3 ms·

What is the definition of an "international language" that makes Esperanto the most widely spoken one? Isn't Arabic an international language, for instance?

• walthamstow 2y ago
  For that matter, isn't English? It's an official language in many countries, such as South Africa, India, and Ireland, each of which has other official languages.
  • muzani 2y ago
    Especially in Asia, where it's not exactly a primary language for anyone. It's funny that you'll be in a room with Chinese, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Indonesians, Ukranians, and everyone will speak English. I once saw a documentary which went deep into Borneo, via rivers, to a tribe that didn't wear shirts, and they spoke fluent English too.
• _emacsomancer_ 2y ago
  I think the point is that of intentional international languages (i.e., international in the sense of not being tied to any particular country), Esperanto is the most widely used one. That still is going to be a quite small number against English, Spanish, French &c. in terms of being a lingua franca.
• tjalfi 2y ago
  Esperanto is probably the most widely spoken international auxiliary language[0]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_auxiliary_language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_auxiliary_langua...
  • deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]