gives rise to tetraphobia. In Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, Hakka, Min Nan, Japanese, and Korean, the pronunciation of the number 4 is very similar to the word for "death".

The luckiest garden ever.

Those aware of the superstitions related to the number 13 in Western cultures (which I'll get to shortly) will be familiar with the practice of avoiding specific numbers. In the cultures where the aforementioned languages are traditionally spoken, particularly South East Asia, the number (and even digit) 4 is avoided when possible, especially when numbering floors, doors, parking spaces, etc.

Despite 4's misfortune in Asia, in Irish and Celtic cultures, the four-leaf clover is said to be a sign of considerable fortune.

7

The number 7 is often considered to be very lucky, especially in prominent world religions. The Old Testament frequently references the  number 7, such as the creation of the world in 7 days in the Book of Genesis. In Judaism, the menorah has 7 branches, while in Islam, the earth is composed of 7 layers. Japanese mythology also features 7 lucky gods. The list goes on and on...

8

Just as the number 4 in Mandarin sounds like the word for "death", the number 8 also has a similar-sounding counterpart. However, unlike the number 4, the number 8 is considered to bring about good fortune. This is because the number 8 in Mandarin sounds like "fortune" or "prosper", following a rule can seemingly be applied to a whole host of numbers in Chinese.

The luckiness of the number 8 also dictates all kinds of behaviours by both people and companies, who love to use the digit "8" in any way they possibly can. For example, Sichuan Airlines paid a hefty sum for a phone number that consisted only of 8s, and the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games started on the 8th August at 8 p.m. local time.

13

In many English-speaking cultures, 13 is considered to be an unlucky number, so much so that it has its own phobia, triskaidekaphobia. The term itself, like most fears and phobias, is named using Greek words. There are a number of suggestions as to why 13 is considered to be unlucky, including the number of people at the Last Supper, the date of the arrest order for the Knights Templar, and the number of full moons in a year.

However, this superstition goes even further, especially in several Western cultures, if the 13th day of the calendar month coincides with a Friday, making the dreaded Friday the 13th.

Friday the 13th

It is suggested that Friday the 13th is considered to be unlucky due to the number's prominence in the story of Jesus: 13 people (12 disciples and Jesus himself) were at the Last Supper, plus the fact that Jesus was killed on the Friday. If you are inexplicably terrified of Friday the 13th, you may have paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Tuesday the 13th

While I grew up with the knowledge that Friday the 13th was an unfortunate day, if you grew up in a Spanish- or Greek-speaking culture or country, you'll probably consider Tuesday the 13th to be the unlucky day.

What numbers are considered lucky and unlucky in your language or culture? Tell us about them and the reasons why they're lucky or unlucky in the comments below!

Language and Culture in Sci Fi: Firefly and Serenity

Over the weekend I went to see Disney's Big Hero 6. One interesting aspect of the film is that the story takes place in San Fransokyo (an obvious portmanteau of "San Francisco" and "Tokyo"), where East meets West both architecturally and culturally.

San Francisco skyline at night.

There are a number of nice intercultural details that feature in the film as well, such as the chōchin (提灯) paper lanterns that hang from the San Franciscan streetcars. San Francisco's famous hilly streets are also lined with sakura (桜 or サクラ) cherry blossom trees. In addition to these purely aesthetic features, the characters also seemingly alternate between Japanese and American cuisine.

As I noticed these interweaving cultural details, it reminded me that while it isn't often the crux of plotlines, fascinating (and fictional) cultures and languages are often a recurring theme in science fiction universes. Since I'm a massive fan of science fiction, this got me thinking about the cultures and languages in my favourite genre of both film and television.

Today, as part of what I hope will become a regular series of posts on this blog, I will be covering one of my favourite sci fi television series, Firefly, and the accompanying film, Serenity.

Firefly took a lot of inspiration from real cowboys.

Joss Whedon's wrongly-cancelled space western took place in another fusion universe. Much like Big Hero 6, the backdrop draws upon elements of both Western and Eastern culture. This is explained by an alliance between the United States and China that took place prior to the events of the show.

Thanks to this cultural fusion, Mandarin Chinese is the second language of the galaxy and is seen throughout the show in writing. Whenever characters need to swear they use Mandarin words, which worked as a kind of "minced oath" for the audience who are able to tell they're swearing without the need to be offended by it (unless you're Chinese, of course). That said, a lot of the Mandarin in the show is said to be unintelligible, probably due to the actors being principally Canadian and American.

In the Firefly universe, the two main languages are not perfectly and evenly distributed, with one language being favoured over the other depending on where you are. For example, on the planet of Londinium, one of the most-populated and central planets of the galaxy, English is more common. Mandarin is more widely spoken on the sister planet of Sihnon, which exhibits a more typically-Chinese culture and naming conventions.

As well as the shared dominance of English and Mandarin, there are obvious dialectal differences dependent on where these languages are spoken. In the case of English, the variety spoken on the central planets differs from the way the language is employed on the outer planets. These two varieties are known as "Core Speech" and "Frontier Slang" respectively. "Core Speech" is considered to be more prestigious and employed by the wealthy and educated, while "Frontier Slang" certainly does not carry the same reputation.

How accurate do you think Firefly or Serenity is? Which sci fi series or film should we cover next? Tell us below in the comments.

Country Profile: The Languages of China

Exactly two years ago, we started a regular series of language profiles. Now we're replacing it with a new series in a very similar vein, country profiles. While the language profiles covered one particular language, the new country profiles will be a look at the linguistic makeup of one country in particular.

When we did language profiles, we worked our way through a list, starting with the language with the most native speakers. As we certainly missed a few of the world's many languages, we'll still occasionally do language profiles, just not weekly as we have been doing.

This week marks the first of our country profiles. We're starting with the languages spoken in the world's most populous country, China. After that, we'll work our way around the world, making sure to skip the places we've already covered during their national holidays.

The flag of the People's Republic of China

The Languages of China

Almost one fifth of the world's population lives in China, and Mandarin Chinese is spoken by around 840,000,000 people as a native language. Mandarin has de facto status as the national language.

However, with around 1.3 billion people in a single country, there are certainly more languages than just Chinese. In fact, China has 8 official languages: Standard Chinese, Cantonese, English, Portuguese, Uyghur, Tibetan, Zhuang, and Mongolian.

Sino-Tibetan Languages

Since the Sino-Tibetan languages are indigenous to most of what makes up modern-day China, you can expect plenty of these languages to be spoken in the country. Aside from Mandarin, Cantonese is also another Sino-Tibetan language with official status.

Cantonese is natively spoken by around 62,000,000 people in the world. In China, Cantonese is an official language in Hong Kong and Macau and used by the local governments in these places.

Unsurprisingly, Tibetan is spoken in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The language is spoken by over one million people and is written using a Brahmic script, a type of abugida.

Indo-European Languages

You may have spotted a couple of Indo-European languages in the list of official languages in China. These are the lasting heritage of European colonialism in China.

The English language has official language status in Hong Kong, which was a British colony for 156 years until it was handed back to China in 1997. Likewise, the Portuguese language is spoken as an official language in Macau, which was a Portuguese colony between 1557 and 1999, making it both the first and last European colony in China.

Turkic Languages

The Uyghur language is spoken around the world by up to 11 million people. Within China, it is principally spoken in Xinjiang, where it has official status.

Mongolian Languages

The Mongolian language is natively spoken by nearly 6 million people in the world. In addition to being the official language of Mongolia, it is also an official language of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China.

Tai-Kadai Languages

The Zhuang languages are the last of China's 8 official languages. In total, around 16 million people speak one of the Zhuang languages in the south of China. However, the languages are not mutually intelligible to one another and in some cases are more related to another language from the Tai language family than each other. Perhaps they should be reclassified.

Other Languages

"Surely there are more than 8 languages spoken in China?", we hear you ask. You are right. In fact, there are apparently nearly 300 languages spoken in China, far too many for one post.

Languages in the News: February 2014

As we enter March we're looking back at some of the language news stories that were hitting the headlines in February, and the very end of January. While most headlines were dominated by news of the Sochi Winter Olympics, the month ended with the Washington Post covering an interesting story from the US claiming that a legislator in New Mexico wanted to count programming as a foreign language skill.

The Week ended the month with the story of how Netflix managed to alienate its deaf customers, through a variety of bad subtitling practice.

Is French important? The countries that make up this flag
would say so.

One of the most controversial series of language stories stemmed from a piece in The New York Times stating that the French government is a big advocate of French language programmes in New York. This led to an article in New Republic telling us to stop pretending that French is an important language, claiming that Spanish and Chinese are more important languages for New Yorkers to learn. While this may be true, it divided opinions due to its dismissive nature of French as an important language, rather than simply stating that the other two languages are more important.

Business Insider provided a rebuttal by giving us 7 reasons you should teach your children French, showing us that French isn't as unimportant as the New Republic article would have us believe.

The Guardian gave us an interesting article on untranslatable words, and though none of the words were technically untranslatable, the article was more focused on difficult to translate words. Elsewhere in The Guardian there were concerns at the drop in language students in UK universities, an ongoing problem that doesn't seem to show any signs of being rectified under the current government, but we'll leave politics for a politics blog.

The BBC asked the question whether English still borrows words at the start of the month and in mid-February was decoding the signs left my construction workers on pavements.

The Register explained an interesting issue surrounding Google Translate. It just so happens Google Translate is terrible because Google Translate is terrible. This is due to people using the machine translation for websites and other documents then publishing them online. This leads to Google using these translated documents as sources to train the programme, meaning that Google accepts these poor translations as real translations and effectively makes itself dumber.

A piece in The Week looked at common words in English that people can't agree on how to pronounce. 

The island of Ireland, the home of Irish.

Meanwhile The Irish Times reported on a march for language rights, though they did have some good news later on as South Dublin council launched a programme promoting and celebrating the Irish language.

The Economist explained the difference between a dialect and a language, after Hong Kong claimed Cantonese was not an official language but rather a dialect of Mandarin.

The Oxford Dictionaries Blog gave us the lexicon to understand freestyle skiing at the Sochi games and Buzzfeed, in a surprise turn, gave us a list, albeit a list of 21 Victorian slang words that we should be using.

The Smithsonian showed us that "huh?" is an almost universal utterance and a fascinating piece by Ben Faccini in Aeon explained why he wanted his children to be bilingual.

The Guardian was back at the end of the month and asked whether musicians are better language learners.

Aside from these news stories, we also discovered James Chapman's Tumblr, which includes many lovely drawing of onomatopoeia in various languages.

That's all the news we had for February, but if there are any we missed that you feel deserve a mention, tell us about them in the comments below.

The Best Multilingual Cities In Asia

Recently we've been looking at the best multilingual cities across various places in the world, from Europe to Canada and the USA, and from Mexico and the Caribbean onto South America. In a similar fashion, today we'll be looking at the best cities in Asia for linguaphiles.

Darjeeling in 1880.

Darjeeling, India - Darjeeling isn't just a type of tea, it's also a place in India where the tea comes from. Millions of kilos of Darjeeling tea are made here every year and the city is also a popular destination for tourists and Bollywood film crews.

As you will know from our language profiles, India is a multilingual haven and Darjeeling is no exception. Aside from the beautiful scenery and perfect climate, you can find speakers of Nepali, English, Hindi and Bengali.

Delhi, India - India's capital New Delhi, which is part of the administrative region of Delhi, is home to literally hundreds of languages. English, Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi are the most commonly spoken, though thanks to cultural diversity, many other languages are spoken here, making it a perfect destination for those who love languages.

Mumbai, India - Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is another prime example of India's linguistic variety. The city boasts speakers of English, Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, and over one hundred other languages.

As well as being a multilingual city, Mumbai is also rich in history and culture and well worth a visit for those who can bear with India's climate.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - The former French colony of Ho Chi Minh, originally known as Saigon and colloquially as the Paris of the East, is home to several languages, including Vietnamese, Cantonese, English, and French. English and French are spoken mainly due to colonisation and the Vietnam War.

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam, and District 1 is a popular tourist destination which bears a huge French influence. It's a must-see for those travelling through Vietnam.

The Bank of China building in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong - The former British colony of Hong Kong has speakers of Cantonese, English, and Mandarin. As one of the most densely populated areas in the world, Hong Kong is not recommended for those who like their getaways to be tranquil and quiet, but if you like the hustle and bustle it should be top of your list of places to go.

Macau - Cantonese, Mandarin, Portuguese, and English are the languages on almost everybody's tongue when you get to Macau. As one of China's two special administrative regions (the other being Hong Kong), Macau was formerly a Portuguese colony, hence the lasting fluency in the language.

Much like Hong Kong, Macau is a popular tourist destination and the tourist industry accounts for a large portion of the economy. Again, this is a bustling destination and comes highly recommended for those who like a different kind of holiday.

The Best Multilingual Cities In South America

Yesterday we looked at some of the best multilingual cities in Mexico and the Caribbean. Today we're looking at South America, a region typically known for the prominence of Spanish, excluding Brazil, where Portuguese is usually the language of choice.

Cochabamba, Bolivia - The first stop in our search is the Bolivian city of Cochabamba. It is home to around 700,000 people and aside from Spanish, the native language of Quechua is also spoken. Thanks to the businesses in Cochabamba, English is also becoming more commonly heard in the city.

Iguaçu Falls, on the border between
 Brazil and Argentina

Pomerode, Brazil - The city of Pomerode is known as the most German city in Brazil, which unsurprisingly doesn't take much. However, Portuguese and German are popular languages there. In fact, German is so popular due to the heritage of the population that the local area is home to Oktoberfest celebrations every year.

Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil - Nestled on the border of Brazil and Argentina, the Brazilian city of Foz do Iguaçu has high numbers of both Portuguese and Spanish speakers, as one would expect. Due to immigration, Korean, Chinese and Arabic can also be heard, as well as any of the languages spoken by tourists visiting one of Brazil's most popular destinations.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - The capital of Argentina is home to people from all walks of life. Spanish is the main language of the Porteños but Italian, German, French and Arabic are the other main languages to be heard around the streets.

If we've missed any noteworthy multilingual cities in South America, tell us about them in the comments below!

The Best Multilingual Cities In Mexico And The Caribbean

After exploring the best multilingual cities in Europe, we headed to Canada and then onto the US in search of the best places to go for those who love languages.

Today we're heading south of the border into Mexico and then onward to the Caribbean. First stop, Tijuana...

Tijuana, Mexico - The city of Tijuana is basically San Diego's Mexican cousin. Excluding the US-Mexico border, the two cities are joined. When joined with San Diego, the conurbation is the third largest bi-national metropolitan area in the world, and is home to many Spanish and English speakers.

Whilst Tijuana may not offer the best entertainment for everyone, it certainly attracts a certain type of crowd and if that's your thing, enjoy it!

Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City

Mexico City, Mexico - The capital of Mexico, known in Spanish as Ciudad de México, was originally an Aztec city known as Tenochtitlan until Spanish settlers came along and effectively flattened the place. It is now home to nearly 9 million people and houses people from many walks of life.

Aside from the obvious presence of Spanish, there are speakers of other languages from Spain, such as Basque, Catalan, and Galician. More popular languages spoken in Mexico City include English, French, and German from Europe, Asian languages such as Japanese, Korean, and Chinese, and due to religious ethnicities, Hebrew and Arabic are also prominent.

Oranjestad, Aruba - Although Aruba is technically in South America, we've decided to include a couple of Caribbean islands in our list for today since they're not a part of the mainland and make a good place to stop off before we dive straight into the best of South America.

With Dutch and Papiamento as the official languages of Aruba, Oranjestad also has prominent numbers of English, French, and Spanish speakers. Plus it's on a Caribbean island, what more could you ask for?

Willemstad, Curaçao - The capital city of Willemstad is another multilingual city which features Dutch and Papiamento as its official languages. Willemstad also features a good number of Spanish speakers.

Tomorrow we'll be continuing our journey into South America!

The Best Multilingual Cities In The USA

Since we finished yesterday's post on the best multilingual cities in Canada in Montréal, we thought we'd start today's post by heading a few hours south into the state of New York, where we find ourselves in the Big Apple ready to experience best multiculturalism and multilingualism that the US has to offer.

The Statue of Liberty welcoming
immigrants to the United States.

New York City, New York - America's most famous city has a rich heritage of immigration and is the epitome of the US as a cultural melting pot. Aside from the obvious presence of English and America's second language, Spanish, New York City (NYC) boasts a huge Chinatown area complete with a large number of Mandarin speakers and, of course, amazing food!

There are up to 150 languages spoken in NYC, so we won't list them all. There are large numbers of Italian, Russian, Yiddish and Arabic speakers to name a few. What we can say is that if there's a language you would like to hear, then you should be able to find it here.

Miami, Florida - If Will Smith's song Miami hasn't given it away, Miami boasts a huge Hispanic community. The Spanish language is so prominent in Miami that it is accepted as an official language of the government. You can also find a good number of speakers of French Creole.

San Diego, California - If you know any Spanish, you can guess where we'll be going with San Diego. The city was historically Spanish, and aside from taking a Spanish name it also took a huge number of Spanish settlers and colonists. San Diego is also very close to the Mexican border and the popular city of Tijuana.

The entrance to the Chinese Theatre in LA.
Sadly, it has nothing to do with the language.

Los Angeles, California - Los Angeles (LA) has a huge proportion of Spanish-speaking residents. Nearly 40% are estimated to speak Spanish, and the city boasts several ethnic neighbourhoods where other languages are spoken such as Mandarin Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Thai, and Arabic.

Seattle, Washington - This city isn't just the home of Starbucks and the band Nirvana. Seattle boasts a multinational community and ranks as one of the most livable cities in the US. You can find English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Tagalog, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian and Japanese within its sometimes rainy streets. It's only a stone's throw away from Vancouver as well, so we're almost back where we started yesterday with Canada's best multilingual cities.

Are there any other multilingual cities in the US we may have missed? Tell us about them in the comments below!

The Best Multilingual Cities In Canada

Since we covered the best multilingual cities in Europe last week, we felt it was only right to look at some North American cities this weekend. Today we're covering Canada, and tomorrow we'll head south into the US. Let's start our visit with Vancouver.

English Bay, Vancouver

Vancouver, British Columbia - If you leave Vancouver heading west you'll end up in "the East". Vancouver's proximity (it is only a few thousand miles, after all!) to Asia has helped cultivate some of the immigration that has left one of the World's Most Livable Cities with a huge Asian population and, as a result, Chinese and Cantonese as very popular languages within the city.

Aside from Mandarin and Cantonese, Punjabi, Persian, Tagalog, Korean, Italian, German, and French can also be heard in Vancouver. Despite French also being an official language of Canada, Mandarin and Cantonese are more popular in this area.

Toronto, Ontario - Given that Ontario borders Québec, Canada's principally French-speaking province, you can expect Toronto to have a fairly mixed bag when it comes to languages. Often confused as being the capital by ignorant foreigners (and a few poorly-educated Canadians), Toronto has very multicultural surroundings which can be found leaking into the city and government.

Ottawa, Ontario - Sitting right next to Québec, Canada's actual capital city has its own motto in both English and French. Advance-Ottawa-En Avant represents the country's two official languages, and the University of Ottawa is the largest bilingual university in the world.

Olympic Stadium in Montréal, which features
the tallest inclined tower in the world.

Montréal, Québec - As you could guess by the accent on the letter e, Montréal, or Montreal when Anglicised, is the largest city in the province of Québec. Recently the city has been in the headlines as a centre of controversy following multilingual political upheaval and the language debate within Québec. The famed Pastagate scandal following the over-Francofication of the city and tensions between French-speaking and English-speaking communities has been tarnishing Montréal's reputation.

That said, Montréal is a wonderful melting pot of French and English cultures, not to mention that Spanish, Italian, Greek, Portuguese, and Arabic can also be heard around the streets of the world's second largest French-speaking city.

That concludes our quick trip across Canada. Are than any multilingual cities you feel we may have missed? Tell us about them in the comments below! Tomorrow we're heading south into the US.