To be an ideal global citizen... (General discussion) Language Learning Forum

To be an ideal global citizen...
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Language Learning Forum : General discussion

23 messages over 3 pages: 1 2 3

hrhenry
Octoglot
Senior Member
United States
languagehopper.blogs
Joined 5131 days ago
1871 posts - 3642 votes

Speaks: English*, Spanish^C2, Italian^C2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese
Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe

Message 17 of 23

26 February 2011 at 8:01pm | IP Logged

clumsy wrote:

Learn official language of your country

Contrary to popular belief, not all countries have an official language.

R.
==
2 persons have voted this message useful

hjordis
Senior Member
United States
snapshotsoftheworld.
Joined 5187 days ago
209 posts - 264 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: French, German, Spanish, Japanese

Message 18 of 23

26 February 2011 at 8:23pm | IP Logged

clumsy wrote:

OK, a real global citizen must be an acquaintance with:

Widely spoken languages: Learn English and Spanish (Latin America)

Muslim Culture: Learn Arabic

Africa: learn Swahili
Indian Culture: learn any Indian language (Hindi,Tamil, Punjabi)

East Asia: learn Chinese or Japanese

Eastern Europe: learn Russian

Learn official language of your country

learn minority language of your country - if there is one

A sign language of your country?
2 persons have voted this message useful

stephen_g
Groupie
Canada
Joined 6330 days ago
44 posts - 84 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Hindi, Italian

Message 20 of 23

26 February 2011 at 8:29pm | IP Logged

lichtrausch wrote:

stephen_g wrote:

Mandarin is a great choice for someone who
aspires to be a global
citizen, but I think
I'd disagree with your statement that East Asian culture is, in some way, the world's
most vibrant alongside Western culture. While East Asian musical groups and Japanese
cartoons have soft power worldwide, I don't see how East Asian cultural output is any
more powerful in reach than that which is coming out of South Asia. In terms of soft
power, Indian spirituality, yoga and Bollywood claim just as many adherents as
K/J/Canto-pop and manga, if not more. If we're going to talk about vibrancy, I've
personally always been struck by how thoroughly East Asians have embraced Western
genres of music, for example, as opposed to the continued popularity of traditional
genres in South Asia amongst the general population.

On the culture point I was just going on my perception of the situation so I could be
wrong. The world strikes me as more penetrated by East Asian than South Asian culture.

Could you clarify a bit? I'm not trying to start a debate, just legitimately curious
about your opinion.
2 persons have voted this message useful

CaucusWolf
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5273 days ago
191 posts - 234 votes

Speaks: English*
Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese

Message 21 of 23

26 February 2011 at 10:35pm | IP Logged

minaaret wrote:

I'd rather be a citizen of my own country and learn my language properly. I wouldn't mind learning some other languages, but ony if they were of my own choice and not something forced on you by some global government.

If there every was or is a "Global Government", I'm betting there could only be room for one language. This would come about from trying to unite the world.
1 person has voted this message useful

yawn
Bilingual Tetraglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5427 days ago
141 posts - 209 votes

Speaks: English*, Mandarin*, French^C2, Spanish^C2
Studies: German^B1

Message 22 of 23

27 February 2011 at 3:27am | IP Logged

To be an ideal global citizen, one should keep up to date with current events and understand how they are
connected to the development of our modern world!! It's shocking how many people I've met so far that still DON'T
know about the political crises in the Middle East, or how exactly the financial downturn has affected America and
American immigration/emigration. To me, ignorance in this area is far more severe than not knowing how to speak
certain languages in terms of how it affects one's status as a "global citizen."
7 persons have voted this message useful

lichtrausch
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5961 days ago
525 posts - 1072 votes

Speaks: English*, German, Japanese
Studies: Korean, Mandarin

Message 23 of 23

27 February 2011 at 5:38am | IP Logged

stephen_g wrote:

Could you clarify a bit? I'm not trying to start a debate, just legitimately curious
about your opinion.

It seems to me that the quality and quantity of significant cultural influences from
East Asia on the world is greater than those from South Asia. Crudely put, it appears
to me that Confucianism, Taoism, Sun Tzu, Kungfu, Taichi, Karate, Judo, Taekwondo,
Kendo, Jujutsu, Chinese cuisine, Sushi, J-Pop, K-Pop, Mandarin films, Cantonese films,
Japanese films, Korean films, Japanese literature, Chinese traditional medicine,
acupuncture, Chinese characters etc. are globally, as a whole, more
prevalent/popular/influential than Theravada Buddhism, Yoga, curry, Bollywood movies,
Saris, Devanagari, Hinduism and all the rest that South Asia has to offer. South Asia
probably tops some category, but summed up, I think East Asia comes out on top. It's
not a science though so I could very well be off the mark.

1 person has voted this message useful

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