Vitalik Buterin
@vitalik.eth
I notice among people I talk to more enthusiasm toward learning French than Spanish. This confuses me; my feeling is that Spanish unlocks far more countries and speakers than French does and so is a more natural first choice. What do people think motivates this choice?
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justin.ahn.eth
@ahn.eth
when i was in grade school in the US (back in the 90s), the foreign language classes were French and Spanish. i recall a pretty clear socio-economic divide between those in French (tended to be white, upper-middle class) and those in Spanish (middle class, more ethnically diverse, didn't care to learn the language).
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justin.ahn.eth
@ahn.eth
i feel like this represents how many people approach learning a new language in general: Enthusiast, someone who has the means to and is passionate enough to learn even if seemingly impractical; vs Pragmatist, someone who's forced to learn in order to increase survival odds, which is also the case with English today
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Kazi
@kazi
It’s funny because in Canada it’s reversed. I know French because I had to learn (bilingual city), but affluent families teach their kids other things to flex like tax evasion, how to play the piano, set up a shell corp in the Bahamas. Yk normal stuff
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Dan | Icebreaker
@web3pm
Also had this experience growing up. In NYC schools today you still see it, particularly in the context of dual language English + French programs which affluent families flock to vs the English + Spanish which are far less popular even though WAY more use of knowing Spanish in NYC.
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