The debate is either Chinese or Spanish.
2007-07-10 05:27:40 · 10 answers · asked by TabbyCat 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Why debatable? Of course it's Mandarin Chinese. How many Chinese are there in the world not counting the non-Chinese speakers?
The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) lists the following as the top languages by population:
(number of native speakers in parentheses)
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)
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)
2007-07-10 05:33:34 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
Definitely Chinese
2007-07-10 06:24:19 · answer #2 · answered by sagittarius 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
It depends on whether you are talking about native speakers or including second language speakers as well.
1) Native speakers: "Chinese" is not a language. The language with the most native speakers is Mandarin, spoken in northern and central China.
2) Native speakers AND second language speakers: English is the most used language overall in the world (Spanish may be second but it is definitely not first). English is the second language of India, Nigeria, and much of east and southern Africa. It is the second language of many countries in Eastern Europe. It is the world language of air travel and of banking. More people know English as a first or second or third language than any other language in the world without any competition.
2007-07-10 07:19:57 · answer #3 · answered by Taivo 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
the point of difficulty has already been studied by ability of linguists, inspite of the incontrovertible fact that it purely got here to purpose conclusions concerning the project of writing, vocabulary, spelling, pronounciation, grammar, conjugation and using idiomatic expressions. inspite of the incontrovertible fact that, this is does not soak up attention the mummy tongue of the guy who's gaining knowledge of this language : On September twenty seventh a linguistic consortium in Paris has arise with following outcomes: the least complicated languages to learn: 10. mongolese 09. aramaic 08. greek 07. norwegian 06. italian 05. romanian 04. croatian 03. bulgarian 02. english 01. the least complicated language interior the international spoken by ability of greater suitable than 3 hundred million human beings is spanish the main complicated languages: (linguists examined complexity of grammar, syntax, historic progression, pronunciation, orthography, letter types, indicators, etc.) 10. german 09. french 08. chinese language 07. eastern 06. korean 05. persian 04. arabic 03. finnish 02. hungarian 01. the main complicated language is Slovak the main complicated is grammar shape. Slovak language is the only one with seven grammar circumstances (nominativ, genitiv, dativ, accusativ, community, instrumental, vocativ), beautiful words, tender and tough "i", declension of adjectives and verbs, in different words rather much each and every word in this language is being declinated. there are various different characteristics that are no longer present day in different international languages. this is asserted, or envisioned, that it takes approximately 12 years to learn it thoroughly, however the linguists say, that there is not any one in this earth who can talk this language completely understanding each and every of the grammar regulations. community audio gadget of "uncomplicated" languages often do no longer pick to be attentive to that their language is considered as uncomplicated, that's some thing i don't understand, because of the fact the project of a language should not be a "fault" whilst in comparison with the so-called features of complicated languages. Making issues much less demanding and clearer is often considered as an smart element.
2016-10-01 07:32:16 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ok Taivo dahling, if it makes you feel better professor then I pick you as the best answer.
I would have gone with the others. Mandarin Chinese but alas, he is a professor at a major unnamed US university. That takes precedence over others as well as internet sources dahling.
2007-07-10 09:12:24 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Broken English (c) Kato Lomb :-)
I'd vote for Chinese (as the first or mother tongue, if you mean this), hadn't it been broken into as widely disparate "fangyans." "Dialects" is a misnomer for fangyans; they are as far more different for dialects; rather, they are related as loosely as, say, German, Dutch and Danish, or English and Scots, of Spanish, Catalun and Portuguese.
The common belief out West that the same Chinese hànzì have the same meanings (let along reading) in different fanygyans, is no more true as the same reading of Latin characters in European languages :-). "Chinese" is no single language--a fact that even the Chinese admit.
2007-07-10 06:04:52 · answer #6 · answered by Earl 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Chinese...Mandarin
2007-07-10 05:35:40 · answer #7 · answered by sharpie0668 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
ibelieve it is english then spanish and then chinese.but spanish def beats chinese in being spoken most.i hope you find the answer you r looking for.
2007-07-10 05:34:12 · answer #8 · answered by asasora 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Looking at several sources they say chinese. two say particular says mandarin.
2007-07-10 05:34:04 · answer #9 · answered by brk 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
english???
i know its gonna be chinese.....
if you got right ans. tell me
i want to know too
joannah
you gave us good ans!!
2007-07-10 05:33:36 · answer #10 · answered by askawow 47 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋