What are the criteria for speaking an influential language?
A language that many people use? A language that is translated a lot into other languages? There seems to be a standard for various judgments, etc.
Most people think English is probably the most influential language in the world. However, as global globalization progresses in various fields, a trend of change that breaks these stereotypes is being detected. For example, as companies actively expand globally, the spectrum of languages in demand for localization (localization) is diversifying from the existing English-speaking center to various non-English-speaking countries.
So today I'm going to talk about “The Influence of World Languages,” a topic worth considering in connection with these changes in the language environment. If anyone is interested in languages, I think this post will be interesting from a slightly new perspective, or if you are involved in global content creation and translation, you may also see changes in language demand in the global market.
First, the easiest way to measure the influence of language (?) The standard is likely to be “how many people use it.” This is because understanding the size of the market and potential demand related to the language is a relatively safe and objective standard from the point of view. But which language “can you assert that the largest number of people speak or use it is the most influential in the world?” I have a question. So in this article, I'm going to look at the influence of language from various perspectives, starting with the number of users.
Perspective 1. The most spoken language in the world
According to “Ethnologue (Ethnologue),” which provides official statistics on languages around the world, “Mandarin Chinese (Mandarin Chinese)” has the highest number of users based on native languages, followed by Spanish, English, and Hindi. This seems like a natural result that can be expected given China's huge population.
Languages with the most native speakersHowever, if you change the “most used” criteria to the number of users other than the native language, the results are slightly different. Since it includes people who speak a second or third language, the most spoken language in the world becomes “English.” I think this is also a natural result when considering everything from the influence of the British Empire in the colonial era in the past to the strong influence of the United States in international politics and business today.
Languages with the most speakersAnd for that reason, many multinational companies are adopting English as their official business language. This is because English, which is commonly used in more regions, is not only advantageous for companies entering various overseas markets, but it can also secure competitiveness by appealing to more potential customers or creating opportunities for transactions.
Percentage of residents who speak Mandarin VS English* Data: https://www.ethnologue.com/guides/most-spoken-languages
In summary, it can be seen that since Chinese has a large population of native speakers, users are mainly concentrated in mainland China and surrounding Asian regions, and English has spread to a wide range of regions such as Europe, Oceania, and Africa in addition to North America because there are many users who are not native speakers. In other words, the answer to “the most used language in the world” can also vary depending on what criteria you use to judge.
This post continues next week with “The World's Most Influential Language (2).”
*This content has been transferred from Gicon Studio to Letterworks.
