Why English?

Question

Why do u think that only English shold b an international language even when there are more people using Chinese and Hindi as compared to English.

Answer 1

English is an international language because more people worldwide speak and understand the language than just the British.

Though Chinese and Hindi may be spoken by more it is essentially limited to the natives, not many nationalities outside of China or India speak the language much, whilst English though isn't the most spoken language it still is the language spoken by many nationalities.

Same holds true for French, German, and Spanish. These languages too are spoke by many people in the world outside of the nation of origin.

Answer 2

English should not be the only international language (French and Spanish are pretty useful as well along with a number of other languages). The thing about English, though, is that due to European colonisation, English has spread quite a bit throughout the world -- it's no longer spoken exclusively in England. The same holds true for French and Spanish, and to a lesser extent Portuguese and German. The spread of Western culture, especially that of the United States and the expansion of American businesses throughout the world has further spread the language and made learning the language more of a necessity.
The difference between English and the latter two languages you mentioned, Chinese and Hindi, is that, though it is true they are spoken by more native speakers, the people who speak these languages are for the most part located in China and India respectively whereas in English, there are more English speakers in more countries than the other languages.

Take a look at the numbers to get a feel of what I'm saying...

Native speakers:
English - 370 million
Hindi - 490 million
Chinese (if you count all the dialects as one language) - about 1.1 billion

Total speakers (including those learning it as a second language)
English - Between 1.2 and 1.6 billion
Hindi - 790 million
Chinese - Somewhere over 1.3 billion

Furthermore, let's take a look at the number of countries that use these languages as their official language.

Chinese - China (including Taiwan) and Singapore.
Hindi - India and Fiji
English - Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Botswana, Belize, Brunei, Cameroon, Dominica, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Swaziland, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Seems a bit more international, does it not?

Answer 3

English is spoken in America, and of course is the language of Britain. In the last 500 years, Briain was the most influential country because of it's vast empire, and now America is the most influential country in the world. Britain established English as the most used trading language, and it has remained the business language, largely, of the world today. French is of course a very close second. English is also a very versatile and flexible language, allowing the speaker or writer to use different words for the same thing in different circumstances. Just made for poetry and verse like no other language! India uses English widely, and even when China becomes economically powerful, I cannot see it dominating the world with its language. But then, what do I know....!

Answer 4

because Hindi and Chinese languages are not spoken in all parts of world and English is understand in most of the parts. Hindi and Chinese are taught as compared to English. From the begining Parents and teachers enforce children to learn english as it is becoming famous in offices and other place.

Answer 5

I may be wrong but I think:
1/ English, commercial, financial.
2/ French, intellectual,literature.
3/ Chinese,Spanish, travel, somebody would understand you round the world with these two lingoes.
4/ Hindi if you have time, many people speak English over there.

Answer 6

Chinese and Hindi are spoken in quite limited regions.
Spanish and Arabic are by far within more wide regions.
Arabic, you can speak in entire north Africa, MiddleEast and south Asia.
Spanish in Europe, South america and Central America.

Be careful with statistics.

English is spoken due all manuals, common share knowledge through internet/technical writings/university interchange between several countries (english and non english countries) Bigger industries (movie, music, MS, etc) Mostly of industries in China work for EN industries. India work for US companies and now are exporting their services...

Looking by another way.
English is simple. Do not have complex grammar rules neither complicated phonems . quickly to learn and speak;

Answer 7

England at one time was the largest ruler of foreign territories in the world , beaten only by the Romans and the Mongols .

as both the roman and mongol languages are rarely heard at all in these times and every pocket of the world holds at least some grasp of the English language it seems reasonable to assume that English would be the easiest to use internationally .

i once met a German that spoke 8 different languages and i mentioned to him that i would like to learn a foreign language myself , he laughed at me and said "what for i have worked all over the world and know 8 languages yet i never speak anything but English !"

Answer 8

English is used world wide whereas Chinese and Hindi are used in select countries

Answer 9

It's been used internationally for many years. Pilots need to speak English. Watch F1 and people answer in English. Might have been different if the US had adopted German as its language (this nearly happened) A lot of people use English as a second language because it is so useful.

Answer 10

First of all english isn't the only used international language, secondly english is one of the most easiest language to learn, thirdly India was once an english colony including many other countries.