In what ways?
So it was useful once in a blue moon, doesn’t mean it’s actually useful.
They’re both pretty useful in their own ways. While Chinese has less countries, the provinces of China themselves are practically countries in their own right in terms of population. It just matters where you do your business/stuff/life.
I mean useful internationally and in different fields. French is essential for literally all international organisations. Sometimes it’s even preferred over English. Japanese is largely useless, but Japanese people speak awful English and Japanese cultural exports are very popular worldwide, so it has a large market. Spanish is useful because it’s America’s second language.
Chinese is completely useless in science and no one watches any Chinese tv shows. It’s not even useful for job hunting because there will always be a Zhang something who knows enough English/whatever local language.
Here, I can agree with you.
I think Spanish is overrated too but it is quite useful in the US, which makes it kind of useful, and essential in all of Latin America as people there do not speak English.
OK, you’ve convinced me, I change my mind about my last statement.
Additionally, girls in Romania speak Spanish. They learned it from watching telenovelas.
Right I’m sure Romanian women is a crucial motive to Spanish acquisition.
I feel more motivated.
No es la única motivación o la más importante pero es una motivación adicional.
Rumanas son hermosas.
How’s about “it depends what you’re using it for”? I learned French in high school and have never used it ever. Chinese, on the other hand, I use all day every day. So French might be helpful in a good chunk of West Africa, but I’m not in West Africa, I’m in Taiwan. The few French speakers I know here speak excellent English and Chinese, so we have two common languages between us already, and French isn’t one of them.
Wow I actually understand this from French.
I took HSK 1-5 at Confuse Us institutions and I competed in the UCLA speech contest to go on TV in Beijing. Big waste of money. HSK is a Chinese trap to wring money from foreigners.
Chinese is a BS language is not the point. Chinese don’t want to interact with you even you speak Chinese. Another Great Wall
At Confucian institute we were to learn stuff about Chinese culture and never say anything bad about China
I was over 30 - eliminated from TV program.
At the UCLA speech contest every competitor but me brought a private tutor. These competitors came from phenomenal wealth. Whatever they want they can buy. Son got a B in chemistry? They will fly a helicopter to CalTech and bring back a Nobel laureate to tutor.
1 father was angry my Chinese was good and demanded to know my teacher. I told him Wang Mama at TLI. He said he’d hire her. “How can I reach her?” He was barely dissuaded when I said she lives in Taiwan
I think one could understand that from English.
Must have changed since I was there- at that time, you couldn’t get people to stop interacting with you. To get peace on trains, busses etc. I carried a notebook and pretended my Chinese was even worse than it was. The first line was “Sorry I can’t speak Chinese, but I’ve had a friend translate this” followed by everything about me, with pictures. Mostly kept the crowds off.
Of course, that was in the mid-80s when China was just opening up and most Chinese had never seen a foreigner and didn’t know anything about the outside world.
Just when I was leaving through Guandong and swore I would throttle the next person who asked if they could practise their English with me, with a flutter of eyelashes and a sweet smile…
I didn’t have issues chatting with people last time I went to China either, but it’s been a few years since.
I have and had great communication with Chinese people in Chinese. Have had fantastic coworkers before and really good friends. In many ways it’s a lot easier to communicate with people in China than Taiwanese
Everything except banking.
Transshipment, R&D, F-16 repair.
Why need to be a hub?
You don’t need to be one.