<p>I know, for a fact, that SPANISH has to be one of the two languages. Spanish speakers are everywhere in the USA and its growing fast.</p>
<p>dooit you are wrong, there are hundreds of dialects of Mardarin but Cantonese is not one of them, the differences between them are too big, and a Mandarin chinese guy cant understand anything from a cantonese one.
(there are few languages in china are not considered being a mandarin a dialect cuz sound too different)</p>
<p>How do you know for a "fact"? If anything, spanish is a stagnant language. Spain's reign on the international business ended over a century ago. And trust me, the spanish speakers in the US are anything but important to businesspersons</p>
<p>liang, cantonese IS a dialect. It doesn't have an alphabet of its own, and the last time I checked, it's not considered a language in any country (hong kong and canton are both PROVINCES).</p>
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Ok kids, just because a country's population is over a billion doesn't mean it holds any relevance to today's society. Hell, considering that India's population is that large and its gross GDP isn't even in the top 5 just trivializes its power on the world stage.
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<p>Umm with the growing outsourcing to India and a growing middle class in India, I'm sure it will be as important as China within the next 20 years..India's progress is a little slow but with a 7-8% growth rate I'm sure it'll get up there! Also. the fact that India is a democracy will probably help it to a certain extent in the long run compared to China's communist-like regime ( which might possibly result in a Civil War due to instability/discontent...? )</p>
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I know, for a fact, that SPANISH has to be one of the two languages. Spanish speakers are everywhere in the USA and its growing fast.
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<p>I may be wrong but I dont think so... Majority of the spanish speakers outside uS are from South America and Spain. Other than that, imo, there is not much of a spanish presence. Spanish is beneficial for someone who would want to go to the abovementioned areas or who lives in the US. I'd like to add that just because its "growing in the US" does not mean its growing in the world. US does not equal the world!!!!</p>
<p>People that matter in India speak English..sorry, but thats the truth, learning Hindi, while an admirable intellectual endeavor, will not serve much purpose while doing business in India..except maybe when you want to order dosas...but then, even the waiter speaks some modicum of English..</p>
<p>I'm still going to stand by my statement that Africa will be the emerging market of the next 10 years...the continent IS stabilizing in some regions, and developed nations are taking an interest in the nations. In the east, they are trying to unify their currency system (think euro) by 2025, and they hope to spread that throughout the rest of the continent as well. Just as an example,<br>
between 1990 and 2001, Uganda's annual GDP per capita grew at a rate of 3.6, making it the 15th fastest in the world. </p>
<p>I may be wrong, but I haven't seen much comparable economic progress in the South/Central American continent.</p>
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People that matter in India speak English..sorry, but thats the truth, learning Hindi, while an admirable intellectual endeavor, will not serve much purpose while doing business in India..except maybe when you want to order dosas...but then, even the waiter speaks some modicum of English..
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<p>True..However,in general, speaking the local language always helps in striking the "personal" note. Even the Arabs "that matter" speak decent English ( enough to converse ) so one could argue that Arabic is also not needed. Is it worth spending so much time on a language to achieve this personal touch? I dont know..To each one his own!</p>
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Ok kids, just because a country's population is over a billion doesn't mean it holds any relevance to today's society. Hell, considering that India's population is that large and its gross GDP isn't even in the top 5 just trivializes its power on the world stage.
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<p>India is set to become one of the largest economies in the world and also there's a surge of venture capital investment there, it's foolish to think that it wont be important.</p>
<p>boxesarefun: I agree, but I don't think Africa will be a huge economic power for maybe, say, 50 years. I think China is the next major market to explode.<br>
The USA is on the decline, we've just spent too long on the top, we're not dynamic enough anymore. (my opinions/observations)</p>
<p>I think USA can keep at the top for at least 50 years</p>
<p>jai: I understand your point about "striking a personal note," but keep in mind, most people in India are taught English and their native language simultaneously in school..In my experience, English is the lingua franca of the educated (read:businessment) in India, and while one businessman's "native" language may be Hindi, another's might be Tamil, or Gujarati...the point is that oftentimes Hindi is about as foreign as English to these people, and so it doesn't really make AS much sense to learn Hindi as another language that is more useful in the world.</p>
<p>I think a major point that people are missing is that very few people work "internationally," most are constricted to a specific region/continent (SE Asia, Middle East, etc..) and in this case it is much more important to learn the language(s) of that specific area</p>
<p>idamayer: I was probably a bit too optimistic about Africa, 10 years is not enough time, however, by the time the few people on this forum who will succeed are in positions of power, I believe Africa will be "emerging," as in you will be able to catch the rising action of the economy, and India/China will be the dominant power (the role the US plays now).</p>
<p>I don't see India playing a dominant role in the next 50 years. There is simply not enough capital invested in the subcontinent to merit it that high of a recognition. The difference between India and China is that the latter is actually creating a intradependent economical hierarchy.</p>
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jai: I understand your point about "striking a personal note," but keep in mind, most people in India are taught English and their native language simultaneously in school..In my experience, English is the lingua franca of the educated (read:businessment) in India, and while one businessman's "native" language may be Hindi, another's might be Tamil, or Gujarati...the point is that oftentimes Hindi is about as foreign as English to these people, and so it doesn't really make AS much sense to learn Hindi as another language that is more useful in the world.
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<p>True.... I am an Indian myself and realize this. However, most of the Gujuratis,Keralites,Maharastrian understand Hindi if not speak it. Hence, Hindi is a common uniting language. Also, I've mentioned this before on another thread but the Expat Indian community is pretty big. If you were to visit the United Arab Emirates, a large part of the 4 million population are Indians ( Dubai, among other cities of UAE, looks more like a small Indian city ). Hence, Hindi would probably help you there more than Arabic since most of the middle class are Indians. Infact, even the Arabs over there will speak to you in Hindi due to the influence of the Indians. This applies even to other countres in the middle east ( Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait ) although not as much as UAE.However, I agree with you about learning a language of the specific area the person will be living in. There are quite a few major/important languages in this world and its hard to learn all of it. Hence, learning Hindi is beneficial depending upon what you want to do and which regions you hope to work in..</p>
<p>Damn that was a long rant.. lol</p>
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I don't see India playing a dominant role in the next 50 years. There is simply not enough capital invested in the subcontinent to merit it that high of a recognition. The difference between India and China is that the latter is actually creating a intradependent economical hierarchy.
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<p>I totally disagree! However, to each one his own..There's a stark difference between the India of today and the India 15 years ago. It continues to grow for the better...</p>
<p>I'd also like to add that once China starts becoming a formidable power, US is going to start giving India more and more recognition so as to have a ally near China.. Infact they have already starting doing it by Bush going against the opposition and allowing the share of nuclear technology between the US and India... Expect to see US appeasing India in the near future :). Maybe my previous statement is too optimistic but who knows....</p>
<p>Most well-educated ppl in India, i think, speak english already. We do not need to learn their language, because without us, they wouldnt be where they are right now economically. Remember all the outsourcing? We create jobs for them. </p>
<p>My Opinion</p>
<p>jai: I'm Indian as well (desi power!). I've never been to the UAE, so I've never experienced the phenomenon that you've described.</p>
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<p>My Opinion
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<p>Way to sound ignorant..good job, I'm sure you'll have a job in the new world economy..No wait..you probably won't because you make blanket uninformed statements about counties that you probably can't even find on a map..</p>
<p>Let me just ask a question: Who is the "we" that you refer to when you said we create jobs for "them?" Here's a hint: It was the "USA," and it most certainly wasn't YOU. It was the large multinational corporations who found that operations in India and China provided quite the competitive advantage, some of them just happened to be based in the USA (which makes sense because the USA happens to be an economic superpower). If the US based corps hadn't moved in, they would have been beat out by large multinationals based in Japan..or Europe..So please, get the smug attitude out of your system before you head off to any job interviews..</p>
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Let me just ask a question: Who is the "we" that you refer to when you said we create jobs for "them?" Here's a hint: It was the "USA," and it most certainly wasn't YOU. It was the large multinational corporations who found that operations in India and China provided quite the competitive advantage, some of them just happened to be based in the USA (which makes sense because the USA happens to be an economic superpower). If the US based corps hadn't moved in, they would have been beat out by large multinationals based in Japan..or Europe..So please, get the smug attitude out of your system before you head off to any job interviews..
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<p>Right on!!!</p>
<p>In regards to Spanish being an important language: only if you want to work for non-profit organizations in the USA helping poor and disadvantaged people.</p>
<p>I'm sorry, but neither mexico nor south america will become any sort of economic power within the forseeable future. But if helping the impoverished is your dream, go for it.</p>
<p>China, India and Korea are already established markets that can compete with america, any of you who are going by the recent terms emerging markets for the following should go read and understand the meaning of emerging market and realize that these countries surpassed this prospective years and years ago. All these countries would be even further along if it wasnt for their political conflicts, especially india</p>
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Umm with the growing outsourcing to India and a growing middle class in India, I'm sure it will be as important as China within the next 20 years..India's progress is a little slow but with a 7-8% growth rate I'm sure it'll get up there! Also. the fact that India is a democracy will probably help it to a certain extent in the long run compared to China's communist-like regime ( which might possibly result in a Civil War due to instability/discontent...? )
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No offense, but thats total BS. India "democratic ideals" will oneday lead to its downfall. Ever since the late 1970s, China has been strictly enforcing the One Child Policy. While China's population is still growing, pretty soon it will stop and slowly decline. Meanwhile, India's population still grows exponentially. In about 20 years, their population will reach 2 billion and the imbalance between population needs and actual resources will create massive war and starvation. Not to be cynical, but I see a heavy dark cloud billowing over India's future.</p>
<p>do colleges' business major usually ask you to take at least one second language course? (if they do I will take either japanese or german)</p>