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> Why would that matter? Arguably the ideal lingua franca should have no native speakers at all as those have an unfair advantage. I share your vision of an ex
by CyberRabbi 6y ago
> Why would that matter? Arguably the ideal lingua franca should have no native speakers at all as those have an unfair advantage.
I share your vision of an explicitly taught universal language which gives no group or individual an unfair advantage. We obviously need more equality in the world.
From the perspective of trying to maximize how many people with whom you are able to communicate, however, on a practical basis it matters little whether or not they are native speakers.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- maxwell 6y agoYour numbers above list 1.132B English speakers and 1.116B Mandarin speakers.
- CyberRabbi 6y agoA larger percentage of mandarin speakers are native mandarin speakers than the equivalent statistic for English. 918 million native mandarin speakers, 310 million native English speakers. Native speakers are generally better at understand the nuances of language than non-native speakers.