Last year my U.S. company got purchased by a German company. Lately I've been working with lots of folks in Germany, and it would be nice to speak German, but that German company considers itself a "global player", so their official business language is English. My co-workers in Germany, France, China, and Mexico all speak English pretty well.

In Russia businessman are used to say: The optimist will study English, the pessimist - Chinese

That's exactly what I was trying to write in my last post. It is "their" job, to learn English.Even here in the U.S., all who migrate here should learn English. English is the language of commerce, the Crème de la crème... if you will.

I find chinese grammar difficult but spoken language is easy. I can pickup cantonese quicker than Mandarin. Mandarin is more difficult.

I am in IT field. I want to travel the world and expose to different culture.

Both for Survival and Preparedness, and for Career angles and the like, -I find these following to be the most Crucial and Important;-

In ruffly a "Most Important on Down of an Order".

my own English, -of course.

Arabic.

Chinese.(Mandarin / Mainland).

Russian.

Japanese.

Chinese. (Cantonese and South China).

Urdu. (Pakistani)(a lot like Indya's Hindi). And/or other major Pakistani Language such as Punjabi or Sindhi.

Indonesian. (also Malaysian is very much another Form of this).

Hindi. (along with some Knowledge and Familiarity with its Relatives and Variations).

Farsi / Persian. (Iran and General Vicinity).

Turkish.

Spanish.

German.

Portuguese. (primarily Brazilian).

French.

Swahili.

Italian.

Korean.

Thai.

Vietnamese.

Tagalog / Pilipino. (the Phillipines).

Languages of former Soviet Central Asia. (Kazahk, etc.).

Burmese.

Ukranian.

Major non-Swahili African Language such as Hausa.

Other European Language(s), -Greek, Polish, Swedish, etc.

Georgian, Armenian, etc.

Ethiopian Amharic.

Esperanto or other major Artificial Language.

Hebrew.

Latin. (along with possibly other major such Language of old).

Your *OWN* Personal Language or Codes that you may care to make up.

Important major "Mid-Level" Languages so far Escaping Mention. (Dutch, Quecha, Finnish, Sinhalese-Ceylon, etc.)


I mean No minimization of our Important, "Beloved", and Long Familiar Spanish and French, -(Especially in that the Bulk of the Spanish speaking World is just South of us, -here in the U.S., -and Spanish is personally my most Beloved of Languages, in and of itself. -French also lesserly so as regards Quebec's Proximity, -and all the other Great and Special things of course revolving about French.), -But lets Frankly Face it!, -on the Far More Immeadiate and Grander Scale of things, -Ones like Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, and Russian are Far More Crucially Important! Keep Spanish and French in our Schools, -but *also* bring these Topmost *Others* into the Curriculum! And while at it there, -Lets learn and come to use, our own English!, -at least Decently Well, too! Many a "Graduate" *can't* even read their own Diploma, -Many too are going to be at an Utter, Absolute Loss!, -if they ever have to Face Arabic Script or Chinese Characters, even more familiar Russian Cyrillic, -in a possible sort of Red Dawn someday! Good Ole Spanish and French just have some Far More Important "Stablemates" nowadays! I now "Depart".

As Ive said earlier, -Spanish is personally my Most Beloved of all Languages! Even over my also Very Beloved and Regarded, -own English!

But at one and the same time, -in being a "Hawk" on Illeagal Immigration, -I Strongly Second your View that our Engish, -Rightly *is* and Always Should *remain* our National, Official, Language! And that all incoming Immigrants, -be they Legal or Not, -come to Learn and Regularly *Use* English in Public. (of course there being nothing wrong with using their own Native Language at Home, or with and among their own Kind).

We *Cannot* Risk our own English Language and All Round American Values and Culture, -just being "Diluted Out"!, -in any Immigrational or Multi-Cultural Process!

Additionally, -Not meaning to have to toot my "own English Horn", -English simply Stands!, -as one of the World's Absolutely Topmost, International, Languages! *No* Undue Braggance here, -but there's just No Getting Around that!

A few general Helpful Hints, -at coming to Grips with Chinese!

I Understand the Unfamiliarity, even "Difficulty" with some, -regarding Tones.

*But Look and Think at it This Way!*

Lets for a moment pretend that our own English Language, (or French, German, or Russian etc, as the case may be), -is Tonal!
Hypothetically here, -Lets suppose that our word "Box", said Even and Flat, means just that, -a "Box". Now say it with the Tone Rising to its Final Letter "X", -and that could mean "House". A Falling Tone toward that "x", -could mean "Car". And a Mid Dipping Tone, the Lowest part of the Tone being at that Middle Letter "O", could for example mean "Horse". English so here has 4 Tones, -as does Mandarin Chinese. Now to take our actual English word "Horse", -also give it the same 4 Tones, which yields 4 other Definitions and Meanings. (Incidentally one of them cannot be "Horse" itself, -in that that was earlier Defined under one of the Tones of "Box"). *Now How Hard are any of these to Remember or Say!?* Not Really!, -once you put the Concept of Tones on an English Template! You can further make up a totally New Word, -Not even in our own Language, (and perhaps also Not in any other), -"Rork" for instance. Likewise assign it 4 Different Tones and thus also Meanings for other common English Words. Or use an actual French or Spanic
sh word, -doing the same sorts of Tone Assignations with them. And you've Got it! On and On. Tones are Alien, Unfamiliar, and Different! But they're Really *Not* so Hard!!! Once you so Get the Familiarity and Hang of it!....

Characters! All the many Thousands of them! (Actually there's No more than 2,000-to at most 4,000, -that you really need to know! -If we had to know only that many Words in our own Western Languages!, -That would be a Cinch!).

Here with Characters, -its Most Helpful to Know that they're Really Broken Down into Far Fewer Categories! Their Concept of the "Radical" part of the Character, -of which there are only 214!, -has a lot to do with that. You see the same Characters and Character Subparts, -repeating themselves Over and Over! Like the Familiar Letters of our own English Language.

Also, its Helpful to Know that each Complete Character, -represents but One Syllable. Additionally, since China has entered the World's more Modern Age, -2 or 3 complete Chinese Characters stand Side by Side, to form a given Word. More Ancient Chinese always used only One Character, to represent a Meaning or Word. Many of these of course still remain. But still even with more than One Character in a given Word, No "Brand New" Character itself, enters the picture here!

Now tying this Concept of Characters here, -in with the earlier one of Tones, -like with our word "Box", -a given Character itself, -Never Changing in Form in and of itself (except for the small Tone Indicating Marks), -can be *said* in 4 Different Ways! In 4 Different Tones, -in other words.

Chinese is also a Syllable Based Language, -not an Alphabetical one. Though a Romanized "Alphabet" has been devised. Technically the Language *Doesn't* even HAVE an Alphabet! Ignore that for now if that Scares you, -Like with Tones and Characters, -This really *Isn't* nearly so Hard!, -one you "come to Know it a little!". Perhaps it would be Helpful to Picture our own Familiar, Common English Syllables, -imagining our Language Based on that, -the component Letters being only a Subpart. As before with Tones and a Character's Radicals.

As someone else here has already mentioned, -the Grammar itself, -is often Incredibly Simple! Often Far More than with our Own English!

That being so, -there are still some New and Novel Aspects therein, -such as the "Topic-Comment Structure". But thats NO more Difficult, -than in our saying for example in English, -"As for Desert Survival..." (the Topic), "...I am Most Prepared and Knowledgeable". (the Comment). Thats *All* that is!, -and its NO more Difficult, Involved, or "Hard"!, -than that!!! We've got Subjects and Predicates, -They've got Topics and Comments.

And while I of course have Great Respect and Regard for the Chinese Valueing of Great Balance and Beauty, -in the formation of their Characters and Script, -I as a Westerner take the Shortcut of "if it looks like a Triangle with 2 Lines coming out of its Side", -then thats how I Learn, Write, and Remember it! With all Due and Great Respect to Chinese Culture and Language, -This Method I find to be Good Enuff for me! I Can't be engaging in Calligraphic Art! Every time I would have to Write Chinese! For Crying Out Loud!

Theres a few of the Most Helpful all round Highlights. Others of course do Exist and Abound.

Great that you find Cantonese so much Easier! But talking of Tones, -you may not know that Cantonese has as many as 9 Different Tones! Wheras Mandarin has "only" 4!!!