this post was submitted on 14 May 2024
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Why is there no global language that at least nearly half the world speaks (3.5 billion, I'm talkin', including non-native speakers) (lemmy.ml)
submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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Is the Tower of Babel still affecting us or something?

Edit:

We have 8 billion people, yet the best we could muster for the most total speakers of a language is under 2 billion, including non-natives...

  1. English (1,452 million speakers) First language: 372.9 million Total speakers: 1.4+ billion According to Ethnologue, English is the most-spoken language in the world including native and non-native speakers.

https://www.berlitz.com/blog/most-spoken-languages-world#:~:text=1.,English%20(1%2C452%20million%20speakers)&text=According%20to%20Ethnologue%2C%20English%20is,native%20and%20non%2Dnative%20speakers.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I would say there is. Body language. Just about any human you meet can understand body language.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

I suppose, though very poorly in comparison to what we usually mean by language.

This sparks an interesting question though: can two human strangers communicate with each other better than any other animals can, even when those two people have no language in common? I don’t think it’s so easy a question to answer. Probably they can in many cases but not in some others, depending on what is to be communicated. Whether there’s a bear nearby? How to coordinate an attack on tasty prey?

Edit to add: Unlocking secrets of the honeybee dance language – bees learn and culturally transmit their communication skills

Astonishingly, honeybees possess one of the most complicated examples of nonhuman communication. They can tell each other where to find resources such as food, water, or nest sites with a physical “waggle dance.” This dance conveys the direction, distance and quality of a resource to the bee’s nestmates.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago

I would argue yes, but not by a massive degree in my opinion. Every animal has body language and several things are shared amongst many of us, especially mammals. But yeah, I think our whole species would understand things like pointing at something or laughing or offering something with an outstretched arm, or a surprised face or a scowl.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

👍

But don't try this in many parts of the Middle East.

👌

And don't do this in Brazil.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Yeah I specifically didn't include hand signs in my other comment because that's getting closer to sign language and many countries have unique hand signs. Smiling is also something not universal oddly enough.