Keeping in mind that a little research will yield different numbers every time, here is what I came up with. The general consensus is that Mandarin is at #1, and that English, Hindustani, and Spanish are in the top four.
#1 Mandarin: 1 billion+ speakers #2 English: 508 million (though the official language of more countries than any other language) #3 Hindustani: 497 million #4 Spanish: 392 million #5 Russian: 277 million #6 Arabic: 246 million #7 Bengali: 211 million #8 Portuguese: 191 million #9 Malay-Indonesian (including several dialects: 159 million #10 French: 129 million (although definitely spread out over a large number of countries)
The most common languages after these 10 include German, Japanese, Urdu, Punjabi, Korean, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Cantonese, Wu, Vietnamese, Javanese, Italian, Turkish, Tagalog, and Thai.
though in this case i think that these numbers prob'ly reflect "mother tongue" stats, as in people who speak these languages as a "first" language.
i would think that english is still prob'ly spoken by the most people when you count ESL'ers. i actually just read that, for the first time ever, it is now spoken by more people as a second or third language than as a first.
same deal w/ french. like english, it's spoken in pretty much every country, though also, like eng, probably with lots of second-language speakers.
nevertheless, these numbers are super interesting. hinsustani, eh? who would've figured?
Well, as we ruminate over Dave's question, we might ponder over the fact that according to international law, the CEO appointed to the International Monetary Fund must be European(usually German), while the World Bank's CEO must be American.
If the world bank is owned by a bunch of countries that all owe it money, why dont they divy up the difference and reduce debt that way. Korea owes the states money, who owes Korea... So like (to over simplify it) if I owed Carlos $5 and he owed Cara $6, and she owed Rene $5, who owed Lorne 5, who owed Andrew 5, who owed james 5, who owed me 6, couldnt we just say, "Carlos owes Cara a buck, and James owes me a buck"? I know its more complicated then that and there is certainly more the 1$ difference to all the countries debt, but couldn't this idea be used to reduce the debt burden and lower crippling interest? I read that some countries pay more debt interest than education and healthcare combined!
Have you heard of the Jubilee project?
The old pope was calling to set the slaves free, what happened to that?
Oh, and here is something interesting...there is at least one place (maybe several) who don't owe...
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15 comments:
If English is the most popular language in the world, do you think Spanish would be second or what?
How do you say IS/BE in spanish?
Keeping in mind that a little research will yield different numbers every time, here is what I came up with. The general consensus is that Mandarin is at #1, and that English, Hindustani, and Spanish are in the top four.
#1 Mandarin: 1 billion+ speakers
#2 English: 508 million (though the official language of more countries than any other language)
#3 Hindustani: 497 million
#4 Spanish: 392 million
#5 Russian: 277 million
#6 Arabic: 246 million
#7 Bengali: 211 million
#8 Portuguese: 191 million
#9 Malay-Indonesian (including several dialects: 159 million
#10 French: 129 million (although definitely spread out over a large number of countries)
The most common languages after these 10 include German, Japanese, Urdu, Punjabi, Korean, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Cantonese, Wu, Vietnamese, Javanese, Italian, Turkish, Tagalog, and Thai.
Love it, research!
Nummy!
totally love it.
though in this case i think that these numbers prob'ly reflect "mother tongue" stats, as in people who speak these languages as a "first" language.
i would think that english is still prob'ly spoken by the most people when you count ESL'ers. i actually just read that, for the first time ever, it is now spoken by more people as a second or third language than as a first.
same deal w/ french. like english, it's spoken in pretty much every country, though also, like eng, probably with lots of second-language speakers.
nevertheless, these numbers are super interesting. hinsustani, eh? who would've figured?
mmmm, actually they also include anyone who is fluent, no matter what their mother tongue is.
I'm glad i asked.
I wondered about those stats, but never checked for myself.
here's an interesting word...
vernacular - 1. The normal spoken language of a country or religion. 2. The idiom of a specific profession or trade.
I'll try and use it in a sentence...
Some people believe that the official vernacular of business is english.
I wonder what the most popular monetary systems are?
hmmmmmmm.....
Ya know what's scares me a little? Ever heard of this "world monetary fund"?
Or here is a question , who owns the "world bank"?
Well, as we ruminate over Dave's question, we might ponder over the fact that according to international law, the CEO appointed to the International Monetary Fund must be European(usually German), while the World Bank's CEO must be American.
Long live the West.
Holy Eggs Benedict! that's scary alright!
and my next question is...
what does ruminate mean? ahh, nevermind I'll check the dictionary.
Scary is right.
184 member countries are shareholders in the World Bank.
Interesting that the World Bank describes itself as a cooperative. That sounds so wholesome.
I was wondering...
If the world bank is owned by a bunch of countries that all owe it money, why dont they divy up the difference and reduce debt that way. Korea owes the states money, who owes Korea... So like (to over simplify it) if I owed Carlos $5 and he owed Cara $6, and she owed Rene $5, who owed Lorne 5, who owed Andrew 5, who owed james 5, who owed me 6, couldnt we just say, "Carlos owes Cara a buck, and James owes me a buck"? I know its more complicated then that and there is certainly more the 1$ difference to all the countries debt, but couldn't this idea be used to reduce the debt burden and lower crippling interest? I read that some countries pay more debt interest than education and healthcare combined!
Have you heard of the Jubilee project?
The old pope was calling to set the slaves free, what happened to that?
Oh, and here is something interesting...there is at least one place (maybe several) who don't owe...
http://www.angelfire.com/id/multicultural/norway.html
I just want to know, what in the heck language is TagaloG?
Filipino language I think.
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