Arabic mandatory at Manhattan public school

[DinoDoc]

we will have essentially no reason to bother with the Arabic/Muslim world ...

No reason?

[Al B. Sure!]

What people are failing to realize is that millions of Muslims outside of the Arab world know Arabic because of Islam. Remember, the Qur'an is in Arabic, prayers are in Arabic, etc. so millions of Muslims throughout the world know Arabic because of the faith.

I dare anyone to argue that Islam is not a global faith.

[Al B. Sure!]

There's a reason why Arabic is among the 6 official languages of the United Nations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_languages_of_the_United_Nations

The official languages of the United Nations are the six languages that are used in UN meetings, and in which all official UN documents are written. They are:
Arabic
Chinese (Mandarin)
English
French
Russian
Spanish

Then among languages with the most native speakers, Arabic is #5 behind Mandarin, Spanish, English, and Hindi-Urdu:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

Everyone is showing their provincial Eurocentric asses.

[Elok]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]171927[/ATTACH]

No reason?

No good reason, if you prefer.

There's a reason why Arabic is among the 6 official languages of the United Nations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_languages_of_the_United_Nations

Then among languages with the most native speakers, Arabic is #5 behind Mandarin, Spanish, English, and Hindi-Urdu:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers

Everyone is showing their provincial Eurocentric asses.

...because it's not useless if the UN uses it? I'll grant you that it's "global," for whatever that's worth. Doesn't mean we should bother learning it once our ongoing conflicts with Islam are done.

[giblets]

What people are failing to realize is that millions of Muslims outside of the Arab world know Arabic because of Islam. Remember, the Qur'an is in Arabic, prayers are in Arabic, etc. so millions of Muslims throughout the world know Arabic because of the faith.

I dare anyone to argue that Islam is not a global faith.

So what? Is Latin a global language if the Catholic church uses it? Is Hebrew a global language if Jews are all over the world? No.

[giblets]

Does Al think Russian is a global language because the UN uses it?

[Al B. Sure!]

So what? Is Latin a global language if the Catholic church uses it? Is Hebrew a global language if Jews are all over the world? No.

There's barely any Jews in the world.

And Latin has 0 native speakers. Liturgical capacity alone is not sufficient to make it relevant.

But if a language is #5 in native-speakers PLUS it is a liturgical language, that means something.

[DinoDoc]

No good reason, if you prefer.

I'll allow it.

[giblets]

There's barely any Jews in the world.

And Latin has 0 native speakers. Liturgical capacity alone is not sufficient to make it relevant.

But if a language is #5 in native-speakers PLUS it is a liturgical language, that means something.

Not really. Japanese probably matters more than Arabic because Japan is one of the world's largest economies while the middle east is full of autocratic ****holes. The only reason to study Arabic (if you're not Muslim or living in the aforementioned ****holes) is to work in the CIA to keep us safe from people living in the autocratic ****holes who are plotting to kill Americans. But you started with the assumption that Arabic must be relevant, then you listed a bunch of the language's traits and claimed those traits make a language important.

[Al B. Sure!]

GDP PPP US$trillion by country/organization:

EU $14.7
US $13.8
China $6.9
Japan $4.2
India $2.8
Arab League $2.7

$2.7 trillion economy is small now?

[Dinner]

Not in my school.

Mine taught the vosotros form and some words which the book said were used in Spain and Argentina only.

[Al B. Sure!]

Yeah we learned vosotros but were told that Latin Americans don't use vosotros but use ustedes. We were taught the vosotros conjugations regardless.

We weren't taught pronunciation with the Spanish lisp, though.

[giblets]

GDP PPP US$trillion by country/organization:

EU $14.7
US $13.8
China $6.9
Japan $4.2
India $2.8
Arab League $2.7

$2.7 trillion economy is small now?

Yes. 3% of the global economy is pretty minor.

[Tupac Shakur]

I'm still waiting to hear why Albie thinks they speak Spanish in the Philippines.

[Al B. Sure!]

I'm still waiting to hear why Albie thinks they speak Spanish in the Philippines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language_in_the_Philippines

I never said they speak Spanish in the Philippines exclusively or majorally. All I said was Spanish is RELEVANT in the Philippines and it is. It was the official language of government until 1973 and is still promoted.

From the 1987 Constitution:

http://www.chanrobles.com/article14language.htm

Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis.

Even Arabic is promoted in the Philippines to get back on topic. Suck on it, gribbler.

Spanish is relevant in the US, as well. It's not relevant in the Old World, however, besides in Spain and the Philippines, as I said.