|
 |
Wikipedia and language choice | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6670 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 9 of 55 28 September 2006 at 7:49am | IP Logged | |||||
|
It's an interesting idea, but I see the use of the number of Wikipedia articles as a criterion and not the criterion.
Each language learner will have other criteria of his or her own. Even though it's not in my profile, I have studied Italian. There are lots of Italian speakers in my area. The Wikipedia data suggests that Dutch and Polish are better choices than Spanish and Italian. Where I live, I have more access to much more material in Spanish and Italian than Dutch or Polish. I would guess that many of the 300,000 articles in Polish in Wikipedia are fairly similar to the 1,400,000 articles in English. In other words, they probably cover a number of the same topics. I'm certainly not saying that there is no value in learning Polish, but just that native speakers of English may not see those articles in Wikipedia as the best incentive to learn Polish. The number of articles in one language compared to the number of articles in another is subject to change. There aren't that many more articles in Portuguese than in Swedish, and not that many more articles in Swedish than in Spanish. There are also some questions about the reliability of Wikipedia. Although I agree with Marc's reasoning, I'd be reluctant to rely too much on the number of Wikipedia articles to decide which language to learn. Edited by SamD on 28 September 2006 at 7:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Transvaal Newbie United States Joined 6738 days ago 31 posts - 31 votes Speaks: English* | Message 10 of 55 29 September 2006 at 9:06pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Do you guys realize that a lot of languages on Wikipedia use bots to make up random articles? Only English, German and a couple others don't, but I know that French, Swedish and a couple others rely heavily on bots for articles.
Also as a businessperson, there is absolutely no point in learning Spanish if you live in the USA, unless you want to show how liberal you are to illegal residents or want to understand what the garden boy is saying. No business in Spanish, name me a big investment bank, consulting firm or practically any company from a Spanish speaking country. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lengua Senior Member United States polyglottery.wordpre Joined 6695 days ago 549 posts - 595 votes Studies: French, Italian, Spanish, German | Message 11 of 55 29 September 2006 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
This is one of the uglier things I've read since joining this site. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Raincrowlee Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 6713 days ago 621 posts - 808 votes Speaks: English*, Mandarin, Korean, French Studies: Indonesian, Japanese | Message 12 of 55 29 September 2006 at 11:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
True, but I understand his point. When I was traveling through Central America, I ran into a guy who was absolutely the ugliest of Ugly Americans. Older fat guy with an attitude. He had lived in Spanish-speaking countries for almost a decade and said (proudly) that he didn't know a word of Spanish. He just had to wave money in front of people's faces and suddenly they learned English. The point of this is that if you want to be self-centered and smug, you can be quite satisfied without learning Spanish. There's no telling how many doors you're leaving closed, but you can do quite well for yourself -- though aparently only for yourself. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ilcommunication Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6703 days ago 115 posts - 162 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 13 of 55 30 September 2006 at 12:28am | IP Logged | |||||
Are you serious? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| AML Senior Member United States Joined 6836 days ago 323 posts - 426 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, German, Spanish | Message 14 of 55 30 September 2006 at 12:52am | IP Logged | |||||
I don't want to take this thread off topic, but I understand your opinion. However, I think you may be simply unaware of opportunities that arise if you speak Spanish in the US. I have one example. I am sure there are many more. A good friend of mine, who is non-Hispanic, speaks Spanish fluently. He is also a lawyer. As a result of this, he now works for a high profile US bank and often uses his Spanish to speak with rich Central and South American clients that invest much of their money through this bank. His ability to speak Spanish was a critical factor in his hire, and they even interviewed him partly in Spanish to test his abilities. Now, back on topic. . . 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7026 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 15 of 55 30 September 2006 at 3:59am | IP Logged | |||||
|
There appears to be a division in how our US members view Spanish. Should make for an interesting debate...just not here!
On topic... I personally wouldn't choose a language based on how many Wikipedia articles it has but it's a personal choice. If someone uses Wikipedia to learn and it works, good for them.
Does this really matter if you just want to read articles from them to practice your reading? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| SamD Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 6670 days ago 823 posts - 987 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Portuguese, Norwegian | Message 16 of 55 30 September 2006 at 10:02am | IP Logged | |||||
|
A businessperson can make money in the US selling products and services to Spanish-speaking people. The language of the customer is always important, even if the customer doesn't happen to be a big investment bank.
1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
