10 most influential languages

Skippy   Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:36 pm GMT
This may have already been posted, but I found this article and thought it was interesting:

http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm

The author uses six criteria (number of primary speakers of the language, number of secondary speakers of the language, number and population of countries using the language, number of major fields using the language internationally, economic military and financial power of countries using the language, and int'l socio-literary prestige of the language) and finds the 10 most influential languages to be:

01. English
02. French
03. Spanish
04. Russian
05. Arabic
06. Chinese
07. German
08. Japanese
09. Brazilian Portuguese
10. Hindi/Urdu

The article was printed in the mid-90s, and certainly a lot has changed since then, but what do ya'll think?
Shuimo   Mon Apr 13, 2009 3:37 pm GMT
Top 3
English
Chinese
Spanish!
That is all!
Hei Long   Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:08 pm GMT
Chinese is not in Top 3.
Minor corrections   Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:18 pm GMT
01. Globish, the broken, mispronounced and distorted version of English spoken in most situations of international communication.
02. English
03. French
04. Spanish
05. Russian
06. Arabic
07. Mandarin, the majority language in China
...
9,999. Neo, some obscure constructed language.
10,000. "Chinese", the unknown language promoted by Shuimo
Guest*   Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:21 pm GMT
Minor, I give you my praise.
You're absolutely right.
Therefore I call this topic exhausted and finish it with a lock.
Lock!
Guest   Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:11 am GMT
I will tell the 3 most influential languages because I think it's more clear , at least to me:

1. Latin
2. Greek
3. English
no noun gender   Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:56 am GMT
This thred is stupid as the person who wrote the first message about it
Ultimate   Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:47 pm GMT
This thread is stupid as the person who wrote the penultimate message about it