On 6/14/06 1:49 AM, in article 448fcda2$1_2@news.tm.net.my, "Zhen Lin"
<lowzl@hotmail.com> wrote:

> 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.

I would change that to:
Fatalists study Mandarin.
Pessimists study Arabic.
Optimists study Hawaiian.