The number of American students who learned a language other than English decreased by about 100,000 between 2009 and 2013, according to research by the Modern Language Association. For many, taking a class in economics might seem more beneficial than a French course. But is it really?
據(jù)現(xiàn)代語(yǔ)言協(xié)會(huì)一項(xiàng)研究稱(chēng)，2009至2013年間，美國(guó)學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)之外語(yǔ)言的學(xué)生人數(shù)減少了約10萬(wàn)。對(duì)許多美國(guó)學(xué)生而言，學(xué)一門(mén)經(jīng)濟(jì)課似乎要比學(xué)法語(yǔ)課有利得多。但果真如此嗎？

The Chinese dialects combined already have more native speakers than any other language, followed by Hindi and Urdu, which have the same linguistic origins in northern India. English comes next with 527 million native speakers. Arabic is spoken by nearly 100 million more native speakers than Spanish, which has 389 million speakers.
中文各種方言加起來(lái)，以中文為母語(yǔ)的人早就超過(guò)了世界任何一門(mén)其他語(yǔ)言，緊隨中文之后是起源同為北印度的印度語(yǔ)和烏爾多語(yǔ)。之后是英語(yǔ)，有5.27億人口以英語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)。以阿拉伯語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)的人比以西班牙語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)的人超出近1億，講西班牙語(yǔ)的人有3.89億。

Which languages will dominate the future? Predictions vary, depending on your location and purpose.
哪門(mén)語(yǔ)言將會(huì)主宰未來(lái)？各種預(yù)言不盡相同，取決于你的位置和目的。

You want to make money in growth markets? These will be your languages.
你想在成長(zhǎng)型市場(chǎng)里賺錢(qián)？如下語(yǔ)言適合你。

In a recent U.K.-focused report, the British Council identified more than 20 growth markets and their main languages. The report features languages spoken in the so-called BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China — that are usually perceived as the world's biggest emerging economies.
一份關(guān)注英國(guó)的報(bào)告顯示，英國(guó)文化委員會(huì)確定了20多個(gè)成長(zhǎng)型市場(chǎng)及其主要語(yǔ)言。這份報(bào)告重點(diǎn)關(guān)注了所謂“BRIC”國(guó)家的語(yǔ)言，即巴西、俄羅斯、印度和中國(guó)，這些國(guó)家通常被認(rèn)作為世界最大的新興經(jīng)濟(jì)體。

Hindi, Bengali, Urdu and Indonesian will dominate much of the business world by 2050, followed by Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic and Russian. If you want to get the most money out of your language course, studying one of the languages listed above is probably a safe bet.
到2050年，印度語(yǔ)、孟加拉語(yǔ)、烏爾都語(yǔ)和印度尼西亞語(yǔ)將會(huì)繼西班牙語(yǔ)、葡萄牙語(yǔ)、阿拉伯語(yǔ)和俄語(yǔ)之后主導(dǎo)商界。你若是想靠你的語(yǔ)言課盡可能多賺錢(qián)，學(xué)習(xí)上述語(yǔ)言中一門(mén)會(huì)是穩(wěn)賺不賠的生意。

Of course, demographic developments are hard to predict. Moreover, the British Council only included today's growth markets, which says little about the growth?potential?of other nations that are still fairly small today. Also, Arabic and Chinese, for instance, have many dialects and local versions, which could make it harder for foreigners to communicate.
當(dāng)然，人口發(fā)展很難預(yù)測(cè)。此外，英國(guó)文化委員會(huì)只列了當(dāng)今的成長(zhǎng)市場(chǎng)，鮮有論及其它一些目前尚不具規(guī)模的小國(guó)的成長(zhǎng)潛力。此外，舉例而言，阿拉伯語(yǔ)和中文，有很多地方口音和方言，對(duì)于外國(guó)人而言交流會(huì)更困難。

Despite all that, the chart above gives a broad look into which linguistic direction the business world is developing: away from Europe and North America, and more toward Asia and the Middle East.
盡管如此，如上的圖表大致探究了商界語(yǔ)言發(fā)展導(dǎo)向：遠(yuǎn)離歐洲和北美，逐漸趨向亞洲和中東。

You want to speak to as many people as possible? How about Chinese, Spanish or French?
你希望所說(shuō)的語(yǔ)言說(shuō)的人越多越好？何不試試看中文、西班牙語(yǔ)和法語(yǔ)?

1. Chinese. Although Chinese has three times more native speakers than English, it's still not as evenly spread over the world. Moreover, Chinese is only rarely used in sciences and difficult to read and write.
1. 中文。盡管講中文的人數(shù)是英語(yǔ)的三倍之多，但人數(shù)在世界遍布不均。此外，中文很少用在科學(xué)領(lǐng)域，難讀也難寫(xiě)。

2. Spanish. Spanish makes up for a lack of native speakers — compared with China — by being particularly popular as a second language, taught in schools around the world.
2. 西班牙語(yǔ)。較之中文，以西班牙語(yǔ)為母語(yǔ)的人少，但作為第二語(yǔ)言尤其受歡迎，在世界各國(guó)學(xué)校均有教授西班牙語(yǔ)。

3. French. French has lost grounds in some regions and especially in Europe in the last decades. French, however, could gain influence again if west Africa where it is frequently spoken were to become more politically stable and economically attractive.
3. 法語(yǔ)。法語(yǔ)在有些領(lǐng)域已經(jīng)缺失了根基，最近幾十年在歐洲尤為如此。然而，法語(yǔ)在西非廣泛使用，若西非想要政治上更穩(wěn)定，經(jīng)濟(jì)上更有吸引力，法語(yǔ)的影響力會(huì)有所增益。

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