Mandarin is world's most widely spoken language

[lamlap]

CHINESE is the world's most widely spoken language


Population

Chinese (937,132,000)
Spanish (332,000,000)
English (322,000,000)
Bengali (189,000,000)
Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)
Arabic* (174,950,000)
Portuguese (170,000,000)
Russian (170,000,000)
Japanese (125,000,000)
German (98,000,000)
French* (79,572,000

Most Widely Spoken Languages

More and more western people learning Chinese too

 

[lamlap]

The following list is from Dr. Bernard Comrie’s article for the Encarta Encyclopedia (1998):
(number of native speakers in parentheses)

Mandarin Chinese (836 million)
Hindi (333 million)
Spanish (332 million)
English (322 million)
Bengali (189 million)
Arabic (186 million)
Russian (170 million)
Portuguese (170 million)
Japanese (125 million)
German (98 million)
French (72 million

Most Widely Spoken Languages

 

[lamlap]

The following list is from George Weber’s article “Top Languages: The World’s 10 Most Influential Languages” in Language Today (Vol. 2, Dec 1997):


Mandarin Chinese (1.1 billion)
English (330 million)
Spanish (300 million)
Hindi/Urdu (250 million)
Arabic (200 million)
Bengali (185 million)
Portuguese (160 million)
Russian (160 million)
Japanese (125 million)
German (100 million)
Punjabi (90 million)
Javanese (80 million)
French (75 million)

Most Widely Spoken Languages

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Standard Chinese (Mandarin) has the largest number of speakers, no question about it.

However, we should also recognize that English and Spanish are a lot more widespread than Mandarin. English in particular is still regarded as the international language.

Due to the historical influence of the British Empire and then later the American superpower.

 

[lamlap]

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Confucius Institutes are a good first step to promoting the study of Mandarin in the outside world.

Confucius Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[lamlap]

 

[lamlap]

Confucius Institutes are a good first step to promoting the study of Mandarin in the outside world.

Confucius Institute - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

totally agree

 

[true_indian]

Except for Chinese netizens, not many people take Chinese seriously. Even the Chinese traders I trade with try to answer me with their butler English. World's trade language is and will probably be English. What's the point of numbers when only one set of people continue to speak the language? World is not China, you see.

 

[Zabaniyah]

Except for Chinese netizens, not many people take Chinese seriously. Even the Chinese traders I trade with try to answer me with their butler English. World's trade language is and will probably be English. What's the point of numbers when only one set of people continue to speak the language? World is not China, you see.

English is more of a 'global language'. We are currently living in the British Age.

The reason for Chinese being common is due to the number of Han Chinese. In fact, the highest level of population in the world. So, among them Chinese is widely spoken.

But then, English would always be one of the primary languages of the world for as long as the world is around

 

[Loyus]

Except for Chinese netizens, not many people take Chinese seriously. Even the Chinese traders I trade with try to answer me with their butler English. World's trade language is and will probably be English. What's the point of numbers when only one set of people continue to speak the language? World is not China, you see.

For people who are bred in the paranoia of superlatives like biggest, longest, highest and fastest it gives them a personal satisfaction

Regardless of whether the numbers are significant for the sake of a watershed turn around or just for the sake of statistics in their hubris of highest, fastest, longest etc etc

---------- Post added at 02:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:46 PM ----------

English is more of a 'global language'. We are currently living in the British Age.

The reason for Chinese being common is due to the number of Han Chinese. In fact, the highest level of population in the world. So, among them Chinese is widely spoken.

But then, English would always be one of the primary languages of the world for as long as the world is around

I doubt on your last sentence Bludgeon

Humans are always evolving.. so you cannot say for sure

 

[harpoon]

So Chinese is the world's most widely spoken language..Whats new?

 

[Zabaniyah]

I doubt on your last sentence Bludgeon

Humans are always evolving.. so you cannot say for sure

The Western World made their mark so significant that the legacy will go on for eons. The Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, etc. All in a package.

And to be honest, the Chinese are barely making that mark today.

 

[illusion8]

I get numerous email/ trade offers from china for a range of products and invariably its in bad English, some brochures and news letters I presume are in Chinese which only appear as a line of square boxes on my screen.

 

[Avisheik]

Good ol' Bengali is always on the list . All we have to do now is make more babies overseas