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I have taken the table (and its references) directly from the article English language without verifying the sources. Joeldl ( talk) 13:07, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
Previously, this was a redirect to Anglosphere. As many parties have pointed out at Talk:Anglosphere, this is inappropriate. There are two main reasons:
1. The phrase "English-speaking world" is much more common than "Anglosphere". (37,000 hits on Google Scholar to about 200.)
2. The term Anglosphere has certain ideological connotations absent in English-speaking world. In fact, the term Anglosphere is most commonly encountered in discussions centring on the ideas of the author JC Bennett, as discussed in the article Anglosphere. A search on Google Scholar will show this.
This article is currently a stub, but should grow. In the meantime, articles referring to the English-speaking world in general and not intending specific reference to the ideas of James C. Bennett and his Anglosphere Institute should link here (or, alternatively, to English language#Geographical distribution), and not to Anglosphere. Joeldl ( talk) 13:07, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
Is the figure for Singapore English-speaking people correct? I doubt it. I found out a reliable source ( from Singapore Department of Statistics' website) which shows a 2005 survey reporting around 880,000 people speaking most frequently English at home. IMHO the figure and its current reference should be changed. 82.54.227.3 ( talk) 00:01, 28 June 2009 (UTC)
I agree, for 2 reasons: - the source (the book) is authored by Singapore's ex-president, who apparently tried to present his country as a modern, globalised country. - I have been many times to Singapore - some younger people speak flawless English, but most people have only a working knowledge of the language, and I have been to all kinds of situations, university, business, restaurants, hotels. I would say that the degree of English penetration in Singapore is not higher than in Europe, definitely lower than in Scandinavia, for example, which has almost no native English speakers. I would be super-surprised if more half of the population (4 Mio.) are native speakers and have failed to show up on my radar. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Neumannkun ( talk • contribs) 03:15, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
Is there really a large minority of native English speakers in Nigeria? If pidgins are included, then surely Sierra Leone and several other countries should be in dark blue too (or all of them should be in light blue, or a third colour)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.185.146.101 ( talk) 10:46, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
The country no longer have english as an official language. -- Aréat ( talk) 14:35, 27 February 2011 (UTC)
I have to disagree with the removal of the 2nd map. I don't feel that it constitutes original research anymore than the light blue countries on the first map do, as none of those have any sort of citation either. I feel that the green map is accurate, especially in regards to the Scandavian nations, as every person I've met from that region says English-knowledge is standard in their home countries. -- Leodmacleod ( talk) 16:41, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
What is that?! South Africa is not a majority English-speaking nation! 83.70.248.20 ( talk) 19:30, 1 November 2009 (UTC)Si Lapu Lapu
If Malaysia, where English is not an official language, can be included, then why isn't Bangladesh? Our legal and political systems are inherited from the British, and English is widely used in the courts, in media and in education. Its the de facto second language of the country. -- 111.221.0.2 ( talk) 19:02, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
I've started a discussion at Talk:Anglosphere. In the last few years, that article has been gradually changed to a redundant version of List of countries where English is an official language. I'm thinking of restoring the content about the Anglosphere as a sociopolitical concept (covering primarily the UK+US+CA+AU+NZ) with more prominent links to this page. Making Anglosphere a disambiguation to both this article and something like Anglosphere (sociopolitical concept) might be another option. If you have any thoughts on this, please reply at Talk:Anglosphere Plantdrew ( talk) 04:02, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
I am sorry, this is completely moronic. The section title implies "total speakers" means "English speakers"; but the list is ordered by total population. What does "speakers" mean? People who speak? As opposed to what, people with a speech impairment? So if there is a single native English speaker who lives in China (as I am sure there is), China rather than India must be at the head of this list by virtue of having the larger population. After pointing out that the ordering rationale is misguided, let me point out that it is at least as misguided to duplicate the effort at List of countries by English-speaking population, especially because both lists are sortable by column. The best would be to lose the list on this page and just link to the main article. -- dab (𒁳) 16:16, 6 December 2014 (UTC)
There was a sourced text about English possibly being the most widely spoken language. However, given the difficulties in defining terms the text also mentioned Chinese as a candidate. This has now been replaced by an unsourced text that simply states that English is the most widely spoken language. This is something that very much depends on definitions and uncertain estimates, and I think that the article should at least explain under what presumptions English is taken to be the no 1 language in the world. Sjö ( talk) 11:47, 15 March 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for taking it to the talk page. Having checked my sources (forgot to include them) and other sources on the subject you were correct to revert. Most sources do not distinguish between 'widely spoken' and 'numbers of native speakers' and 'numbers of non-native speakers'. While I stand by my assertion that English is the most widely spoken language the sources do not support my edit. And it is sources not my opinion that counts in Wikipedia (as I keep reminding other editors). Sorry for any confusion. Please revert to the previous edit Robynthehode ( talk) 12:34, 15 March 2015 (UTC)
I've been hunting up sources for the current update of English language, and of course one section of that article refers to this article as a main article. What sources have you been finding about the number of native speakers of English and the number of second-language speakers of English? I'll try to share some sources here as the discussion continues. -- WeijiBaikeBianji ( talk, how I edit) 20:07, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
The data given on this page is not correct. It says 231 million people in U.S. are native english speakers. However, in pie chart it is said 64.3% of U.S. people speaks english. The current population of U.S. is 318 million. Hence only 204 million of U.S. people are native speakers. Kindly correct this.Similarly , U.K. have 16.7% speakesr. The current population of U.K. is 64.1 million. Hence total speakers would have been 10.68 not the one mentioned. 61.3.93.53 ( talk) 05:24, 13 February 2016 (UTC)
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Why is Belize treated differently (as an "official" but not "majority" language English country) than the other Carribbean counries where the primary language is an English based creole (which are all curently treated as English "majority language" countries)? It might make sense to have a 3rd group (in addition to "majority language" and "official language") for countries where the majority language is an English based creole. Or treat them all as English majority countries; my impression is that Caribbean English based Creole speakers are almost universally fluent in "standard" English, and drawing the line between Creole and "standard" can be difficult. I'm moving Belize to the majority category, but the map will need to be updated with a dark blue. I'm not opposed to the alternative; changing all of the Creoles speaking Caribbean (Jamaica, Guyana and the lesser Antilles) to "official" English countries colored light blue, but either way it should be consistent.
I'm not at all familiar with Melanesian English based Creoles, but these should be examined as well. Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu all have an English based Creole more widely spoken than standard English (although native languages predominate in these countries). Plantdrew ( talk) 20:29, 4 October 2012 (UTC)
I note that Trinidad and Tobago is not listed in the article as either a country with a majority of native speakers or one with English as an official language. I know next to nothing about Trinidad, but according to articles elsewhere, it should be on one of those two lists. I don't know which one, or I'd just go ahead and add it. (Based on what it says in the T&T article itself, it looks like it depends on how you're treating creoles these days.) 2602:306:CD2C:54C0:386D:EC9C:D4C4:7E1D ( talk) 16:54, 28 January 2017 (UTC)
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if the desire is to merge Anglosphere into this, I guess it might be considered. But Anglosphere is a very specific concept and this should not be merged into it. Dougweller ( talk) 06:46, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
Ireland should be classified as "Co-official as majority language" because of the Article 8 of the Constitution of Ireland ( http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html)states:
I am putting a request for Nepal to be colored yellow, or unofficial on the map. Nepal has a large population that speaks English and it is used in administrative and government work. Akhila3151996 ( talk) 19:59, 23 July 2018 (UTC)
last stand of desperate colonialism, to claim parts of the world as "english-speaking" only to have "oldest [whatever] in the english-speaking world" when brexit hell breaks loose, this will get even worse let's put an end to this already — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.153.224.166 ( talk) 01:50, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
Dr.Shalini Surya Chaturvedi Rajan k aropi kaun ( talk) 19:06, 31 January 2019 (UTC)
The key on the map states that Israel is the only country in which the majority of the population speaks English. However, the key also indicates that countries in orange identify those in which the majority of the population speaks English--at least that's how I understood it. There are quite a few countries so designated. Thus it is contradictory. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:2c3:800:4441:57d:9605:8b5f:9ce8 ( talk • contribs) 18:20, 11 August 2019 (UTC)
I'm not sure this is correct English. Can one language be 'larger' than an other? Shouldn't we be saying 'most used'? E.g. in the first sentence:
Over 2 billion people speak English, making English the largest language by number of speakers, and the third largest language by number of native speakers.
I propose:
Over 2 billion people speak English, making it the most used language by number of speakers, and the third most used language by number of native speakers.
Happy to make this edit if people agree.
Billtubbs ( talk) 21:21, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
Trust me I was born and live here. As a first language, only 70% of Aussies speak it. As a second/third language, 90% speak it. Australia only has 26 million people. So over 25 million people here can speak English. Also we have no official language just like the U.S and Mexico. English is just the de facto. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OliverDeBriz ( talk • contribs) 04:54, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
Just to record that I have added a request for this page to be made semi-protected due to the high level of vandalism by non-registered users recently. Adam Dent ( talk) 14:16, 2 November 2020 (UTC)
Right now, the classification "Not official and minority language" is white on white background, so showing as not land at all. My editing skills are insufficient to fix this, but it really needs to be fixed. CAVincent ( talk) 20:35, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
While the map of Anglophone countries is pretty inclusive, it is not complete.
In many countries (for instance Israel, Myanmar and most of Western Europe), English -- while it is neither the native language nor official language -- is nevertheless spoken by a very large minority of the population (in some cases, probably, a bi-lingual majority), and has enormous national importance: cultural, political, commercial, technological, and in education and media -- and largely shapes their relations with the rest of the world.
On the section of a list of Varieties of English, I'm surprised that American English comes first instead of British English, now given that the United Kingdom is the birth place of the English Language, I would like to place British English first on the list and I would also like to place Australian English second because both the United Kingdom and Australia are Commonwealth countries. 82.19.124.151 ( talk) 17:09, 14 September 2022 (UTC)
References
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Speedy close was correct, but I thought I would throw in two cents in case it comes up again, and also to confirm a consensus. The Anglosphere is not just "countries where people speak English", and is an entirely different concept from English-speaking world. The articles are distinct subjects. CAVincent ( talk) 01:23, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
Indeed the
Anglosphere article says: While the nations included in different sources vary, the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, so it is not synonymous with anglophone, though the nations that are commonly included were all once part of the British Empire.
Kaihsu (
talk) 11:28, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
The United States and India have the most total English speakers, with 283 million and 125 million, respectively. There are also 108 million in Pakistan, 79 million in Nigeria, and 64 million in the Philippines. [1] When those who speak English as a second language are included, estimates of the number of Anglophones vary greatly, from 470 million to more than 2 billion.
Am I the only one that got the impression that the first sentence, immediately followed by the second one, suggests that (US), India, Pak., Ni., Phi. have that many first language speakers ? If you're attentive, you'll realize that there is indeed the word «total» in the fist phrase, and that the math for that minimum of 470 M doesn't work out under the abovementioned assumption, but Wikipedia can probably do better than that ?
(The source is IMHO much clearer about it (of course it's easier, when one can go into more detail)) :
There are 125,344,736 English speakers in India, making India the country with the second largest number of English speakers. However, about 220,000 people speak English as the first language while the rest take it as a second language.
BlueTemplar ( talk) 19:01, 15 March 2023 (UTC)
In the main image, should the claim "not the most used language"
be changed to something like "not the first-language of the majority"?
Take Singapore for example, where according to the 2020 census, English is the most-used language for 48% of the population. This is not the majority of the population and presumably that's why the country is labelled as "States where English is an official or administrative language, but not the most used language". The issue is that English is the most-used language in Singapore, because all the other main languages in Singapore are used by even less people: Chinese languages (Mandarin + Chinese dialects) at 38%; Malay at 9%; and Indian languages at 3%.
At the same time, it wouldn't be correct to move Singapore to the other category either ("States where English is the native language of the majority"
), because while 48% is the highest of all languages used in the country, it is still not the majority of the population.
Bennv123 (
talk) 01:05, 19 September 2023 (UTC)
Why no [or too few] percentages of English-speaker category totals? I came to this article looking for population figures normalized to the totals. Do1029ug3 ( talk) 15:48, 18 November 2023 (UTC)
![]() | This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page. |
Archive 1 |
I have taken the table (and its references) directly from the article English language without verifying the sources. Joeldl ( talk) 13:07, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
Previously, this was a redirect to Anglosphere. As many parties have pointed out at Talk:Anglosphere, this is inappropriate. There are two main reasons:
1. The phrase "English-speaking world" is much more common than "Anglosphere". (37,000 hits on Google Scholar to about 200.)
2. The term Anglosphere has certain ideological connotations absent in English-speaking world. In fact, the term Anglosphere is most commonly encountered in discussions centring on the ideas of the author JC Bennett, as discussed in the article Anglosphere. A search on Google Scholar will show this.
This article is currently a stub, but should grow. In the meantime, articles referring to the English-speaking world in general and not intending specific reference to the ideas of James C. Bennett and his Anglosphere Institute should link here (or, alternatively, to English language#Geographical distribution), and not to Anglosphere. Joeldl ( talk) 13:07, 7 May 2008 (UTC)
Is the figure for Singapore English-speaking people correct? I doubt it. I found out a reliable source ( from Singapore Department of Statistics' website) which shows a 2005 survey reporting around 880,000 people speaking most frequently English at home. IMHO the figure and its current reference should be changed. 82.54.227.3 ( talk) 00:01, 28 June 2009 (UTC)
I agree, for 2 reasons: - the source (the book) is authored by Singapore's ex-president, who apparently tried to present his country as a modern, globalised country. - I have been many times to Singapore - some younger people speak flawless English, but most people have only a working knowledge of the language, and I have been to all kinds of situations, university, business, restaurants, hotels. I would say that the degree of English penetration in Singapore is not higher than in Europe, definitely lower than in Scandinavia, for example, which has almost no native English speakers. I would be super-surprised if more half of the population (4 Mio.) are native speakers and have failed to show up on my radar. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Neumannkun ( talk • contribs) 03:15, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
Is there really a large minority of native English speakers in Nigeria? If pidgins are included, then surely Sierra Leone and several other countries should be in dark blue too (or all of them should be in light blue, or a third colour)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.185.146.101 ( talk) 10:46, 22 February 2011 (UTC)
The country no longer have english as an official language. -- Aréat ( talk) 14:35, 27 February 2011 (UTC)
I have to disagree with the removal of the 2nd map. I don't feel that it constitutes original research anymore than the light blue countries on the first map do, as none of those have any sort of citation either. I feel that the green map is accurate, especially in regards to the Scandavian nations, as every person I've met from that region says English-knowledge is standard in their home countries. -- Leodmacleod ( talk) 16:41, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
What is that?! South Africa is not a majority English-speaking nation! 83.70.248.20 ( talk) 19:30, 1 November 2009 (UTC)Si Lapu Lapu
If Malaysia, where English is not an official language, can be included, then why isn't Bangladesh? Our legal and political systems are inherited from the British, and English is widely used in the courts, in media and in education. Its the de facto second language of the country. -- 111.221.0.2 ( talk) 19:02, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
I've started a discussion at Talk:Anglosphere. In the last few years, that article has been gradually changed to a redundant version of List of countries where English is an official language. I'm thinking of restoring the content about the Anglosphere as a sociopolitical concept (covering primarily the UK+US+CA+AU+NZ) with more prominent links to this page. Making Anglosphere a disambiguation to both this article and something like Anglosphere (sociopolitical concept) might be another option. If you have any thoughts on this, please reply at Talk:Anglosphere Plantdrew ( talk) 04:02, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
I am sorry, this is completely moronic. The section title implies "total speakers" means "English speakers"; but the list is ordered by total population. What does "speakers" mean? People who speak? As opposed to what, people with a speech impairment? So if there is a single native English speaker who lives in China (as I am sure there is), China rather than India must be at the head of this list by virtue of having the larger population. After pointing out that the ordering rationale is misguided, let me point out that it is at least as misguided to duplicate the effort at List of countries by English-speaking population, especially because both lists are sortable by column. The best would be to lose the list on this page and just link to the main article. -- dab (𒁳) 16:16, 6 December 2014 (UTC)
There was a sourced text about English possibly being the most widely spoken language. However, given the difficulties in defining terms the text also mentioned Chinese as a candidate. This has now been replaced by an unsourced text that simply states that English is the most widely spoken language. This is something that very much depends on definitions and uncertain estimates, and I think that the article should at least explain under what presumptions English is taken to be the no 1 language in the world. Sjö ( talk) 11:47, 15 March 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for taking it to the talk page. Having checked my sources (forgot to include them) and other sources on the subject you were correct to revert. Most sources do not distinguish between 'widely spoken' and 'numbers of native speakers' and 'numbers of non-native speakers'. While I stand by my assertion that English is the most widely spoken language the sources do not support my edit. And it is sources not my opinion that counts in Wikipedia (as I keep reminding other editors). Sorry for any confusion. Please revert to the previous edit Robynthehode ( talk) 12:34, 15 March 2015 (UTC)
I've been hunting up sources for the current update of English language, and of course one section of that article refers to this article as a main article. What sources have you been finding about the number of native speakers of English and the number of second-language speakers of English? I'll try to share some sources here as the discussion continues. -- WeijiBaikeBianji ( talk, how I edit) 20:07, 26 March 2015 (UTC)
The data given on this page is not correct. It says 231 million people in U.S. are native english speakers. However, in pie chart it is said 64.3% of U.S. people speaks english. The current population of U.S. is 318 million. Hence only 204 million of U.S. people are native speakers. Kindly correct this.Similarly , U.K. have 16.7% speakesr. The current population of U.K. is 64.1 million. Hence total speakers would have been 10.68 not the one mentioned. 61.3.93.53 ( talk) 05:24, 13 February 2016 (UTC)
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Why is Belize treated differently (as an "official" but not "majority" language English country) than the other Carribbean counries where the primary language is an English based creole (which are all curently treated as English "majority language" countries)? It might make sense to have a 3rd group (in addition to "majority language" and "official language") for countries where the majority language is an English based creole. Or treat them all as English majority countries; my impression is that Caribbean English based Creole speakers are almost universally fluent in "standard" English, and drawing the line between Creole and "standard" can be difficult. I'm moving Belize to the majority category, but the map will need to be updated with a dark blue. I'm not opposed to the alternative; changing all of the Creoles speaking Caribbean (Jamaica, Guyana and the lesser Antilles) to "official" English countries colored light blue, but either way it should be consistent.
I'm not at all familiar with Melanesian English based Creoles, but these should be examined as well. Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu all have an English based Creole more widely spoken than standard English (although native languages predominate in these countries). Plantdrew ( talk) 20:29, 4 October 2012 (UTC)
I note that Trinidad and Tobago is not listed in the article as either a country with a majority of native speakers or one with English as an official language. I know next to nothing about Trinidad, but according to articles elsewhere, it should be on one of those two lists. I don't know which one, or I'd just go ahead and add it. (Based on what it says in the T&T article itself, it looks like it depends on how you're treating creoles these days.) 2602:306:CD2C:54C0:386D:EC9C:D4C4:7E1D ( talk) 16:54, 28 January 2017 (UTC)
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if the desire is to merge Anglosphere into this, I guess it might be considered. But Anglosphere is a very specific concept and this should not be merged into it. Dougweller ( talk) 06:46, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
Ireland should be classified as "Co-official as majority language" because of the Article 8 of the Constitution of Ireland ( http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html)states:
I am putting a request for Nepal to be colored yellow, or unofficial on the map. Nepal has a large population that speaks English and it is used in administrative and government work. Akhila3151996 ( talk) 19:59, 23 July 2018 (UTC)
last stand of desperate colonialism, to claim parts of the world as "english-speaking" only to have "oldest [whatever] in the english-speaking world" when brexit hell breaks loose, this will get even worse let's put an end to this already — Preceding unsigned comment added by 104.153.224.166 ( talk) 01:50, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
Dr.Shalini Surya Chaturvedi Rajan k aropi kaun ( talk) 19:06, 31 January 2019 (UTC)
The key on the map states that Israel is the only country in which the majority of the population speaks English. However, the key also indicates that countries in orange identify those in which the majority of the population speaks English--at least that's how I understood it. There are quite a few countries so designated. Thus it is contradictory. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:2c3:800:4441:57d:9605:8b5f:9ce8 ( talk • contribs) 18:20, 11 August 2019 (UTC)
I'm not sure this is correct English. Can one language be 'larger' than an other? Shouldn't we be saying 'most used'? E.g. in the first sentence:
Over 2 billion people speak English, making English the largest language by number of speakers, and the third largest language by number of native speakers.
I propose:
Over 2 billion people speak English, making it the most used language by number of speakers, and the third most used language by number of native speakers.
Happy to make this edit if people agree.
Billtubbs ( talk) 21:21, 19 May 2020 (UTC)
Trust me I was born and live here. As a first language, only 70% of Aussies speak it. As a second/third language, 90% speak it. Australia only has 26 million people. So over 25 million people here can speak English. Also we have no official language just like the U.S and Mexico. English is just the de facto. — Preceding unsigned comment added by OliverDeBriz ( talk • contribs) 04:54, 12 September 2020 (UTC)
Just to record that I have added a request for this page to be made semi-protected due to the high level of vandalism by non-registered users recently. Adam Dent ( talk) 14:16, 2 November 2020 (UTC)
Right now, the classification "Not official and minority language" is white on white background, so showing as not land at all. My editing skills are insufficient to fix this, but it really needs to be fixed. CAVincent ( talk) 20:35, 27 February 2022 (UTC)
While the map of Anglophone countries is pretty inclusive, it is not complete.
In many countries (for instance Israel, Myanmar and most of Western Europe), English -- while it is neither the native language nor official language -- is nevertheless spoken by a very large minority of the population (in some cases, probably, a bi-lingual majority), and has enormous national importance: cultural, political, commercial, technological, and in education and media -- and largely shapes their relations with the rest of the world.
On the section of a list of Varieties of English, I'm surprised that American English comes first instead of British English, now given that the United Kingdom is the birth place of the English Language, I would like to place British English first on the list and I would also like to place Australian English second because both the United Kingdom and Australia are Commonwealth countries. 82.19.124.151 ( talk) 17:09, 14 September 2022 (UTC)
References
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Speedy close was correct, but I thought I would throw in two cents in case it comes up again, and also to confirm a consensus. The Anglosphere is not just "countries where people speak English", and is an entirely different concept from English-speaking world. The articles are distinct subjects. CAVincent ( talk) 01:23, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
Indeed the
Anglosphere article says: While the nations included in different sources vary, the Anglosphere is usually not considered to include all countries where English is an official language, so it is not synonymous with anglophone, though the nations that are commonly included were all once part of the British Empire.
Kaihsu (
talk) 11:28, 21 February 2023 (UTC)
The United States and India have the most total English speakers, with 283 million and 125 million, respectively. There are also 108 million in Pakistan, 79 million in Nigeria, and 64 million in the Philippines. [1] When those who speak English as a second language are included, estimates of the number of Anglophones vary greatly, from 470 million to more than 2 billion.
Am I the only one that got the impression that the first sentence, immediately followed by the second one, suggests that (US), India, Pak., Ni., Phi. have that many first language speakers ? If you're attentive, you'll realize that there is indeed the word «total» in the fist phrase, and that the math for that minimum of 470 M doesn't work out under the abovementioned assumption, but Wikipedia can probably do better than that ?
(The source is IMHO much clearer about it (of course it's easier, when one can go into more detail)) :
There are 125,344,736 English speakers in India, making India the country with the second largest number of English speakers. However, about 220,000 people speak English as the first language while the rest take it as a second language.
BlueTemplar ( talk) 19:01, 15 March 2023 (UTC)
In the main image, should the claim "not the most used language"
be changed to something like "not the first-language of the majority"?
Take Singapore for example, where according to the 2020 census, English is the most-used language for 48% of the population. This is not the majority of the population and presumably that's why the country is labelled as "States where English is an official or administrative language, but not the most used language". The issue is that English is the most-used language in Singapore, because all the other main languages in Singapore are used by even less people: Chinese languages (Mandarin + Chinese dialects) at 38%; Malay at 9%; and Indian languages at 3%.
At the same time, it wouldn't be correct to move Singapore to the other category either ("States where English is the native language of the majority"
), because while 48% is the highest of all languages used in the country, it is still not the majority of the population.
Bennv123 (
talk) 01:05, 19 September 2023 (UTC)
Why no [or too few] percentages of English-speaker category totals? I came to this article looking for population figures normalized to the totals. Do1029ug3 ( talk) 15:48, 18 November 2023 (UTC)