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 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by Hextubewontallowme@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

56 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] whoreticulture 1 points 7 months ago

If I didn't speak English, it would be useful but not necessary to learn. You can get a job as a line cook, cleaner, all sorts of jobs. At that point learning English could help get another job, but you need a high level of fluency for it to be useful. Imagine you're working full-time, but possibly more than full-time given the hourly pay of the jobs you are qualified for, and maybe you also have a family you are caring for...might be more prudent to stay the course at your current job than to spend thousands of hours gaining fluency for the chance to change careers.

this post was submitted on 14 May 2024

64 points (100.0% liked)

Asklemmy

44175 readers

1557 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS