Smith wrote:
> I was watching the Greek news recently and saw that the Greek and
> Jordanian government were having some sort of conference. They were
> communicating in English.
> 
> I can't imagine Chinese being used in this manner.

Granted, Mandarin is difficult to pronounce (and perceive) for speakers
of most common languages (except Indian ones), but English too has its
difficult areas. $(D??(B and $(D??(B come to mind, not to mention its myriad vowels.

In any case, I am reminded of this joke.

Optimists study Mandarin.
Pessimists study Arabic.