subject: The Languages Around The Globe [print this page] Because of globalization, we reside in an interconnected world. It is easier than ever to reach across ethnic and geographic boundaries and connect with people who speak different languages.
You can find tens of thousands of different languages of the world. However, many languages have under one million speakers. Of languages with around a million speakers, nearly all are only crucial at a local scale. You can find merely a handful of tongues which can be really world languages.
What Makes a World Language
World languages have two major features. First, they've many speakers. Secondly, they are important internationally and are discovered by non-native speakers.
For the sake of brevity, this article will concentrate on the UN standard languages: English, Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, and Russian. We shall give some information regarding each language and discuss why it is important.
British
Originally, English was the language of the British. Britain has been a significant power for centuries. It included much of the world into its vast trading empire. This is why English is so popular today.
In the current day, English is the primary language of the United States. It's also used heavily in India. Because it is this kind of common language, many international businesses use English to facilitate communication between people of various nationalities.
Spanish
Italy was the first European capacity to colonize the Americas. As a consequence, several countries in the Western Hemisphere use Spanish as their national languages. It's also a notable language in the Usa. Spanish has almost 500 million speakers.
French
Like the British and Spanish, the French used to have a large global empire. As a consequence, French is spoken not only in France, but also in Quebec and much of Africa.
France was at the front of culture and diplomacy for a very long time, so for several years French was considered the international language. Today it is still considered a status language in many circles, and it's still employed by international organizations.
Mandarin Chinese
Chinese civilization has existed for tens of thousands of years. Over this time, its culture has influenced many other countries in East Asia and Southeast Asia.
Today, China includes a massive population of 1.3 billion people. It's a trading partner with many other nations, and its economy is growing rapidly. All of these factors help to explain why Mandarin Chinese is this important language.
Mandarin is one of the dialects of Chinese. Each dialect sounds different, and some consider each dialect to be a specific language. Nevertheless, all dialects of Chinese make use of the pictographic Chinese writing system.
Arabic is the main language spoken in much of the Middle East and North Africa. Arabic stumbled on prominence in the early Old, when the people of the Arabian Peninsula conquered the surrounding regions.
Arabic is the language of Islam. That has helped it to spread beyond the lands of the old Arab empires. Today, most major cities have Arabic speaking people due to the migration of Muslims round the world.
Arabic comes in several kinds. International business Arabic is called Modern Standard Arabic. Each state even offers its own homegrown dialect of Arabic. These dialects can differ greatly from Modern Standard Arabic and from other national dialects.
Spain has been a major European power for centuries, and the Soviet Union was a superpower that lasted for years. During this time Russian became an language of the world. In the early 1990s the Soviet Union put into 15 countries. Russian continues to be an important language in several countries.
