2 hours ago, anto said:

Maybe in the future it may change from English to Chinese as the common World language ,as English replaced French in the past.

I taught the Burmese 2 ( both girls ) next door English , The older girl at 16 goes to college in CEI , I asked her a couple of days ago if she is still #1 in English , she said at her college they now teach Chinese , then recited the days of the week and counting 1 - 10 in Chinese . Don't know what the world is coming to.

5 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

Nope !  I've met a lot of Chinese in recent weeks and they say English is far more important to learn than Chinese because it's the number one International language.  They know that most of the World is not interested in learning Chinese.

Chinese is far from the number one international language by a long way. Sure there are more Chinese speakers then English speakers, but:

 

1 - Most Chinese speakers are concentrated in SE Asia. English is widespread around the world.

 

2 - Although the Chinese speakers share a written language, and the Chinese government promotes Mandarin, there are many spoken dialects, some of which are so different that they are incomprehensible to speakers of other ones.

 

English also has more ore less common written form. Although there is a wide variation of English accents and a number of dialects, spoken English users (native and non native) can generally communicate with each other.

 

3 - Mandarin Chinese carries a culture with it, which some find unacceptable. English has become the language of many cultures, thus has become neutral and more acceptable to many as a second language.

 

4 - Although Mainland Chinese folk are travelling internationally  in large numbers these days, they tend to do so in groups. With guides and organisers, a relatively small range of Chinese required by people who deal with them in host countries. In hotels and the like a certain amount of Chinese , among other languages, is helpful for staff dealing with the public. None the less, English remains lingua franca in the industry at large. It is more useful at management level when dealing with staff and contacts of various nationalities.

 

5 - China is but one player in the world of international commerce, which is carried on among countries with a diverse range of languages (and cultures). English has become established as a relatively neutral language for international trade.

 

etc

1 minute ago, Aj Mick said:

Chinese is far from the number one international language by a long way. Sure there are more Chinese speakers then English speakers, but:

 

1 - Most Chinese speakers are concentrated in SE Asia. English is widespread around the world.

 

2 - Although the Chinese speakers share a written language, and the Chinese government promotes Mandarin, there are many spoken dialects, some of which are so different that they are incomprehensible to speakers of other ones.

 

English also has more ore less common written form. Although there is a wide variation of English accents and a number of dialects, spoken English users (native and non native) can generally communicate with each other.

 

3 - Mandarin Chinese carries a culture with it, which some find unacceptable. English has become the language of many cultures, thus has become neutral and more acceptable to many as a second language.

 

4 - Although Mainland Chinese folk are travelling internationally  in large numbers these days, they tend to do so in groups. With guides and organisers, a relatively small range of Chinese required by people who deal with them in host countries. In hotels and the like a certain amount of Chinese , among other languages, is helpful for staff dealing with the public. None the less, English remains lingua franca in the industry at large. It is more useful at management level when dealing with staff and contacts of various nationalities.

 

5 - China is but one player in the world of international commerce, which is carried on among countries with a diverse range of languages (and cultures). English has become established as a relatively neutral language for international trade.

 

etc

Right.

And don't forget that English is the worldwide language of science and scholarship - and likely to stay that way for a long time to come.

6 hours ago, trainman34014 said:

 Indeed; until she was 11 years old she thought Thailand was 'The World'  because nobody from her Family or School had ever indicated that there was any other 'World'.

There are still many of the in Thailand that are not aware that there is live at the other side of the Thailand border.......especially the internet providers.

6 hours ago, Aforek said:

Very good ! I just said " English better than Chinese " because, for the whole world, Chinese is much more difficult than English, it doesn't mean that English has a better value than Chinese 

There are more people in the world that speak Chinese than there are the speak English, problem is that the majority of them lives in the same country, so unless the Chinese are gonna take over the world learning Chinese will have no advantage.

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Darcula said:

A school director was actually available for an interview after a tragedy. That's really heart-warming.

 

That is truly heart-warming indeed.     

 

How did he find the time?

Right.
And don't forget that English is the worldwide language of science and scholarship - and likely to stay that way for a long time to come.

And for Aviation, Medicine & IT


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And English is easier to learn for us westerners , we share the same alphabet , almost.  For us Scandinavians , English is easier to learn than French or Spanish .