Statistics about some of the world's languages - Modern Languages and Classics

UMaine Alert

Posted: April 19, 2024 - 1:32 PM

At approximately 9:24 a.m. on Friday, April 19, a University of Maine graduate student was struck by a university vehicle on Long Road at the University of Maine campus in Orono. The student reports that they are at a local hospital with minor injuries.

Emergency services, including the Orono Fire Department, University Volunteer Ambulance Corps, University of Maine Police Department, Orono Police Department and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene.

The university vehicle involved in the incident was a Chevrolet Express van. It was being operated by a university employee.

Counseling services and support are available for students, faculty or staff who may have been affected. The Counseling Center can be reached at 207-581-1392 and the Dean of Students Office can be reached at 207-581-1406.

The scene has been cleared and Long Road is now accessible. An investigation is being conducted by the University of Maine Police Department with assistance from the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office Crash Reconstruction Unit. Any witnesses to the incident are encouraged to contact Lt. Noel Santiago at noel.santiago@maine.edu.

Statistics about some of the world’s languages

In the world today, there are …

over 1,090,951,810 people for whom Mandarin Chinese is the first or second language;
over 942,533,930 first and second language speakers of English;
over 517,824,310 people who are first or second language speakers of Spanish;
over 229,217,640 people whose first or second language is French.
over 206,000,000 people speak at least one of 34 varieties of Arabic;
over 129,601,230 people who speak German as a first or second language.

(Source: Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2016. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Nineteenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.)

Why would I need to know another language?

As of 2010, more than 40 million people residing in the U.S. were born in another country (source, https://www.census.gov/newsroom/pdf/cspan_fb_slides.pdf) , and according to the Center for Immigration Studies, one in five speaks language other than English at home (Karen Ziegler, Stephen A. Camarota, October 2014, One in Five U.S. Residents Speaks Foreign Language at Home, Record 61.8 million, http://cis.org/record-one-in-five-us-residents-speaks-language-other-than-english-at-home). The U.S. is also one of the premiere tourist destinations for travelers from around the world. Finally, growing expansion of US businesses abroad and foreign investments within the U.S. spell job opportunities for those who can communicate in more than one language. Even if you never leave the U.S., with the exponential growth of E-commerce world-wide you will undoubtedly encounter languages other than English in your professional life.

A recent study of the Global Language Network for book translations, Twitter, and Wikipedia, shows that French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish are more frequently used after English. (Ronen S, Goncalves B, Hu KZ, Vespignani A, Pinker S, Hidalgo CA. Links that speak: the global language network and its association with global fameProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) (2014), 10.1073/pnas.1410931111, http://language.media.mit.edu/visualizations/books.)

As of November 2015, the top ten languages of internet users were* …

English (872.9 million)
Chinese (704.5 million)
Spanish (256.8 million)
Arabic (168.1 million)
Portuguese (131.9 million)
Japanese (114.9 million)
Russian (103.1 million)
Malaysian (98.9 million)
French (97.2 million)
German (83.7 million)

Is one language more useful to learn than another?

All languages are useful in today’s global economy. U.S. businesses are expanding around the globe, and scientists increasingly work on multi-national projects. The choice of language(s) is yours, and is determined by your interests. Once you are competent in a second language, it is much easier to learn a third or fourth, so you can always add another language. While Latin is no longer spoken a language, gaining knowledge of how it functions gives you a better understanding of English, French, German and Spanish grammar and vocabulary.