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?

[MarkRae]

Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English in that order
http://en.wikipedia.o...er_of_native_speakers

[mightywease]

Chinese I think in terms of the amount of people who speak it as a first language

[beso]

English prevails because it has adopted the best features and words of of every influence it encountered including Old German, Nordic, French and Spanish. There is something familiar for speakers of many languages.

Had we adopted phonetic spelling when the dictionaries were written English would be even more dominant.

English avoids the complexities of the Latin derived languages with their fourteen cases and six tenses for verbs.

No ridiculous gender assignment to inanimate items.

Simplest system for plurality and possession of any language.

[Clanad]

Additionally, there a re a number of international conventions that require English to be the "official" language.
In my own field of aviation, the international governing body is ICAO... International Civil Aviation Organization.
They determined in the Convention of Chigaco in 1944 to make English the official language. (Strengthen by Amendment 164 to Annex 1). No matter where we fly, the air traffic controllers (and pilots) must be English fluent.
I find that term to have a lot of different interpretations, however, especially with the emergence of China and other Asian countries in the commercial aviation world.
Additionally, French has, historically, been the language of diplomacy. In fact, the United Nations still recognizes French in that capacity. Many passports are still issued in French and the language of the holder. Canada requires every official document to be in English and French, but that's more of a regional neccessity...

[R1Geezer]

In numbers of people it's Mandarin but English is the most widely used. It is the language of science, engineering, all air traffic controllers must speak English. So yes the guy is correct it is effectively the international language. The whole world gets their children to learn English if they want to progress. Even in France ther better their English the more sebior they are in whatever role it is.

[R1Geezer]

In my office we have a lot of Indians and they have about 49 different languages but they all speak Enfglish so they use it as an interface language.

[andy-hughes]

My wife works in Anu Dhabi occasionally as a Schools Inspector, and all schools teach maths and science to children aged five and upwards - in English.

Puts us to shame doesn't it!

[Backdrifter]

I don't think it's that easy to pin down, estimates of how widely used the 'top' languages are differ quite markedly from one source to another. If you consider how widespread a language is outside of its native speakers many sources would cite Spanish, others English; though I think there's more agreement on Spanish being the most rapidly expanding.

[merciasounds]

as regards mother tongue, it's chinese, but English is most widely spoken

[Zeuhl]

Spanish is growing due to population growth in latin american populations.

For 'widespread' - the question would need to be something like:

what languages are spoken as a first or additional language?

The most common would be English.
.

[mollykins]

What doc says . . .

[chakka35]

It's difficult to see how Spanish could compete with English when it comes to breadth of use.
It is the indigenous language, not just of the Bristish Isles, but of the USA, Canada, Australia,New Zealand and many smaller remnants of the British Empire. It is widely spoken in Scandinavia and the Lowlands and is the most popular second language of students world-wide. It is the language of air-traffic control, maritime navigation, pop-songs and computers.
If only through the last two uses, young people everywhere must know at least some english.

[chakka35]

Oh dear...English, sorry.

[DTCwordfan]

Mandarin

[DTCwordfan]

What do you call someone who speaks three languages?

[Chaffinch]

The most widley spoken are Manarine, English then Spanish, but English is used more often, as a second launguage for all the reasons above. So English is the international lanuguage, you owe him a pint!!!

Arabic is the fourth

[DTCwordfan]

You sure Arabic is fourth? What about French - with all the ex French colonies around the place and then the influence as second language in many countres, given its diplomatic popularity

[DTCwordfan]

So if someone who speaks three languages is trilingual and two languages is bilingual, what about someone who speaks only one language?

[boxtops]

monolingual?