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No, not really. It’s the most widely spoken language in the world, and not by us or even as a first language.
It's considered that we have reached peak English, whilst the amount of people who are learning Mandarin as a foreign language has jumped from 30 million in 2004 to over 100 million today.
In Europe, not led by Europe, that’s what I say.
peak English
Not really. Proportionally China will be dwarfing everyone and everything, but in numbers, English and Spanish are still growing.
Anyway…
Leading Europe, not next to Europe, that’s what I say. Only one way to do that… get stuck in, not wibble on about slavery and the Nazis and how you don't understand how the EU works. Talk to someone in another EU country today please… let them know we're not all… well, you know… and you'll probably find English will work just fine.
It’s considered that we have reached peak English, whilst the amount of people who are learning Mandarin as a foreign language has jumped from 30 million in 2004 to over 100 million today.
How many people are learning Mandarin in preference to English? How many Chinese people are learning English versus how many non-Chinese people are learning Mandarin? Also, China being a fairly protectionist sort of place, I doubt that there are that many opportunities to actually use your Mandarin in the everyday world, whereas using English is a daily occurrence for much of the international business community. Which is much of the business community, at least in Europe. It's as if we had some sort of system that encouraged cross-border trade in Europe.
So Labour are a remain party today!? Colour me confused.
https://twitter.com/tom_watson/status/1147102998339960832
Don’t worry. There will be a completely contradictory statement along shortly confirming their commitment to honour the result of the referendum
There's a brewing turf war within the Labour Party - the shock of discovering that the opposition is polling at 18% (with a GE potentially six months away) has rattled a great many cages. Corbyn cannot count on young people to vote for him given his very public flip-flopping and he's lost the support of practically everyone else.
Excellent - thanks for the link Princejohn 🙂
Not really. Proportionally China will be dwarfing everyone and everything, but in numbers, English and Spanish are still growing.
Sure. But China is right at the start of a a age of logarithmic growth in people learning Mandarin. It will likely never totally supplant English, but other languages are going to become competitors with the rise of Asia and Brexit. Maybe not in the short term but definitely the long term.
Out of the last 6 shows I watched on Netflix, three were in English, 1 was in Japanese, 1 was in Korean and 1 was in German. English cultural supremacy is no longer a given, the quicker we wake up to that as a nation the better we will be able to cope with it physically and psychologically.
other languages are going to become competitors with the rise of Asia
But there is an element of critical mass. If lots of people already speak English, then new learners will continue to prioritise it. A Japanese schoolkid learning Mandarin will only be able to go and work in China, however as it stands there is unlikely to be many job opportunities.
I'm not attempting to assert any sort of superiority here. English isn't widely spoken because the Anglophone world is better - it's just logical and practical for the world to gravitate towards the same second language and due to historical chance, it's English. They don't learn English to talk to us, they learn it to talk to everyone else.
It's also not really about cultural supremacy either because for anything other than small markets films and TV get dubbed, and in most places they are subtitled. I'm guessing, Rayban, that you don't speak German, Korean and Japanese and yet you still enjoyed the shows I hope.
The man is an idiot, no? It just means that the extension is ended early if we don't elect MEPs in time (but we have) and we haven't ratified the WA (we haven't, but as we've elected MEPs, that's fine).
So… if we failed to elect MEPs, but instead ratified the WA, we'd still have the entirety of the extension period to get ready to leave at the end of it. If however we both failed to elect MEPs, and to ratify the WA, the extension would have cut off early at the end of May.
Anyway, this bit should be hammered home by journalists when they get to interview Johnson, Hunt or Corbyn…
This extension excludes any re-opening of the Withdrawal Agreement. Any unilateral commitment, statement or other act by the United Kingdom should be compatible with the letter and the spirit of the Withdrawal Agreement, and must not hamper its implementation. Such an extension cannot be used to start negotiations on the future relationship.
It’s considered that we have reached peak English, whilst the amount of people who are learning Mandarin as a foreign language has jumped from 30 million in 2004 to over 100 million today.
So we haven’t even got to peaking Mandarin yet?
So we haven’t even got to peaking Mandarin yet?
Just ”ducked” under I believe
Globally are going into big trading bloks.
USA, Russia, China, EU.. India maybe?
Anyone with any sense can see this.
For a pissy little country the UK to go it alone.. A very small fish in a very big shark tank.
On the language front it's also a numbers game. Yes we have a poor attitude to langues but also there is less of a obvious 1st choice of second language to learn. French is pushed in school, good for France and some African States that few will go to. Spanish? Widely spoken but in a part of the world a long was away. Mandarin is now becoming a logical choice but it's tough choice. My language skills are poor and I regret that but I am not sure what would be a good language to learn. Given hindsight as I work in engineering it would probably be German but that still is only a return of two countrys.
Mandarin is now becoming a logical choice
Really? How many job opportunities have you seen come up in China? How many professional interactions? I've had a few, and they've spoken English but of course we work for a US company so our corporate language is English. As for jobs, they are quite protectionist to put it mildly.
Mandarin may be spoken by the most people, but only really in China, and it's bloody hard, Most widely spoken (most countries) are probably English and Spanish because they're easy to learn by comparison, and arguably more useful.
As for jobs, they are quite protectionist to put it mildly
This proves my point is hard for a native English speaker to make an obvious choice as to which second be language they should choose! I say mandarin only on a numbers front involved in business.
Thinking some more I think for first language English speakers the second language is actually very industry related and this is the problem.
Politics? Possibly French but what with Brexit maybe less so. Engineering? Maybe German but also maybe russian, again depending on area of engineering.
To have a good chance to need to learn these languages when young but this is well before you have any idea about jobs!
Has there ever been a more embarrassing week to be English? Surely, even by the standards of the rolling car crash that Brexit is, the antics of Anne Widdecombe and Farage in Brussels, combined with the fantasy politics of the Tory leadership campaign, have brought us to a new low?
It's just a disaster. We're an international laughing stock. A beacon of small-minded bigotry and insular xenophobia. And there's no end in sight
Most widely spoken (most countries) are probably English and Spanish
Outside souther / Latin America Spanish is not widely spoken though, and for many their interactions are more likely to be Europe based. It's just not an easy choice.
It does bef the question why the obsession with teaching children french when everyone I know who knows both French and Spanish says Spanish is easier?
Link to what happened Bonners please? I am working away and have missed loads of news
Prepare to cringe....
Face palm.
Prepare to cringe….
A bit like those celebrities, sportspersons, politicians etc openly showing their disapproval of certain, authority, system or ideology. Nothing wrong with that? 😀
It looks like both sides of the camp are upping their disapproval on each other now.
The trend will continue for sometime to come so plenty of entertainment to come ... 😂
Who says politics are dull? 😆
Good on Ann Widdecombe to provide some entertainment.
P/s: at least they stood up while others simply sat there watching ... the question is who is right? Stand with the back being disrespectful or sitting down?
Outside souther / Latin America Spanish is not widely spoken though
there are more Spanish speakers in the USA than Spain for a starter.
the question is who is right?
the person who has the opposing view to yours will be right.
But at the time your next PM is being chosen in a lawless process.
Some people got 2 ballots papers but electoral commission is powerless.
You are well and truly ****ed over.
The way I see it if they don't want to be there they can stand aside and let someone else do it.
the person who has the opposing view to yours will be right.
🤔
Looks like big John McD has got the wrong end of the stick (like most of the rest of us) and is still calling for Corbyn to move to the position of backing a referendum if Labour get into government. Someone send our boys around to set him straight, and save him the time and effort, please.
May I take a moment to remind forumites that the killfile is an extremely effective way of minimising nonsensical posts and filtering out background noise.
There will not be a second referendum under any circumstances while Corbyn is at the helm of the labour party, no matter the lipservice he pays to it. Even formerly loyal fellow travellers like John McDonnell can see that now.
There was a pretty spot on analysis of this in yesterdays Observer by Will Hutton
Labour Remainers must try to seize control before the party becomes a historical footnote
Jeremy Corbyn and the powerful coterie around him do not comprehend the new politics, resisting the unacceptable “Blairite” message that Labour has to be a Remain party. The concerns of the up to 30 Labour MPs in Leave-voting constituencies have offered them the pretext for indulging their own time-warped anti-EU prejudices
Regarding language learning - I have never understood why we wait until secondary school before we start to learn. Surely it'd be better at primary school while we are still learning English?
Once again - labour policy is for a second referendum in all circumstances and has been for a while. The argument now is should labour back remain or allow an open vote. A difficult choice given the split in the party.
Why you two keep on insisting black is white is beyond me. Its utterly ridiculous Even the Guardian which hates labour and corbyn accepts this now.
Its been like this since the euro vote.
Earlier this year, in response to fears it was losing support to pro-remain parties such as the Liberal Democrats, Labour shifted its Brexit stance and agreed that any Brexit deal passed by parliament should be put to the people in a second referendum.
From the very article Binners quotes I think - certainly in todays gaurdian
So while we all try & decipher labours Brexit policy.
Lynton Crosby's pet journo Oakshot has leaked diplomatic cables saying our Ambassador thinks Trump is a disaster, all because our ambassador wasn't brexity enough for the swivel eyed...
No doubt farage still wants the job, a scary thought. https://twitter.com/SophiaCannon/status/1147445844968443904?s=19
Oh, TJ's back. Yes, after cross party talks went nowhere, the position moved to any deal passed in the current parliament, with the Tories in government, will result in Labour "demanding" a referendum. Now, if we get a Labour government, would we get a referendum with a "Remain a member of the EU" option? Big names in the party, who otherwise are fully behind Corbyn, are now pushing for this in public, rather than in private, out of frustration. Are they just pushing against an open door?
Once again – labour policy is for a second referendum in all circumstances and has been for a while.
Would you like a gold-plated unicorn TJ? It is now my policy to most definitely deliver you a gold-plated unicorn.
One day. I will... honest
Yes we would Kelvin - thats the policy.
I stopped coming onto this thread because of the utter nonsense you and Binners keep on quoting
Labour policy is unequivocally for a second referendum in all circumstances with leave and remain options
Why you and Binners still keep on denying this despite multiple announcements of it and its acceptance across the political commentary is utterly ridiculous.
Labour policy is unequivocally for a second referendum in all circumstances with leave and remain options
Except, it isn't… and I'll listen to all the key Labour politicians pushing for it to become that, rather than you, for obvious reasons.
…keep on denying this despite multiple announcements of it and its acceptance across the political commentary is utterly ridiculous.
The group now demanding that the party shift to a position of backing a referendum with remain on the ballot paper, no ifs, no buts, is far from restricted to Jeremy Corbyn’s internal rightwing opponents. It includes, in the shadow cabinet, longtime allies and leftist stalwarts John McDonnell and Diane Abbott as well as “soft left” members such as Keir Starmer and Emily Thornberry. It takes in the pro-Corbyn Scottish and Welsh Labour leaderships, and the London mayoralty; key unions, such as Unison and the GMB; and Labour members, over half of whom didn’t vote for their own party in the European elections according to YouGov – which accurately predicted the results of the first and second leadership elections.
Owen Jones is just one example… we've wasted pages on this… and I don't think we should bother wasting any more time on links, quotes or responses.
As you seem to be unquestioningly buying the Corbyn narrative that he will definitely deliver a second referendum* TJ, could I put you in touch with my Nigerian uncle Abegunde, who presently has a range of investment opportunities for you to take advantage off.
He will make you a very rich man, entirely risk free. It would simply involve him being allowed temporary access to your bank accounts
* terms and conditions apply
BBC website 7th July
Labour should 'get on with' changing its Brexit policy to support a second referendum, the shadow chancellor has told the BBC.
John McDonnell said Jeremy Corbyn was "rightfully" trying to build consensus, but added the party needed to reach a position "sooner rather than later".
"I want to campaign for Remain," he said.
TJ, its nowhere near as clearcut as you claim. If McDonnell is pushing for clarity, how can you possibly argue that it is already clear?