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Spanish vs Chinese NYT | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5267 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 1 of 41 30 December 2010 at 3:18pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Nicholas Kristoff: "I think the rush to Chinese is missing something closer to home: the paramount importance for our children of learning Spanish. Look, I’m a fervent believer in more American kids learning Chinese. But the language that will be essential for Americans and has far more day-to-day applications is Spanish. Every child in the United States should learn Spanish, beginning in elementary school; Chinese makes a terrific addition to Spanish, but not a substitute. Spanish may not be as prestigious as Mandarin, but it’s an everyday presence in the United States — and will become even more so." Discuss Primero Hay Que Aprender Español Edited by iguanamon on 30 December 2010 at 3:21pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5654 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 2 of 41 30 December 2010 at 3:29pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Neither are important where I live in the U.S., so people can learn what they want.
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| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 5135 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 3 of 41 30 December 2010 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | |||||
Of course people should be able to learn whatever they want. But Spanish is probably more important currently in the US than you think. In the summer months near my cabin in northern Wisconsin (the middle of nowhere, really), I get calls for interpretation from a company that hires temporary migrant workers. This is in a town of less than 2000 people. R. == 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| The Real CZ Senior Member United States Joined 5654 days ago 1069 posts - 1495 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Korean | Message 4 of 41 30 December 2010 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I live in the Northern part of the U.S. I see more Chinese people at school than Hispanics, and I live in Ohio, which is mainly black and white.
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| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 7149 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 5 of 41 30 December 2010 at 5:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Here's what I think is a very perceptive blog commentary on the same article, pointing out the relative UNimportance of Spanish in the United States:
http://isteve.blogspot.com/2010/12/nicholas-kristof-opines-i n-nyt.html 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| litovec Tetraglot Groupie Switzerland lingvometer.com Joined 5136 days ago 42 posts - 60 votes Speaks: German, Russian, French, English | Message 6 of 41 30 December 2010 at 6:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
This part of the blog post you've quoted made my day:
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| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6555 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 7 of 41 31 December 2010 at 5:02am | IP Logged | |||||
Mandarin prestigious in the US? Somebody is smokin' crack. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Levi Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 5572 days ago 2268 posts - 3328 votes Speaks: English*, French, Esperanto, German, Spanish Studies: Russian, Dutch, Portuguese, Mandarin, Japanese, Italian | Message 8 of 41 31 December 2010 at 5:13am | IP Logged | |||||
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I live next to the border with Quebec. By far the most useful foreign language in these parts is French.
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