Who is the next biggest?

[Bridgett]

English is the #1 language/culture in the global financial community. But, if you want to span your horizon and be at the leading edge of the global workforce in world finance, which language/culture knowledge would empower you the most?
1. Spanish
2. French
3. German
4. Chinese
5. Korean
6. Romanian
7. Japanese
8. Arabic
9. etc.....

 

[Andy Nguyen]

Chinese. Spoken by more than 1+ billion worldwide. China is a growing country and in the future may bypass the US in terms of domestic market size, number of skilled workers, etc..

Too bad I don't know Chinese and don't think I ever will

 

[John]

I think the language spoken in the other three member of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India & China), i.e. Portuguese, Russian, Hindi, will become increasingly important as well. Moreover Spanish (in the Americas) and French (in France and large portion of Africa) deserve attention as well. Learn these languages, in addition to Chinese and English, you would cover pretty much everyone on this earth :D

Speaking of BRIC, you might find this interesting: http://www.gs.com/brics/brics_intro.html

 

[RussianMike]

At the top of the list are languages/dialects spoken in China/India. Russia and everyone else may not be as important. I think knowing English is best followed languages/dialects spoken in China/India. Further globalization will probably allow English to dominate but for some time (10yrs but probably less) Chinese/Indian dialects/languages will need to be known

 

[woody]

Brazilian Portuguese maybe? I was learning until this class started.

 

[Yan He]

As to numbers of people using the language, the biggest is the one ...we all know.
But English is always the official one.