It's coming. Some suggest it's already here. The new dominate force in our world. Cycles of history, is all. How long might this dominion extend?

Didn't we hear all this about the Japanese and their 1,000 year plan a very short time ago? The Chinese have fought one another and blown it over and over again all through history.

It is not over until the fat American lady sings!

Didn't we hear all this about the Japanese and their 1,000 year plan a very short time ago? The Chinese have fought one another and blown it over and over again all through history.

It is not over until the fat American lady sings!

Your beloved America is in a steady decline. Fancy and illusion will never keep it afloat.

Didn't we hear all this about the Japanese and their 1,000 year plan a very short time ago? The Chinese have fought one another and blown it over and over again all through history.

It is not over until the fat American lady sings!

Your beloved America is in a steady decline. Fancy and illusion will never keep it afloat.

It will be a long time before America sinks so don't hold your breath. OTOH, feel free. History works in cycles, but not for everybody. Some countries will rise to the top and fall, others will just stay at the bottom - and I don't mean just geographically.

Didn't we hear all this about the Japanese and their 1,000 year plan a very short time ago? The Chinese have fought one another and blown it over and over again all through history.

It is not over until the fat American lady sings!

Your beloved America is in a steady decline. Fancy and illusion will never keep it afloat.

Folks with mental problems have been saying that ever since I can remember, but they just keep getting more loony and rave about what is going to happen someday, while America adapts and changes for the better.

I don't want to speak about dominance; I leave that to others.

But....those children and grandchildren, wherever they are, whose parents are smart and intelligent will have an enormous advantage if they would learn to speak, read and write in three major languages:

English, Spanish and Mandarin.

If you're in Germany, Thailand, Indonesia, France or any other "small language" country it's nice if you speak the language but your children and grandchildren will thank you (or your kids) for sending them to those two/three major language lessons.

Jim Rogers, the famous expatriate American investor is a smart guy and moved with his family to Singapore where his children are taught Mandarin on a daily basis.

A famous quote by him was:

"If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia."

If those kids speak these 3 languages they have a MAJOR advantage for their future above other kids who don't speak them.

LaoPo

I don't want to speak about dominance; I leave that to others.

But....those children and grandchildren, wherever they are, whose parents are smart and intelligent will have an enormous advantage if they would learn to speak, read and write in three major languages:

English, Spanish and Mandarin.

If you're in Germany, Thailand, Indonesia, France or any other "small language" country it's nice if you speak the language but your children and grandchildren will thank you (or your kids) for sending them to those two/three major language lessons.

Jim Rogers, the famous expatriate American investor is a smart guy and moved with his family to Singapore where his children are taught Mandarin on a daily basis.

A famous quote by him was:

"If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia."

If those kids speak these 3 languages they have a MAJOR advantage for their future above other kids who don't speak them.

LaoPo

While I agree in principle, if making money is the goal, then fluency in all three of those languages is pretty much useless without a more bankable skill to go with them. I've met beggers who speak multiple languages. I remember one guy I met while in Budapest back in 2002. He overheard me talking on a public telephone and started a conversation with me when I was done. His English was amazing. Much better than any of my colleague's there.

I don't want to speak about dominance; I leave that to others.

But....those children and grandchildren, wherever they are, whose parents are smart and intelligent will have an enormous advantage if they would learn to speak, read and write in three major languages:

English, Spanish and Mandarin.

If you're in Germany, Thailand, Indonesia, France or any other "small language" country it's nice if you speak the language but your children and grandchildren will thank you (or your kids) for sending them to those two/three major language lessons.

Jim Rogers, the famous expatriate American investor is a smart guy and moved with his family to Singapore where his children are taught Mandarin on a daily basis.

A famous quote by him was:

"If you were smart in 1807 you moved to London, if you were smart in 1907 you moved to New York City, and if you are smart in 2007 you move to Asia."

If those kids speak these 3 languages they have a MAJOR advantage for their future above other kids who don't speak them.

LaoPo

While I agree in principle, if making money is the goal, then fluency in all three of those languages is pretty much useless without a more bankable skill to go with them. I've met beggers who speak multiple languages. I remember one guy I met while in Budapest back in 2002. He overheard me talking on a public telephone and started a conversation with me when I was done. His English was amazing. Much better than any of my colleague's there.

Agree; but nobody who's a bit smart is learning/studying just languages unless it's your -future- profession.

It's only a part of the total education. I was educated in four languages, one of them my Mother's tongue and nothing wrong with that; unfortunately I don't speak Mandarin; I wish I would but it will cost an adult 10 times the effort of children and I don't have the time nor energy to start.

LaoPo

Agree; but nobody who's a bit smart is learning/studying just languages unless it's your -future- profession.

It's only a part of the total education. I was educated in four languages, one of them my Mother's tongue and nothing wrong with that; unfortunately I don't speak Mandarin; I wish I would but it will cost an adult 10 times the effort of children and I don't have the time nor energy to start.

LaoPo

I speak more than one language and have studied more. But there are certain vowel sounds in these languages I just can't make properly and it discourages me when trying to learn others. If I had a kid now, in addition to specific language lessons, I'd put together lessons in sounds and tones from several different languages. "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" is a sentence they would use to test the keys on a typewriter because it contains every letter of the English alphabet. If your native language is English, there are sounds in French, Russian, Thai, Mandarin, Arabic, and most other languages that have sounds that aren't found in English and are difficult for an adult to master. So I would have a native speaking teacher create a sentence that includes all of these different sounds in their respective language. I would have my kid learn these sentences by heart. So in addition to learning English and maybe 1-2 other languages, he would learn sentences of maybe 20-30 other languages. This way, if anytime in the future he wants to learn a new language, the sounds/tones would come more natural to him.

Agree; but nobody who's a bit smart is learning/studying just languages unless it's your -future- profession.

It's only a part of the total education. I was educated in four languages, one of them my Mother's tongue and nothing wrong with that; unfortunately I don't speak Mandarin; I wish I would but it will cost an adult 10 times the effort of children and I don't have the time nor energy to start.

LaoPo

I speak more than one language and have studied more. But there are certain vowel sounds in these languages I just can't make properly and it discourages me when trying to learn others. If I had a kid now, in addition to specific language lessons, I'd put together lessons in sounds and tones from several different languages. "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" is a sentence they would use to test the keys on a typewriter because it contains every letter of the English alphabet. If your native language is English, there are sounds in French, Russian, Thai, Mandarin, Arabic, and most other languages that have sounds that aren't found in English and are difficult for an adult to master. So I would have a native speaking teacher create a sentence that includes all of these different sounds in their respective language. I would have my kid learn these sentences by heart. So in addition to learning English and maybe 1-2 other languages, he would learn sentences of maybe 20-30 other languages. This way, if anytime in the future he wants to learn a new language, the sounds/tones would come more natural to him.

For years I have been encouraging my kids to learn Mandarin. My son will be taking it this year. He should have started it last year but the silly boy chose Maori. (He's 13).

You may be interested to know that there have been some very good studies done on language sounds.

One study I saw, done in America, showed that some sounds may only be acquired before the age of 2 or 3.

The language was Hindi. They set up a test whereby (white American) 2 yo's would be "rewarded" by the face of a clown appearing on a tv screen every time a recorded Hindi speaker said "Dha", and the screen would remain blank when the speaker said "Da". To me, and the scientists, the two "da"s were indistinguishable, but it was obvious that the babies quickly learnt when to look at the tv.

When they did the same test on 4-5 yo, most failed to learn.

I think there are some Thai sounds like that (No matter how I try to move my face or lips or tongue, I can not say เคย to the satisfaction of any listeners.)

My wife speaks Mandarin..as well as Thai, English some French & Japanese...but what a beautiful language Mandarin is.

America is but an infant of 234 years age. Is it a failed state?

Not literally although they teeter on default & their own form of bankruptcy.

If the owners of the oil ever truly de-peg from the USD & decide to price it in Euros or what ever....

Well yes game will be over...... But of course the US Military Industrial Complex would run straight in & kill who ever suggests it so........

Probably....No, American has more thrashing about and trouble making to do before it is a complete failed state.

Anyone who does not see & wonder about the current US foreign policies & US monetary policies at home in the US are either very well off ......as in abandoned the US by choice by giving up their US citizenship.... like so many rich did this year.... or...

Anyone who does not see & wonder about the current US foreign policies & US monetary policies at home in the US are either very well off ......as in abandoned the US by choice by giving up their US citizenship.... like so many rich did this year.... or...

According to all the fuzzy-brained fortune teller types, America was supposed to fall into the ocean decades ago, but they keep on claiming the world is going to he11 in a handbasket, and really get all excited during down times like now. They love it when they can moan about how terrible everything is and are always positive that things will get even worse.

The folks with common sense just wait it out - as they have many times - and things almost always get better.

Maybe some people hide in the sand, but that is better than being lost in outer space!

According to all the fuzzy-brained fortune teller types,

Maybe some people hide in the sand, but that is better than being lost in outer space!

If working towards a sound monetary policy & against stupid foreign policy is fuzzy or lost in space.....

Then sitting around & nodding must be very woolly

China is being effectively contained by a line of casinos being built around it's borders.

Any attempt at invading it's neighbours is thwarted as easily as if it was surrounded by minefields. After losing their money the troops will have to return home to make more.

China is being effectively contained by a line of casinos being built around it's borders.

Jokes aside: rumors are spreading more and more that not only online gambling will be permitted but casinos to be build in the near future also.

It wouldn't surprise me at all.

LaoPo

Who was joking LaoPo?

Know thine enemy!!

Who was joking LaoPo?

Know thine enemy!!

Let's set up a small one in CR....

LaoPo

Who was joking LaoPo?

Know thine enemy!!

Let's set up a small one in CR....

LaoPo

There's one in every village. Like whorehouses in America you just have to know who to ask.

According to all the fuzzy-brained fortune teller types, America was supposed to fall into the ocean decades ago, but they keep on claiming the world is going to he11 in a handbasket, and really get all excited during down times like now. They love it when they can moan about how terrible everything is and are always positive that things will get even worse.

The folks with common sense just wait it out - as they have many times - and things almost always get better.

Maybe some people hide in the sand, but that is better than being lost in outer space!

If working towards a sound monetary policy & against stupid foreign policy is fuzzy or lost in space.....

Then sitting around & nodding must be very woolly

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

The unwashed ACLU-loving pothead types don't have the slightest idea what a sound monetary or foreign policy is, so how can they inflict their silly opinions on anyone else?

The unwashed ACLU-loving pothead types don't have the slightest idea what a sound monetary or foreign policy is, so how can they inflict their silly opinions on anyone else?

And the unwashed racist chain-smoking, right-wing, Pentecostal, farm implement salesman in Tulsa didn't study Economics 101 at junior college, either.

Back to languages: I'm fluent in English, and I became nearly fluent in Spanish at age 56, quickly. Thai remains gibberish, with its alphabet, tones and grammars. Chinese...which major or minor dialect? How many thousand characters? For international commerce, Chinese speak Indo-Aryan languages.

i'm sure i posted that my 6th grade teacher way back in the 60's predicted that US would go the same way that Rome and England had and that China had a master plan of world popwer through population. When i consider what makes the US different, i think the answer is in the it's ability to accept an ever changing domestic demographic while maintaining a national identity. i.e. soon what was once the white majority will be a minority yet the brown majority will still be proud Americans. IMHO china is limited by it's own self inacted limitations, the same as thailand.

The unwashed ACLU-loving pothead types don't have the slightest idea what a sound monetary or foreign policy is, so how can they inflict their silly opinions on anyone else?

And the unwashed racist chain-smoking, right-wing, Pentecostal, farm implement salesman in Tulsa didn't study Economics 101 at junior college, either. Back to languages: I'm fluent in English, and I became nearly fluent in Spanish at age 56, quickly. Thai remains gibberish, with its alphabet, tones and grammars. Chinese...which major or minor dialect? How many thousand characters? For international commerce, Chinese speak Indo-Aryan languages.

might be right pb but those chances are a few of those red necks drive long haul trucks or own some small busness where they need to make a pay roll which gives them more real life skills than most aclu lawyers or the community organizers that sits in the WH today.

I'm fluent in English, and I became nearly fluent in Spanish at age 56, quickly. Thai remains gibberish, with its alphabet, tones and grammars. Chinese...which major or minor dialect? How many thousand characters? For international commerce, Chinese speak Indo-Aryan languages.

Good for you PB !

It is not easy to learn new languages later in life....not that your old but I mean once we settle out of study mode.

But it is very good for the brain.

I know what you mean about tones too. But even my wife who speaks quite a few languages still has trouble at times with the L&R in certain english words. So I dont feel so bad about the many tones I misuse in Thai that always makes her laugh.

Chinese...which major or minor dialect? How many thousand characters? For international commerce, Chinese speak Indo-Aryan languages.

On Chinese television they have subtitles for Chinese, For example, in Guang Zhou the film on TV might be in Cantonese so they add Mandarin subtitles. I guess they aren't quite linguistically united yet.

The unwashed ACLU-loving pothead types don't have the slightest idea what a sound monetary or foreign policy is, so how can they inflict their silly opinions on anyone else?

And the unwashed racist chain-smoking, right-wing, Pentecostal, farm implement salesman in Tulsa didn't study Economics 101 at junior college, either.

might be right pb but those chances are a few of those red necks drive long haul trucks or own some small busness where they need to make a pay roll which gives them more real life skills than most aclu lawyers or the community organizers that sits in the WH today.

I audited the tax returns of 100 long-haul truck drivers in Oklahoma City. One of them had a BA in a social science. None of them made a payroll. Agreed, Obama is still almost as bereft of real-world experience as G W Bush was after he'd failed a few businesses. I met a few ACLU lawyers who worked pro bono because their successful law practice paid their bills. Stereotypes are so overly simplistic. Like my dark-skinned Italian-American buddy from Cleveland who married a San Antonio Mexican-American and studied for his master's under Henry Cisneros. Or the son of a Kiñeno who became Secretary of Education.

Chinese...which major or minor dialect? How many thousand characters? For international commerce, Chinese speak Indo-Aryan languages.

On Chinese television they have subtitles for Chinese, For example, in Guang Zhou the film on TV might be in Cantonese so they add Mandarin subtitles. I guess they aren't quite linguistically united yet.

I understand Chinese characters are the same, but pronounced very differently in Cantonese and Mandarin. Canadians say that French-Canadian movies need subtitles in France.

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Wise and knowing folk are siding for the coming China....

Let's hope they enjoy their stay in the reeducation centers.

Chinese...which major or minor dialect? How many thousand characters? For international commerce, Chinese speak Indo-Aryan languages.

On Chinese television they have subtitles for Chinese, For example, in Guang Zhou the film on TV might be in Cantonese so they add Mandarin subtitles. I guess they aren't quite linguistically united yet.

I understand Chinese characters are the same, but pronounced very differently in Cantonese and Mandarin. Canadians say that French-Canadian movies need subtitles in France.

They aren't all identical. There is a simplified Chinese, isn't there? (I'm talking about the characters only, not pronunciation)