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It's just not that useful. It's only useful in China and foreigners can't really conduct business there. It's basically only useful if you move to China which i
by nonethewiser 3y ago
It's just not that useful. It's only useful in China and foreigners can't really conduct business there. It's basically only useful if you move to China which is just a handful of people and shrinking at this point.
- shaneoh 3y agoCan't the same argument be made of almost any language unless you live in a bilingual neighborhood?
- nonethewiser 3y agoNo because English is the de-facto language for trade.
- shaneoh 3y agoFair point, but I meant for English-native speakers in this context.
- rcme 3y agoYes, which is why most languages are only spoken by native speaker.
- jeroenhd 3y ago"unless you live in a bilingual neighborhood" is key here. Many countries across the world teach English as a second language and in western trade it's the lingua franca. Mandarin is spoken in various countries, but many of the Mandarin-speaking countries also have English as a common second language. Going by [this list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_num...), you can see how if you want to expand your reach, some languages make more sense to learn than others.
- naniwaduni 3y agoFunctionally bilingual neighborhoods are, in fact, quite common.