Regarding what you said about English, Mandarin, Arabic (or Hindi might I add), it is curious to note that, in some more modern erudite circles, English and French played roles I find similar to Classical Latin and Classical Greek in the erudite circles of Renaissance Europe: to speak the first was good, to speak both was great.
In my line of work I encounter many emigrants looking for temporary jobs in agriculture. No one here speaks English very well, let alone their languages.
I was very impressed by a worker from Nepal that, besides his mother tongue, spoke Hindi, Russian and English. In Portugal, his boss didn't speak but Portuguese.
Now I see a lot of emigrants from Eastern Europe and Nigeria.
The Spanish don't speak Portuguese. We chat in Portunhol, mainly.
Esperanto would be quite handy, but I suspect it won't take off anytime soon...
In my line of work I encounter many emigrants looking for temporary jobs in agriculture. No one here speaks English very well, let alone their languages.
I was very impressed by a worker from Nepal that, besides his mother tongue, spoke Hindi, Russian and English. In Portugal, his boss didn't speak but Portuguese.
Now I see a lot of emigrants from Eastern Europe and Nigeria.
The Spanish don't speak Portuguese. We chat in Portunhol, mainly.
Esperanto would be quite handy, but I suspect it won't take off anytime soon...