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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? 据现代语言协会一项研究称，2009至2013年间，美国学习英语之外语言的学生人数减少了约10万。对许多美国学生而言，学一门经济课似乎要比学法语课有利得多。但果真如此吗？ 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. 中文各种方言加起来，以中文为母语的人早就超过了世界任何一门其他语言，紧随中文之后是起源同为北印度的印度语和乌尔多语。之后是英语，有5.27亿人口以英语为母语。以阿拉伯语为母语的人比以西班牙语为母语的人超出近1亿，讲西班牙语的人有3.89亿。 Which languages will dominate the future? Predictions vary, depending on your location and purpose. 哪门语言将会主宰未来？各种预言不尽相同，取决于你的位置和目的。 You want to make money in growth markets? These will be your languages. | 
