International Language - Pub Argument

[milly143]

Was in the pub last night and I can't remember how it came up but a guy stated that English is 'the international language'. When we asked what he meant, he said it's the most commonly used language in the world. Myself and an Ecuadorian guy we were with said that wasn't true. We said that in business, English is 'probably' the most common language used but I'm sure it is not the most common language as a whole, I just can't remember which ones are more widely used. Ecuadorian friend suggested Spanish but I'm not sure on that either. Any ideas?

[Chaffinch]

Monolingual?,

I was led to believe that Arabic is the fourth after all a lot of Africa also speaks Arabic, but willing to be proved wrong.

[joko]

english is taught in schools all over the world - there are very few it isnt

the phrases you used was 'international' and 'commonly used' which is not the same as sheer numbers

[DTCwordfan]

the answer to someone speaking one language only is english or american

[Noraq]

The Aviation industry considers English the International language...all conversations with Pilots are conducted in English all over the world.....
I read that somewhere.

[jomifl]

Noraq.. except french planes flying in french airspace wheb they revert(or advance)to french.

[Focalist]

"English prevails because it has adopted the best features and words of of every influence it encountered..."

Not at all! English prevails -- much as it pains me to have to admit it -- simply because of the present-day cultural and economic clout of the United States of America (building on that of the British Empire before it), just as French and, before that, Latin prevailed earlier.

People will learn, and use, any language that they think will give them a leg up in the world without stopping for a moment to consider whether that tongue has, or has not, incorporated the "best" features of any other languages.