Language is the main tool for gaining understanding between people around the world. There are not many languages considered international. First of all, these include the languages spoken by the largest number of people. Many of them are also official languages of the United Nations.
Languages of international communication are those languages that are spoken by the largest number of people around the world. In addition, so can be called the official languages of the UN: English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and French.
There have been attempts to create artificial languages for international communication. Esperanto was the most common of them, but he was not able to fully meet the expectations of its creator, the Warsaw doctor Ludwig Zamenhof.
UN official languages
Today, the language of international communication No. 1 is considered English. It is native to 410 million people in the world. In addition, up to a billion people study it as a foreign language.
In recent years, Chinese has come in second place. As a native, it is used by 845 million people and up to 500 million speak it as a foreign language. In our country, the Chinese language is becoming more and more popular.
For centuries, the Spanish language has not lost its international status. It is spoken by 400 million inhabitants of Spain and many countries of Latin America. As a foreign Spanish studies up to 80 million people.
An honorable fourth place among international languages belongs to Russian. He is native to 170 million people. Up to 125 million people use it as a second language, primarily residents of the former Soviet republics and countries of the socialist camp.
For 240 million people, Arabic is their native language, and up to 40 million learn it as a foreign language.
French is spoken by 80 million people on the planet, including not only the French, but also the inhabitants of Belgium, France, Switzerland. As a second language, up to 120 million use it. In addition, French, along with Italian, is considered the international language of art.
