Although there is no holistically objective way to quantify and rate the impact and import of world languages, there are several objective factors that contribute to creating a list of the world’s most useful languages to know. In his influential mid-90s survey of world languages, George Weber pinpointed several of these factors, ascribing a numerical value to each and tallying up the scores that each language received.
Weber’s findings emphasize the value of population, number of primary and secondary speakers, and the scientific, diplomatic, economic, and socio-literary weight of each language. The study received some criticism for failing to distinguish between various dialects of spoken Chinese and Arabic. I have updated his list, taking into account population growth and changes in business dynamics, as well as other relevant criteria for learning a second language:
10. Italian — Approximately 60 million speakers and the official language of the Vatican
9. Portuguese — Approximately 190 million speakers worldwide and spoken in over 20 countries
8. Japanese — Approximately 125 million speakers and the world’s 2nd-largest economy by GDP and 3rd-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP)
7. German — Approximately 120 million native speakers and a second language for many Europeans; it is the world’s 3rd-largest economy by GDP and 5th-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP)
6. Russian — Approximately 185 million native speakers and the second language for all nations of the former Soviet Union
5. Arabic (MSA) — Approximately 250 million speakers worldwide and the official language of 20 countries; it is the lingua franca of the Middle East
4. French — Along with English, French is the working language of the United Nations; it is also culturally and historically critical in Europe and much of North and West Africa
3. Mandarin Chinese – Approximately 880 million speakers, or 20% of the world’s population, and the second strongest economy in the world – after the United States – based on purchasing power parity (PPP)
2. Spanish — Approximately 350 million native speakers and the primary second language learned and spoken in the United States; Spanish is the language of trade and commerce in approximately 20 countries.
1. English — Most widely used language of business, commerce, and the internet and the primary second language learned in most countries
i agree but arabic should be equal with chinese and ahead of french since it is not only spoken in the arab world but also a lingua franca of the muslim world (the language of the quran) so over 1 billion people can understand and speak arabic across at least 50 countries.
Arabic is the official language of 26 countries not just 20. And shouldn’t Korean or Hindustani be ahead of Italian?
Where does american sign language fall? Also, what is the recommendation for a general second language choices (say top three behind english) for the high school student to best prepare themselves?
French! Italian is the second! But having English knowledge is above.
Hindi
First language: ~ 490 million
Second language: 120%u2013225 million
The economy of India is the twelfth largest economy in the world by market exchange rates and the fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) basis.[Wikipedia]
Stating that all Muslims are fluent in Arabic is akin to stating that all Catholics are fluent in Latin.
Agree with Joe. As it is the language of the Qur’an, most non-Arab Muslims can read vowelled Arabic (from a young age) but not necessarily understand it save those who go into religious studies.
I’m sorry, I don’t agree with Joe. Muslims are very very very highly recommended to learn Arabic. According to most Muslim scholars, it is not a must, but almost a must for Muslims to learn Arabic. And I’m not trying to be in any way derogatory, but most Muslims have a better idea about their faith than Christians about theirs (generally). And so, I’m sure a higher percentage of Muslims speak Arabic than Catholics. But I agree-not all Muslims speak Arabic. But a lot do. And a lot are Arabs too, so don’t go adding a billion to the Arabs.
I know Arabic, and I’m not pursuing so called “religious studies”. I learnt Arabic in a so-called Sunday school, which almost all of the Muslims in the US attend.
I’m sure Yusaf is a Pakistani/Indian muslim. They think differently.
If you think you know a bit about the bible and Christianity…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcKZnmBnQVE
and watch the rest. please. dont just ignore it. educate urself-all knowledge is wealth and sometimes power.
Not so sure abut Arabic being that high on the list… correct me if I am wrong but there are loads of dialects and to conversate on the streets you will need some knowledge of these too. But it still is for sure a very important language!
Italian is useless unless you are in awe of Italy’s culture or some kind of businessman…
The same for Portuguese imo… Although Brazil is a great coutry.
I’d also rate Japanese higher considering Japan has worlds second economy.
Maybe I am too economy-minded
, but languages such as Mandarin which are spoken by 800 million people… please do not forget that the VAST majority of these people are people who are mainly peasants or laborers, you will rarely meet in praxis. Also there are dialects throughout China too…
Also felt like pointing out two largely underestimated languages, very important for businessmen :
Dutch and Swedish
Dutch because of it’s 8th economy, open minded society, and lots of important coorporations (Rotterdam is the largest port on this planet!).
Swedish because first of all the laguage is beautiful. Also because of it’s economy and because it opens a door to Scandinavia with countries such as Denmark (Danes and Swedes understand eachother). Denmark for instance is one of the leading countries when it comes to green technologies, such as windmills (Vestas and Dong) or containershiment (Maersk).
And you can understand any Dutchman or Swede since even ”dialects” are easy to comprehend.
Please reply to my opinions