The_Rev Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 The Americans seriously considered German as their official language too. I often wonder how different a place the world would have been if they had elected to speak German. Would they have sided with the Germans during WW1? Would a war between the British Empire and the United States at some point early in the 20th Century have taken place? Impossible to say for sure I guess. I think we could have taken them a hundred years ago though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 It is very good for us that the most powerful nation on the earth at the moment speaks English. I just feel we are all so lucky that we speak English, because it is literally everywhere around the world. Was watching some Spanish football and I saw some advertising hoardings in English and on the stadium/stand it said 'salida' and then underneath 'exit'. English isn't even an official language in Spain. The real reason that Beckham doesn't want to go to PSG is because he will have to learn French . I'm not surprised he struggled with Spanish, he's not the brightest. Lineker learning Spanish in 6 months is impressive, credit to him for that. I think I remember seeing a tv clip ages ago where Keegan was doing an interview in German. As for Paul Ince I wonder if I kept learning Italian when he left, he was only there for 2 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 When was the last time that English hasn't been the language of the most powerful nation on Earth? It has probably been getting on for 400 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 It will be Mandarin in a few years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 When was the last time that English hasn't been the language of the most powerful nation on Earth? It has probably been getting on for 400 years. 1500 when China was. Then their society went into a half-millenia decline. Full circles and all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 So you are saying the sun will never set on the British Empire again at some point in the year 2525? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 For six million quid a year Fabio's English should definitely be better. Paul Ince did learn Italian when he went to Italy. Gary Lineker was fluent in Spanish after six months in Barcelona, I think he still does bits and pieces with the Spanish media in Spanish to this day. Joe Cole is currently learning French (dispelling the rumours that he was going to commute to Lille from Kent) and I think Beckham tried to learn Spanish but just couldnt get to grips with it. Michael Robinson is actually one of Spain's most famous football pundits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 **** hell. Is there a country in the world which doesnt have an ex Liverpool player as a pundit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted January 12, 2012 Moderator Share Posted January 12, 2012 For six million quid a year Fabio's English should definitely be better. Paul Ince did learn Italian when he went to Italy. Gary Lineker was fluent in Spanish after six months in Barcelona, I think he still does bits and pieces with the Spanish media in Spanish to this day. Joe Cole is currently learning French (dispelling the rumours that he was going to commute to Lille from Kent) and I think Beckham tried to learn Spanish but just couldnt get to grips with it. Michael Robinson is actually one of Spain's most famous football pundits Yes but in a Manuel from Fawlty Towers kind of way. They find him funny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voinjama Posted January 12, 2012 Author Share Posted January 12, 2012 Fat Ronaldos attempt at speaking English was funny. But to be fair to him, he speaks Portugese, Spanish and probably Italian too. Learning a new language is so funt hough, anyone who is monolingual wants to try a new hobby, pick a language. The real fun will be when I go to Munich and speak with the natives. Excited and nervous at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 English Spanish Cantonese French Mastering these four can make you understood just about anywhere, methinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bickster Posted January 12, 2012 Moderator Share Posted January 12, 2012 Cantonese Mastering these four can make you understood just about anywhere, methinks. Mandarin is much more widespread than Cantonese, Cantonese is a minor dialect of Chinese which is based around the Honk kong / grangdong area, its just that in the Western world many of the ex-pat Chinese are from this region as it was the first area to start communicating with the rest of the world but in terms of usefulness Mandarin would be far more effective as a communication tool as many more people in SE Asia / China speak it 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Quite right, that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted January 12, 2012 Moderator Share Posted January 12, 2012 **** hell. Is there a country in the world which doesnt have an ex Liverpool player as a pundit? One in Africa maybe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BennettVilla Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Suppose in a way, the question is most useful then i would say it depends on the person. If you have a job dealing with the french then french but if it was spanish people that your job interacted most with then it would be spanish. The question was not the most popular language in the world Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviramsey Posted January 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted January 13, 2012 C++ C# java fortran perl You only really need Perl. #!/usr/bin/perl # Black Perl, adapted for Perl 5 by Jonadab. # Adapted from Black Perl, as seen in the Camel, # 2nd ed., p 553 BEFOREHAND: close door, each window & exit; wait until time; open spell book; study; read (spell, $scan, select); tell us; write it, print the hex while each watches, reverse length, write again; kill spiders, pop them, chop, split, kill them. unlink arms, shift, wait and listen (listening, wait). sort the flock (then, warn "the goats", kill "the sheep"); kill them, dump qualms, shift moralities, values aside, each one; die sheep; die (to, reverse the => system you accept (reject, respect)); next step, kill next sacrifice, each sacrifice, wait, redo ritual until "all the spirits are pleased"; do it ("as they say"). do it(*everyone***must***participate***in***forbidden**s*e*x*). return last victim; package body; exit crypt (time, times & "half a time") & close it. select (quickly) and warn next victim; AFTERWARDS: tell nobody. wait, wait until time; wait until next year, next decade; sleep, sleep, die yourself, die @last Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndFos Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 **** hell. Is there a country in the world which doesnt have an ex Liverpool player as a pundit? One in Africa maybe We don't have one in Norway. But we often get Phil Thompson on before the matches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legov Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Cantonese Mastering these four can make you understood just about anywhere, methinks. Mandarin is much more widespread than Cantonese, Cantonese is a minor dialect of Chinese which is based around the Honk kong / grangdong area, its just that in the Western world many of the ex-pat Chinese are from this region as it was the first area to start communicating with the rest of the world but in terms of usefulness Mandarin would be far more effective as a communication tool as many more people in SE Asia / China speak it :nod: :nod: :nod: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFC_Hitz Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 If you learn Mandarin you have a good knowledge base to learn Clementine and Tangerine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legov Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 You will probably always be able to find somebody who speaks Arabic in the Muslim countries of the world though. That is a lot of places, and most of them north and east of Saudi Arabia (ie, Iran, Iraq, the "stans") have their own local languages. Few people in Southeast Asia speak fluent Arabic, if any at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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