Do you speak Chinese?

ColinDavies

I'm unsure at the time frame. (5 yrs) But anyone can see it certainly is a significant trend that's occuring. I think most Westerners forget just how big South East Asia is in terms of people and resources. Also the concept of the Web is more akin to that culture than western culture. What probably has slowed down the Chinese internet growth, is the uptake of English as a second language. Regardz Colin J Davies Attention: It's finally arrived, The worlds first DSP.

Rocky Moore

That is strange. I heared an expert (hmm..) on CSPAN yesterday talking about blogs and the oganization of data mention something about China teaching 1/3 of the population to speak english. Thought that out to confuse them for a decade or so :) Rocky <>< www.HintsAndTips.com - Now with RSS Feed www.JokesTricksAndStuff.com www.MyQuickPoll.com - Now with RSS Feed and Prizes www.GotTheAnswerToSpam.com - Again :)

Henry miller

Perhaps, but I'm not sure. I am sure that it won't matter. English is common in India, a country that could easially overtake China in population. (There are more than 15 offical languages in India, English is one of the more commonly spoken ones, and since it is a recognized force in the world they will continue to use it) Combine that with much of Europe and North America speaking English, and there are a lot of english speakers in the world. Then add in little populations elsewhere. (Japan for instance can add several million English speakers) Thus I'm not sure about this. The argument for it not mattering has many more points: The Chinese government cencors heavially. So most other people won't be very interested in their content. Those who know some other language else will want to avoid the Chinese content because it is less trustworthy, even on the internet where anyone can say anything. English has critical mass. There will be enough of those people to keep english around for many years. There are many languages on the internet. Primary language isn't a useful concept, particularlly when primary still means less than 50% of all sites. "Only" a few million people speak finish, (many of whom know english as well), yet there are plenty of Finish web sites. Nobody (in my lifetime) will attempt to make major inroads in America or Europe in chinese. They will translate to the local language(s) (You could add Africa, but right now that contintent has bigger problems that don't seem to be going away) There just isn't enough population. Even in my state (MN) small companies are adding spanish web sites, and nearly everyone speaks english up here. Rest assured that English will be useful for many years, even if Chinese dominates.

John M Drescher

Speak or read? I ask this because the spoken language is different from different parts of the country even though most use the same written language. There have been times when a few of my Chinese coworkers have had to speak english to understand each other... John

Paul Watson

:laugh: Well spotted mate, I didn't even see that. I don't read Chinese so I can't say. Maybe the Europeans stole it from Chinese? Ah, or they knew Chinese would become dominant so they used a well known symbol that will be widely available ;) regards, Paul Watson South Africa Michael Dunn wrote: "except the sod who voted this a 1, NO SOUP FOR YOU" Crikey! ain't life grand?

peterchen

"Chinese" isn't even a language :rolleyes:

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Radoslav Bielik

I've noticed that too. :) Anyway, I always wanted to ask how do you pronounce "Euro" correctly in English? The same way as in the word "Europe"? Thanks in advance. :) Rado

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Colin Angus Mackay

Radoslav Bielik wrote: I always wanted to ask how do you pronounce "Euro" correctly in English? The same way as in the word "Europe"? Generally yes. It can depend on accent. In my accent I would say "yOOrip" (actually the "i" here is pronounced half way between an "o" and and "i" - If I had a stronger accent it would tend more towards the "i" as in "ink") and "EEooro" (capitalised letters denote stress)

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Michael Dunn

I think the Chinese is random gibberish - neither the words "us" or "your" (nor "me" or "you") are in the text. --Mike-- LINKS~! Ericahist | 1ClickPicGrabber | CP SearchBar v2.0.2 | C++ Forum FAQ | You Are Dumb

Jerry Hammond

peterchen wrote: "Chinese" isn't even a language Bingo! :laugh::laugh::laugh:

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papaya_zm

of course,i am chinese.

Edbert P

True enough, as there are Mandarin, Cantonese and other minor dialects spoken in China. But I think most people refer to Mandarin when they mention Chinese language, which is quite interesting since although China (which national language is Mandarin) has a much bigger population, most "Chinese" movies come from Hongkong (which speaks Cantonese). Edbert P. Sydney, Australia.

Aamir Butt

looks like it is some South Indian language ;P

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Aamir Butt

But while doing Localization of our product here, we convert it into two, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese. What's the difference. Is Mandarin Simplified Chinese or vice versa ?:confused:

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Edbert P

Now you're talking about the writing of the Chinese characters. There are at least 2 kinds of writing that I know of, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese. Traditional Chinese has been used since a long time ago and are still widely used in Hong Kong. The Chinese Government introduced Simplified Chinese recently. As the name implies, simplified Chinese is Chinese character simplified, for example 3 paralel vertical lines are replaced with one horizontal line. This is done to promote literacy. If you need more information, check Wikipedia[^] Edbert P. Sydney, Australia.