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→worldwide popularity of English?
I've heard time and again English is the most spoken language in the world, most popular second language, etc., and is the international language of business and transportation.... shouldn't info on this be in the article? [[User:Pandeism|Pandeism]] 17:39, 2 August 2007 (EDT)
I've heard time and again English is the most spoken language in the world, most popular second language, etc., and is the international language of business and transportation.... shouldn't info on this be in the article? [[User:Pandeism|Pandeism]] 17:39, 2 August 2007 (EDT)
Most spoken language in the world? I doubt that. China alone has one sixth of the world's population and although there are many regional dialects such as [[Cantonese]], most of the people speak the national language of [[Mandarin]] as well, and of course there are definitely many foreigners across the world who would take the time to learn it. Therefore there must be a billion or more Mandarin speakers in the world, and I don't think that more than 1 in 6 people in the world is fluent in English. English has to be the biggest language in the world though if you think in terms other than fluency. How many people in the world would recognize and understand "hello" as compared to a greeting in Mandarin? A lot more, I would think- anyways, just some thoughts. Someone else could look up actual facts. :) [[User:Rockthecasbah|Rockthecasbah]] 01:58, 25 April 2008 (EDT)