Why is there no global language that at least nearly half the world speaks (3.5 billion, I'm talkin', including non-native speakers) (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by Hextubewontallowme@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Is the Tower of Babel still affecting us or something?

Edit:

We have 8 billion people, yet the best we could muster for the most total speakers of a language is under 2 billion, including non-natives...

English (1,452 million speakers) First language: 372.9 million Total speakers: 1.4+ billion According to Ethnologue, English is the most-spoken language in the world including native and non-native speakers.

https://www.berlitz.com/blog/most-spoken-languages-world#:~:text=1.,English%20(1%2C452%20million%20speakers)&text=According%20to%20Ethnologue%2C%20English%20is,native%20and%20non%2Dnative%20speakers.

(page 2) 23 comments

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[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 2 points 6 months ago

geography is a bitch

[-] shinigamiookamiryuu@lemm.ee 0 points 6 months ago

To use an analogy, if a culture is the lock, a language is the key, and some keys just don't fit certain locks.

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this post was submitted on 14 May 2024

61 points (82.8% liked)

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