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Mandarin (a language I speak) does not have as many speakers as you guess.[1] We can be absolutely sure that the number of people in the world conversant in Man

Mandarin (a language I speak) does not have as many speakers as you guess.[1] We can be absolutely sure that the number of people in the world conversant in Mandarin is strictly less than the current population of China by hundreds of millions of individuals. [1] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/07/content_5812838... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-23975037 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-23975037

NhanH 12y ago
China is a huge country though. At 1.3 billions population, 70% is a solid 900 millions speakers, add in a bit out of country and it's not inconceivable for the number to reach a billion or more. Either way, it's just a technical details that doesn't affect much of my original point: I don't believe it's a clear cut case of "We have pretty much agreed upon the English language". In EU and of course US, that claim might hold some water. But when it comes to the rest of the world ... that seems far from being settled (And I don't know what's the situation in Africa, or South America is).