Which language (besides En) has the most "second speake

Uole   Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:09 pm GMT
I'm doing a project for school and I need help. Please!
Gate-crasher   Fri Feb 19, 2010 3:38 am GMT
No! Now go away!
Weber   Fri Feb 19, 2010 4:34 am GMT
French.
With possibly more secondary speakers than English.
See:

http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm
12345   Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:01 am GMT
The last report sucks. It is a pro-French report.

IMHO it can be Mandarin Chinese.

In China, Mandarin Chinese is the primary language of 900,000,000. But all people study the language at school. So, only in China there are 400,000,000 of secondary speakers.

Besides, you should add all people that study these language around the World.
.   Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:08 am GMT
I believe it's English, then Russian, then French, then Mandarin
praporschik   Fri Feb 19, 2010 8:14 am GMT
Russian has a lot. In fact, the number of secondary speakers of Russian is rapidly increasing. This may sound a good thing for Russian at first glance, but it isn't. The thing is that native speakers of Russian are being replaced by secondary speakers. This probably will continue for a generation or two, then the number will then peak, and start to fall again.
Tovarich   Sat Feb 20, 2010 10:48 am GMT
<< Russian has a lot. In fact, the number of secondary speakers of Russian is rapidly increasing. This may sound a good thing for Russian at first glance, but it isn't. The thing is that native speakers of Russian are being replaced by secondary speakers. This probably will continue for a generation or two, then the number will then peak, and start to fall again. >>

I don't believe so.

Actually it's the other way around, wherein the secondary speakers are rapidly becoming native Russian speakers due to language switching as what is happening in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan and to a lesser degree other ex-soviet republics.
George Graddol   Sat Feb 20, 2010 11:15 am GMT
<< French.
With possibly more secondary speakers than English.
See:

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

French has more secondary speakers than English according to George Weber because English speaking Indians has Hindi as its official language and therefore they use it more often and the Egyptians and the Sudanese use MSA instead of English and so they were not included.

Here's the breakdown as of Dec. 1997:

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)

http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm
Mad Max   Sat Feb 20, 2010 1:28 pm GMT
These figures are from the George Weber's report. That report is a big shit.

For example, 20 million of secondary speakers for Chinese and Spanish is a joke.

The total number of French speakers is 200 million according to the Francophonie. So, it can't be true that the secondary speakers are 190.

Besides, the figures are from 1990, 20 years ago. The situation now is very different.

At the same time, a language can be very well in secondary speakers but very bad in primary speakers.

A good example is Indonesian. It is the first language of 20 million of Indonesians and the other 220 million speak it as second language.

French is also a good example. It is the first language of 75 million people and 125 million as secondary speakers.

The most important list is the top ten languages, considering the total number of speakers:

1. Chinese
2. English
3. Spanish
4. Hindi
5. Arabic

6. Russian
7. Indonesian
8. Bengali
9. Portuguese
10. Urdu


We can see that French is NOT in the top ten languages and it will never be again.
Spanish Sucks   Sat Feb 20, 2010 3:00 pm GMT
Mad Max:
bla bla...
The most important list is the top ten languages, considering the total number of speakers:
bla bla...
________________________________________

The OP asked about secondary speakers. Why don't you admit that Spanish is not better than Chinese or Hindi (i.e. is just a regional language with very few secondary speakers elsewhere)?
Franco   Sat Feb 20, 2010 3:04 pm GMT
Nobody believes that French has more secondary speakers than English and Portuguese more than Spanish. That survey is completely fake. I have to see yet a country where people learn French more than English.
Baldewin   Sat Feb 20, 2010 5:17 pm GMT
Indeed, I stopped taking him seriously when he mentioned French have more secondary speakers. In entire Asia educated people learn English as a second language. How can French compete with only the Arab world and Africa?
Everyone in France is starting to learn English for fuck's sake! I remember very well when I was younger, French women always insisted to speak English to me when we flirted.
=0   Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:43 pm GMT
So there's no point in learning French?
Tupoj   Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:40 pm GMT
<
I don't believe so.

Actually it's the other way around, wherein the secondary speakers are rapidly becoming native Russian speakers due to language switching as what is happening in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Kyrgistan and to a lesser degree other ex-soviet republics. >>


There is language switching going on in those places: they're switching from Russian to Ukranian/Kazakh/Kyrgyz. And Russian as a second language is being replaced by English.
Crocodile Dundee   Sun Feb 21, 2010 12:08 pm GMT
<< These figures are from the George Weber's report. That report is a big shit.

For example, 20 million of secondary speakers for Chinese and Spanish is a joke.

The total number of French speakers is 200 million according to the Francophonie. So, it can't be true that the secondary speakers are 190.

Besides, the figures are from 1990, 20 years ago. The situation now is very different.

At the same time, a language can be very well in secondary speakers but very bad in primary speakers.

A good example is Indonesian. It is the first language of 20 million of Indonesians and the other 220 million speak it as second language.

French is also a good example. It is the first language of 75 million people and 125 million as secondary speakers.

The most important list is the top ten languages, considering the total number of speakers:

1. Chinese
2. English
3. Spanish
4. Hindi
5. Arabic

6. Russian
7. Indonesian
8. Bengali
9. Portuguese
10. Urdu


We can see that French is NOT in the top ten languages and it will never be again >>

Just admit that Spanish has just 20 million secondary speakers mostly native Catalan, Galician, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani, Quiche, and Nahuatl speakers.

As for French, it's the secondary language of Francophone Africa because of France's subsidy on their educational needs something that Spain and Britain cannot duplicate for their former possessions.

Actually, George Weber's report is not enough. I remember during the height of genocide in Rwnada way back in 1994, Time and Newsweek Magazines mentioned "Africa today has four times more speakers than Ferance itself" which means the population of France at that time is 58 million. Now if we multiply this figure by four the result would be 232 million that's 42 million more than Mr Weber's report on Dec. 1997.

If we are gonna follow the estimates of both Time and Newsweek Magazines today, multiplying the population of France today of 60 million by four times would be 240 million or probably greater than that.

If you're not convince just use logic. Why don't you determine the literacy rate of Francophone Africa and determine their total. The medium of instruction there is French therefore they speak French. Go to the following links:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ais

Examples:
Democratic Republic of the Congo has a pop. of 68,692,542 as of July 2009 estimate.

Age 15 and over can read and write French, Lingala, Kingwana, or Tshiluba
total population: 67.2%
male: 80.9%
female: 54.1% (2001 est.)

Which means that a total of 46,848,313 of the people of DRC speak French as secondary language.

Algeria, 34,178,188 as of July 2009 estimate.

Age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 69.9%
male: 79.6%
female: 60.1% (2002 est.)

French speakers: 23,890,553

Now if we're gonna add the total number of French speakers of both DRC and Algeria alone the result would be 70,738,866. How much more if we add the rest of Francophone Africa?

The most important list is the top ten languages, considering the number of secondary speakers:
1. French (190 million)
2. English (150 million)
3. Russian (125 million)
4. Portuguese (28 million)
5. Arabic (21 million)

We can see that Spanish is NOT in the top 5 languages and it hasn't been will never be.

In total number of speakers:

French: 110M First language speakers + 190M secondary speakers plus 200M as an acquired tongue (most of these are non-francophone Europeans. 1/5 of non-francophone Europeans can speak French). A total of 500 million.

Spanish: 330M native speakers + 20 million secondary speakers + 30 million as an acquired tongue. A total of 380 million.