What does politics have to do with speaking another language?
Regardless of your political affliction, if you only speak one language then you are part of a dying breed. The simple fact is, that around the world more people are becoming bi-lingual than ever before. Resting on your laurels and telling everyone that English is the world’s language is a prehistoric mindset.
If you and your kids and grandkids do not learn second and/or third languages, they could be destined for a life of low paid wages in mind-numbing jobs. Meanwhile the so called ‘immigrant’s kids” are flying high, earning the big money, living in big homes and driving swanky cars.
Why? Because they offer businesses so much more! They will either jump to the top of the recruitment list or simply be offered a better salary. Perhaps both. As the old saying goes, “You get what you pay for!”
The bottom line is these immigrant families – and especially the second and third generations – offer employers a unique skillset and increased accessibility to market, which the ‘traditional’ person who only speaks English, does not.
- To embrace multi-culturalism in the future and become part of it, you and your family will need to learn another language.
- To protect against multi-culturalism, you and your family will need to learn another language.
Any which way you want to look at it, learning a second language is a cross-party / bi-partisan issue which should be agreed upon.
Which language to learn?
The big question for many will be which language should you learn. A quick demographic search can help if you have a local business or intend to work locally. If you are looking to spread your wings a little further, then jumping into a language with a larger reach might be a better option.
The following are the approximate number of native language speakers.
- Chinese + 1 billion
- Spanish = 410 million
- English = 360 million
- Hindi = +/- 300 million
- Arabic = +/- 300 million
- French = 280 million
- Portuguese 215 million
- Bengali = 200 million
- Russian = 155 million
- Japanese = 125 million
- Punjabi = 100 million
- German = 100 million
- Javanese = 82 million
You may make your choice based upon where you live, for commercial and cultural reasons. Perhaps, and we are going out on a limb here, simply because you wish to have a conversation with neighbours or maybe because you wish to travel.