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Travis_0004

(5,417 posts)
4. Its the most common in the US
Tue Aug 23, 2016, 10:47 PM
Aug 2016

I never had a reason to learn another language. I can travel 1,500 miles in any direction and people there speak english.

Ill try to help, but Ive had people get mad that nobody speaks English where I work.

dofus

(2,413 posts)
5. English is very widely spoken in a way no other language is,
Tue Aug 23, 2016, 10:54 PM
Aug 2016

or has ever been. A lot of countries have English as an official language, nearly 70. I went to several places on the internet and found slightly differing numbers. And the use of English is increasing. About thirty-five years ago I took a trip to Eastern Europe, and once I got away from the tourist areas, no one spoke English. Today, I've been told, there's no problem finding English speakers even in small villages.

Over a billion people speak Chinese, but how many different, mutually unintelligible dialects does it have? And how many people outside that country speak it?

Multi-lingualism is highly desirable. I wish I knew more languages than I do, but I'm very grateful that I speak the world language.

 

GummyBearz

(2,931 posts)
7. I lol'd at how they counted every language spoken in China as "Chinese"...
Tue Aug 23, 2016, 11:58 PM
Aug 2016

...as well as how they discounted the number of people fluent (ie can speak) English.....


Chinese is a group of related but in many cases mutually unintelligible language varieties. Cool graph though bro

vinny9698

(1,016 posts)
8. As an ESL teacher with 15 years experience, 2 summers in China teaching English
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 03:49 AM
Aug 2016

English is the business and science language of the world.
Why it dominates in science especially medical books, is that the books are very expensive to publish and their is a limited demand for these books. Plus the books become very quickly obsolete with the quick advance of all sciences and technology.
When dealing with international clients, it is my far easier to master one language then having to learn several foreign phrases.

English language trivia
Some places like Mexico and France have banned the practice of having radio stations play English music 24/7. They were afraid that their youth would be influence and quit using their native language.
Romanians speak a dialect of Latin, ancient Romans could very easily communicate with them.
Now their a variation of Spanglish, Asianegnlish, where English and the native language are combined to create phrases examples In Spanish bueno bye for good bye, garrachiair Spanish for going on a garage sale trip
no problemo,
http://spanishathome.com/spanglish/

muriel_volestrangler

(101,149 posts)
10. French? The only passing that could do is dropping out of the top 23
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 07:00 AM
Aug 2016

There may be some former French colonies where French is an official language (eg Niger), but it's not the native language for many people. They don't list Niger, or other French African colonies, on the diagram at all. Similarly, they don't list India for English.

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
12. And yet, French will be the most spoken language by 2050, demographers predict
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 09:16 AM
Aug 2016
They don't list Niger, or other French African colonies, on the diagram at all

It's the lingua franca (you see what I did there?) for almost all of subsaharan Africa. That population is growing, and for that matter a lot of the kids there are learning French as their mother tongue as indigenous languages die out.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,149 posts)
13. No, you're wrong, and also this isn't about a lingua franca
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 09:28 AM
Aug 2016

It's not "the lingua franca for almost all of subsaharan Africa"; it's not in any of the ex British colonies, or ex-Portuguese ones. If you look at a list, the French ones aren't very common in the largest - of the largest 10 sub-Saharan ones, only the DRC has French as its official language: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_population

And this is about the mother tongue, not a lingua franca. If some languages are dying out, it won't necessarily be the official language that those populations start speaking as their first language; they may use the other indigenous languages of their neighbours.

"French will be the most spoken language by 2050, demographers predict"

This is laughable. Go on, give me a link - I want to go and tell someone that they can't count, and aren't a real demographer.

Recursion

(56,582 posts)
14. 1. Relax. 2. Read this link
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 09:37 AM
Aug 2016
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3367012/C-est-impossible-French-course-world-s-commonly-spoken-language-2050.html

Yes, French is in fact projected to be the most commonly spoken language in the world.

Also, you're vastly underestimating its use in Africa.

And this is about the mother tongue, not a lingua franca.

That may be your mistake. The claim is "most-spoken".

muriel_volestrangler

(101,149 posts)
15. "as their native tongue" - it's in the second sentence of the OP's linked-to page
Wed Aug 24, 2016, 09:51 AM
Aug 2016

You're saying that Wikipedia has got the population figures for Africa grossly wrong? Oh, go on, do correct them. Tell us the population of the sub-Saharan countries with French as a lingua franca, and compare them with those using English. Here's a start for you: Nigeria uses English.

Well, your Daily Mail article is about "a study by investment bank Natixis", and "Critics say the study is misleading, as it counts all those inhabitants of French-speaking countries (where French is an official language)." So, not demographers, after all, and not about a native tongue. And if we count official languages, the status of India has to be considered, as well as countries like Nigeria.

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