What is the most useful language in terms of global communication?

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EagleEyedOne

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#1 EagleEyedOne
Member since 2013 • 1676 Posts
Let's face it. If you grew up speaking Swahili then your chances of becoming one of the top 5-10% of the world's elite is slim to none unless you knew some other language. You can't rise to the top only knowing Swahili or Tongan, for example. So if you were to choose another language to achieve the goal of becoming a world elite which would it be? If your goal in life was to become one of the true elite among the world and you only had the option of learning one other language than the one you were brought with then what would it be?
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lostrib

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#2 lostrib
Member since 2009 • 49999 Posts

english, and then secondary might be mandarin chinese

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heeweesRus

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#3 heeweesRus
Member since 2012 • 5492 Posts

English

Chinese

Spanish

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The_Lipscomb

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#4 The_Lipscomb
Member since 2013 • 2603 Posts

English

Chinese

Spanish

heeweesRus

This Mandarin though lol

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ghoklebutter

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#5 ghoklebutter
Member since 2007 • 19327 Posts

English

Chinese

Spanish

heeweesRus
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Goyoshi12

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#6 Goyoshi12
Member since 2009 • 9687 Posts

english, and then secondary might be mandarin chinese

lostrib

I'm gonna be an ignorant f*cktard and ask what's mandarin chinese?

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The_Lipscomb

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#7 The_Lipscomb
Member since 2013 • 2603 Posts

[QUOTE="lostrib"]

english, and then secondary might be mandarin chinese

Goyoshi12

I'm gonna be an ignorant f*cktard and ask what's mandarin chinese?

Not Hong Kong.
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EagleEyedOne

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#8 EagleEyedOne
Member since 2013 • 1676 Posts

[QUOTE="lostrib"]

english, and then secondary might be mandarin chinese

Goyoshi12

I'm gonna be an ignorant f*cktard and ask what's mandarin chinese?

It is not Cantonese.
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Goyoshi12

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#9 Goyoshi12
Member since 2009 • 9687 Posts

Not Hong Kong.The_Lipscomb
It is not Cantonese. EagleEyedOne
Yeah, that helps. [spoiler] I'm being serious I really don't know what that is or at least have never heard it called Mandarin chinese. [/spoiler]

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The_Lipscomb

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#10 The_Lipscomb
Member since 2013 • 2603 Posts

[QUOTE="The_Lipscomb"]Not Hong Kong.Goyoshi12

It is not Cantonese. EagleEyedOne
Yeah, that helps. [spoiler] I'm being serious I really don't know what that is or at least have never heard it called Mandarin chinese. [/spoiler]

lol
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Goyoshi12

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#11 Goyoshi12
Member since 2009 • 9687 Posts

lolThe_Lipscomb

Fine, I'll Google it.

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The_Lipscomb

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#12 The_Lipscomb
Member since 2013 • 2603 Posts

[QUOTE="The_Lipscomb"] lolGoyoshi12

Fine, I'll Google it.

I understand.
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powellb

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#13 powellb
Member since 2013 • 25 Posts
This Mandarin though lol
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lostrib

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#14 lostrib
Member since 2009 • 49999 Posts

[QUOTE="The_Lipscomb"]Not Hong Kong.Goyoshi12

It is not Cantonese. EagleEyedOne
Yeah, that helps. [spoiler] I'm being serious I really don't know what that is or at least have never heard it called Mandarin chinese. [/spoiler]

It's the version of the Chinese language that the majority of chinese people speak, although there are obviously different local dialects/variants in different regions of the country.  

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GummiRaccoon

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#15 GummiRaccoon
Member since 2003 • 13799 Posts

[QUOTE="The_Lipscomb"] lolGoyoshi12

Fine, I'll Google it.

there are 2 chinese languages, cantonese and mandarin, I believe they both use the same characters now.

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hippiesanta

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#16 hippiesanta
Member since 2005 • 10301 Posts

[QUOTE="heeweesRus"]

English

Chinese

Spanish

The_Lipscomb

This Mandarin though lol

 

mandarin-lede.jpg ???

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tosaytheleast

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#17 tosaytheleast
Member since 2013 • 25 Posts
I'd say English being the universal language and then Spanish because of great businesses in Spanish-speaking countries.
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curono

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#18 curono
Member since 2005 • 7722 Posts
I´d say first check where are you going and then I'll tell you which language. But basically english has become the "language of the empire" akin to latin in europe.
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ferrari2001

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#19 ferrari2001
Member since 2008 • 17772 Posts
English 1st and mandarin Chinese Second. German can also be useful in certain situations.
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Lonelynight

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#21 Lonelynight
Member since 2006 • 30051 Posts
English
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LASer354

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#22 LASer354
Member since 2013 • 319 Posts

English.

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Lonelynight

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#23 Lonelynight
Member since 2006 • 30051 Posts

[QUOTE="Goyoshi12"]

[QUOTE="The_Lipscomb"] lolGummiRaccoon

Fine, I'll Google it.

there are 2 chinese languages, cantonese and mandarin, I believe they both use the same characters now.

no, there are also hokkien hakka, Hainanese, Shanghainese, Teochew, fuzhou, etc
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gamerguru100

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#24 gamerguru100
Member since 2009 • 12718 Posts

English and Mandarin

Maybe Spanish since Latin America is pretty big. 

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gamerguru100

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#25 gamerguru100
Member since 2009 • 12718 Posts
[QUOTE="GummiRaccoon"]

[QUOTE="Goyoshi12"]

Fine, I'll Google it.

Lonelynight

there are 2 chinese languages, cantonese and mandarin, I believe they both use the same characters now.

no, there are also hokkien hakka, Hainanese, Shanghainese, Teochew, fuzhou, etc

I've heard that each of those dialects are different enough from each other that speakers of two different dialects wouldn't be able to understand each other. Is that true?
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Comic_Capers

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#26 Comic_Capers
Member since 2008 • 1701 Posts

I think it's fairly obvious that the three most useful languages to be able to speak are English, Mandarin and Spanish as these are the three languages with the most speakers worldwide. Other languages that would also be useful I guess would be Arabic, which has 295 million speakers in over 20 countries and maybe Portuguese as well (Mainly for Brazil and Portuguese colonies but there are lusophonic countries scattered all over the world).

If you had to only use one, then I suppose Mandarin would win purely on a volume of native speakers level.

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Justforvisit

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#27 Justforvisit
Member since 2011 • 2660 Posts

English 1st and mandarin Chinese Second. German can also be useful in certain situations. ferrari2001


Especially in Europe ;)

Good for Germany, Switzerland and Austria. The latter two might insist they speak different languages, swiss-german and austrian, but pfft, they just copied us :D

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00-Riddick-00

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#28 00-Riddick-00
Member since 2009 • 18884 Posts
[QUOTE="Goyoshi12"]

[QUOTE="lostrib"]

english, and then secondary might be mandarin chinese

EagleEyedOne

I'm gonna be an ignorant f*cktard and ask what's mandarin chinese?

It is not Cantonese.

Vietnamese?
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soulless4now

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#29 soulless4now
Member since 2003 • 41388 Posts

[QUOTE="The_Lipscomb"]

[QUOTE="heeweesRus"]

English

Chinese

Spanish

hippiesanta

This Mandarin though lol

 

mandarin-lede.jpg ???

lol You beat me to it.
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Lonelynight

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#30 Lonelynight
Member since 2006 • 30051 Posts
[QUOTE="Lonelynight"][QUOTE="GummiRaccoon"]

there are 2 chinese languages, cantonese and mandarin, I believe they both use the same characters now.

gamerguru100
no, there are also hokkien hakka, Hainanese, Shanghainese, Teochew, fuzhou, etc

I've heard that each of those dialects are different enough from each other that speakers of two different dialects wouldn't be able to understand each other. Is that true?

yes, I'm a hokkien but I don't know how to speak it or understand it, I only know how to speak mandarin and understand mandarin.
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