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Is number of speakers important? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4620 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 41 of 75 10 August 2013 at 11:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
French was used as a political lingua franca in Europe until the early 20th century. Were there any places outside Britain where English was even widely understood in the 1600s? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4288 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 42 of 75 10 August 2013 at 11:59pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I was referring not to the lingua franca, but to the British Empire, such as the West
Indies, British India, the North American colonies, etc. I think the majority arrived in the 1700s and 1800s with the addition of Malaya, Australia, New Zealand, parts of Africa, etc. Edited by 1e4e6 on 11 August 2013 at 12:35am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| lichtrausch Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5958 days ago 525 posts - 1072 votes Speaks: English*, German, Japanese Studies: Korean, Mandarin | Message 43 of 75 11 August 2013 at 5:24am | IP Logged | |||||
See casamata's post. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tsopivo Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4469 days ago 258 posts - 411 votes Speaks: French*, English Studies: Esperanto | Message 44 of 75 11 August 2013 at 7:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
A more accurate comparison would be if someone said the Chrysler building was tall and his friend, having seen the Burj Khalifa, told him he was american-centric ;-). 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6595 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 45 of 75 12 August 2013 at 12:46am | IP Logged | |||||
Many learners develop these skills only at B2, true. But if you specifically work on them, it can be done much earlier. Some people have a convincing pronunciation before they can actually say anything sensible. As for the main topic, for me the presence on the Internet is more important. And the attitude to piracy, heh. Romanian and Polish have been awesome in this regard. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 46 of 75 14 August 2013 at 11:47am | IP Logged | |||||
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Actually people here switch to be helpful to
other people. All you need to do is ask. I can't remember a single instance where I had trouble getting someone to switch to Swedish. Also is anyone ever going to meet all 23 million people that speak Dutch? Let alone Portugese? No? Good. I only need one good friend to learn their language. Welsh or Tagalog doesn't matter. Edited by tarvos on 14 August 2013 at 11:49am 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5007 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 47 of 75 14 August 2013 at 12:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, the fact that there are ten million speakers and not one million only means you are more likely to find people you will like speaking to (your demographics, similar hobbies or education or job etc). But you don't have a chance to speak with a million people. I've been living in Prague for over two decades and I cannot imagine speaking with every person here even if I decided to stay for the rest of my life and try.
The real difference, in my opinion, lies in the amount of cultural things available, the presence on internet, and in existence of areas crowded with speakers. For example, I think it's easier to find Slovak practice in Slovakia (with around 7 million people) than French practice in Québec, where it is native tongue of 7 million people as well (by Wikipedia) but where it is scattered among English. I think the limits go approximately like this: -under half million: endangered, hard to practice anyhow unless you move to a specific place -between half million and two million or so: depends on how much is the language supported by governments and the population. It may already be enough but it may be the same as above -between 2 and 50 million: if it is a national language and especially a European one, than it is surely enough to provide a learner with basic comfort. But when it is a non national language, especially in places where it gets quite no support, than it is like the smaller ones. -from 50 millions up or so, it usually a comfortable language to learn. Italian, Korean, Persian, Tamil, Turkish and so on. But of course, there are exceptions. -over 100 million speakers: a giant which will force its way into your life if you let it. :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4705 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 48 of 75 14 August 2013 at 12:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have not even had trouble with finding
Icelandic speakers. My italki contact even speaks Dutch!!! 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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