Global languages: don't leave home without one

[edsg25]

If you were going to come up with a list of global languages the knowledge of which would allow you to have a degree of ability to negotiate most cities in the world, which languages would they be?

To clarify: I'm talking of languages that would be included where a city has tourist or visitor information listed in a variety of versions (signs and literature), that the ability of getting a translator would be possible, that may even have a significant number of people within cities throughout the world speaking that language.

I realize that there will be a wide range of differences in how successful each of these languaes would be....but the list itself would be interesting.

[Kazurro]

Well it depends of the place where the city is. But in general i think they must be English, Chinese, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, French, and perhaps Portuguese and German

[Audiomuse]

Top 10
1English
2Mandarin/Cantonese
3Hindi
4Arabic
5French
6Japanese
7German
8Spanish
9Portuguese
10Korean

Others: Italian, and Russian

[null]

English/Spanish/Chinese/French and perhaps Japanese

[RobertoBKK]

I would say English/Arabic/Spanish/Mandarin/French/Japanese/Portuguese

[Fallout]

English would be first of course. But positions of other languages would greatly depend on the cities location. in Europe, german and french would be next important, while in Asia obviously chinese and japanese would follow.

About the global importance of languages, i think this list gives a good view. It is internet usage statistic (how many % of web users use that language):

english 35,8
chinese 14,1
japanese 9,6
spanish 9,0
german 7,3
korean 4,1
french 3,8
portuguese 3,5
italian 3,3
russian 2,5
malay 1,9
dutch 1,9
arabic 1,4
polish 1,3
swedish 1,1

[aspirin]

it's hard to say. at most places you do well with english, but at some others, you're lost with english. (even in europe; try english in france...)

the other most important are imo Spanish, Portugese, French, Hindi/Urdu, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese and Russian.

With these languages you should be able to comunicate in most countries.

The problem with Chinese is, that even if you speak the most common dialect, Mandarin, the chances that you meet someone who speaks another dialect are still quit big.

The reason why i didn't put German on the list, is that a lot German speaking people also speak one of the other languages on the list.

but anyway, imo the whole world should change to the one and only language: swiss-german

[edsg25]

aside from any US pressure, do you believe there is a pressure to learn English as a universal language?

If in fact this constantly more interconnected world ever decides on linking its fortunes to one language...would you expect that language to be English (based not only on how many people speak it as their native tounge, but the vast number of people in the world who can speak it even if it is not their nation's language).

What can compete? Spanish, as strong as it is, derives most of its strength from one region, Latin America (massive, of course, and increasingly important). Chinese is still centered in China and, as mentioned, runs into more dialectical differences that hurt it in its relaltinship with English.

I can't imagine any language being primed for future global dominance than English...of course, I could be wrong.

[aspirin]

at the moment i see it the same way. English is the most 'dominant' language worldwide, especially in business.

but as you say, you never know. remember the middle ages / the renaissance? in that time the english royal family and their fellow noblemen were all speaking french as formal language.

[OtAkAw]

I think English will stay dominant for a few more decades, the geographical reach of the speakers of the language is wide, you have the US, UK, Australia, and even alot of developing nations like the Philippines and India and small city-states like Singapore. And English is probably the easiest one to learn among the global languages. And just read SSC posts, international threads are in ENGLISH right?

[DonQui]

I would say the ones that the most overarching global body, the UN, uses could be considered global.

English
Russian
Arabic
French
Mandarin
Spanish.

I would also throw in Portuguese, as more people speak Portuguese worldwide than French.

These are the only languages that are as globally distributed as possible/large populations. Languages like German, Japanese, or Italian IMO would not count because the are really only spoken in a couple of coutries and all European or only in Asia.

[Arpels]

dont you forguet Portuguese Donqui?

[Arpels]

English
Spanish
Mandarim
Portuguese
Frensh
Russian

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by aspirin

at the moment i see it the same way. English is the most 'dominant' language worldwide, especially in business.

but as you say, you never know. remember the middle ages / the renaissance? in that time the english royal family and their fellow noblemen were all speaking french as formal language.

probably the biggest difference today is that we are more on the cusp of a totally interconnected world, the one time in history that the world could come together with one predominante langauge.

that would be a far cry from the issues of the middle ages, the renaissance, and even the colonial era when no single language could ever come into the type of position that one could today.

asprin, I think English just might be the right language at the right time here at the start of the 21st century to become the first real "total global language"

[edsg25]

Originally Posted by OtAkAw

I think English will stay dominant for a few more decades, the geographical reach of the speakers of the language is wide, you have the US, UK, Australia, and even alot of developing nations like the Philippines and India and small city-states like Singapore. And English is probably the easiest one to learn among the global languages. And just read SSC posts, international threads are in ENGLISH right?

I'd give English another point in making it the top candidate for global language:

it is, by far, the richest of the world's languages.

That sounds like opinion, and perhaps it is, but it sure borders on fact.

Consider:

English, of all European languages, is the closest to a compilation of Germanic and Greco-Roman roots. The former are based on the Germanic roots of the Angles and Saxons. The later comes through Roman and Norman control. THe two mixed and produced an extraordinary language....witness the arts in Europe. The visual arts were certainly dominated by the continent. One could arguably rate the art of language to England above all others...literature was England's strong suit and the language is what allowed it to flourish.

Take that extraordinary base and add to it the effect of a British empire on which the sun never set....and all the words added to the language by through the vast colonial territories.

And then, towards more modern time, the extradordinary influence on English that comes from the US in so many areas (but so heavily into technology and life style) and the US's dominance of world culture, you have a language like no other.

[DonQui]

Originally Posted by Arpels

dont you forguet Portuguese Donqui?

edited.

[DonQui]

Originally Posted by edsg25

I'd give English another point in making it the top candidate for global language:

it is, by far, the richest of the world's languages.

That sounds like opinion, and perhaps it is, but it sure borders on fact.

Consider:

English, of all European languages, is the closest to a compilation of Germanic and Greco-Roman roots. The former are based on the Germanic roots of the Angles and Saxons. The later comes through Roman and Norman control. THe two mixed and produced an extraordinary language....witness the arts in Europe. The visual arts were certainly dominated by the continent. One could arguably rate the art of language to England above all others...literature was England's strong suit and the language is what allowed it to flourish.

Take that extraordinary base and add to it the effect of a British empire on which the sun never set....and all the words added to the language by through the vast colonial territories.

And then, towards more modern time, the extradordinary influence on English that comes from the US in so many areas (but so heavily into technology and life style) and the US's dominance of world culture, you have a language like no other.

There is not really a fact in that post. Most of it is opinion. There are plenty of European languages that are just as, if not more, poetic and flowery than English. French (philosophy), Italian (Renaissance), Spanish (Don Quijote anyone), Russian, German (philosophy) are all languages that have had significant output. So you are simply imprinting English's global dominance world wide onto the development of English literature, which frankly is rather absurd.

[kashyap3]

in no particular order

English
Japanese
Mandarin/Cantonese
Hindi
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Korean
German

[Chilenofuturista]

Originally Posted by DonQui

There is not really a fact in that post. Most of it is opinion. There are plenty of European languages that are just as, if not more, poetic and flowery than English. French (philosophy), Italian (Renaissance), Spanish (Don Quijote anyone), Russian, German (philosophy) are all languages that have had significant output. So you are simply imprinting English's global dominance world wide onto the development of English literature, which frankly is rather absurd.

You're absolutely right.

[brisavoine]

I calculated interesting statistics some years ago regarding the economic "weight" of global languages. I added the GDP of countries according to what business language is used in the country, and in the end I get a ranking of the global languages according to their total GDP.

I updated the list today using 2005 GDP from the World Bank, calculated at real exchange rates (not purchasing power parity). For those countries where the business language varies across regions or provinces, such as Canada or Switzerland, I used regional or provincial GDP figures to get exact ratios for each business language. There were a few countries which had to be assigned to two different languages. These are: Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Lebanon, where both French and Arabic are business languages, so I assigned the GDPs of these countries to both languages. In Mauritius both English and French are business languages, so again I assigned it to both languages. In Singapore both Chinese, English, and Malay are used as business languages, so again I assigned it to each language. For Spain, I added the GDP of the whole country to the Spanish language, even though in Catalonia part of business is actually conducted in Catalan.

Here is the list of the 12 languages with the highest GDP. I don't think I have forgotten any country or language. Figures are in trillions of US dollars (1 trillion = 1,000,000,000,000). Note that for English I only added up the "white" English speaking countries (US, UK, Australia, NZ, etc.). If we were to add all the countries where English is used as a business language, it would be hard to decide where to stop. In any case, even with just the "white" English speaking countries, we get the picture that English is arch-dominating in the economic field. The list is more interesting for the relative position of the other languages with each other.

1- English: 16.78 trillion +
2- Japanese: 4.51 trillion
3- German: 3.38 trillion
4- French: 2.94 trillion
5- Chinese (in any dialect form): 2.85 trillion
6- Spanish: 2.81 trillion
7- Italian: 1.72 trillion
8- Portuguese: 1.01 trillion
9- Arabic: 0.99 trillion
10- Russian: 0.89 trillion
11- Dutch and Korean: 0.8 trillion each