What are the world's most widely spoken languages?

This question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer. Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary considerably. For example, English estimates vary from 275 to 450 million, Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian from 150 to 180 million. To further complicate matters, the definition of “speaker” can be vague. Some surveys of languages give information on native speakers only. Others count both native speakers and secondary speakers (those who use the language regularly or primarily even though it is not their native language). Lastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages.  Some languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used almost exclusively in a few countries. On the other hand, other languages have relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different countries as an official or national language.

The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) lists the following as the top languages by population: (number of native speakers in parentheses)

1. Chinese* (937,132,000)

2. Spanish (332,000,000)

3. English (322,000,000)

4. Bengali (189,000,000)

5. Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)

6. Arabic* (174,950,000)

7. Portuguese (170,000,000)

8. Russian (170,000,000)

9. Japanese (125,000,000)

10. German (98,000,000)

11. French* (79,572,000)

* The totals given for Chinese, Arabic, and French include more than one SIL variety.

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

1. Mandarin Chinese (836 million)

2. Hindi (333 million)

3. Spanish (332 million)

4. English (322 million)

5. Bengali (189 million)

6. Arabic (186 million)

7. Russian (170 million)

8. Portuguese (170 million)

9. Japanese (125 million)

10. German (98 million)

11. French (72 million)

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

1. Mandarin Chinese (1.2 billion)

2. English (330 million)

3. Spanish (300 million)

4. Hindi/Urdu (250 million)

5. Arabic (200 million)

6. Bengali (185 million)

7. Portuguese (160 million)

8. Russian (160 million)

9. Japanese (125 million)

10. German (100 million)

11. Punjabi (90 million)

12. Javanese (80 million)

13. French (75 million)

However, in terms of secondary speakers, Weber submits the following list: (number of speakers in parentheses)

1. French (190 million)

2. English (150 million)

3. Russian (125 million)

4. Portuguese (28 million)

5. Arabic (21 million)

6. Spanish (20 million)

7. Chinese (20 million)

8. German (9 million)

9. Japanese (8 million)

Thus, if you add the secondary speaker populations to the primary speaker populations, you get the following (and I believe more accurate) list: (number of speakers in parentheses)

1. Mandarin Chinese (1.12 billion)

2. English (480 million)

3. Spanish (320 million)

4. Russian (285 million)

5. French (265 million)

6. Hindi/Urdu (250 million)

7. Arabic (221 million)

8. Portuguese (188 million)

9. Bengali (185 million)

10. Japanese (133 million)

11. German (109 million)

The following is a list of these languages in terms of the number of countries where each is spoken.  The number that follows is the total number of countries that use that language (from Weber, 1997):

1. English (115)

2. French (35)

3. Arabic (24)

4. Spanish (20)

5. Russian (16)

6. German (9)

7. Mandarin (5)

8. Portuguese (5)

9. Hindi/Urdu (2)

10. Bengali (1)

11. Japanese (1)

The number of countries includes core countries (where the language has full legal or official status), outer core countries (where the language has some legal or official status and is an influential minority language, such as English in India or French in Algeria), and fringe countries (where the language has no legal status, but is an influential minority language in trade, tourism, and the preferred foreign language of the young, such as English in Japan or French in Romania). For a complete breakdown of each and an accompanying chart.

After weighing six factors (number of primary speakers, number of secondary speakers, number and population of countries where used, number of major fields using the language internationally, economic power of countries using the languages, and socio-literary prestige), Weber compiled the following list of the world's ten most influential languages:(number of points given in parentheses)

1. English (37)

2. French (23)

3. Spanish (20)

4. Russian (16)

5. Arabic (14)

6. Chinese (13)

7. German (12)

8. Japanese (10)

9. Portuguese (10)

10. Hindi/Urdu (9)

\4105\

Task 3. Express in English your own opinion of the text (orally to the teacher).

Task 4. Read the text once again and write down in the notebook the translation of the underlined words from Russian into English. Make up and write down in the notebook your own examples with them /situation /dialogue.

Task 5. Using English-English dictionary write down all the meanings of the following words, get ready to speak on them in the classroom.

1. To matter, matter (noun)

2. To survey, survey (noun)

3. Native (noun, adject.)

4. To count, count (noun)

5. To term, term (noun)

6. To number, number (noun)

Task 6. Find in the text and put down in the notebook English equivalents for the following Russian words and word combinations.

сложный, запутанный распределение составить, собрать нечеткий, смутный исключительно относительно взвесить фактор

главный, основной, ключевой наконец достаточно общий грамотный определение в терминах

значительно варьироваться оценки меньшинство список разнообразие предложить к рассмотрению

Task 7. Make up and write down and be ready to ask your group mates 15 questions in English to the text.

Task 8. Using the underlined words get ready to discuss the following issues in the classroom and to retell the text. (If it is necessary make notes in your notebooks.)

1. Shall we start learning Chinese? Why or why not?

2. What is the easiest language in the world to learn?

3. How do you estimate the simplicity of the Russian language, of the English language, German or French?

4. How many languages do you plan to learn? Why?

5. What is the most difficult thing about learning a language?

Unit 2

Task 1. Answer the following questions to the teacher:

1. Have you ever written a resume? Did u follow any rules? Were you successful in getting the job?

2. Can you give any advice how to write a good resume?

Task 2. Read the text and sum up in English its main ideas in 10 sentences (orally to the teacher).