What are the most important languages today globally?

[Austin]

English is number one obviously but is the other Spanish or Chinese or German?

I'm thinking Spanish second only because it has so many speakers in so many nations but economically obviously it isn't critical globally.

I put Chinese and German there due to their economies but I don't know many people who know German or Chinese and yet they seem to do international business fine just knowing English.

I know French is meaningless along with Italian but I am curious as to Russian and if it could become more important if Russia returns from the shadow.

[Psychonaut]

There is only one possible answer: Pǔtōnghuà.

[Eldritch]

Spanish, besides English.

As for how important Chinese really is, I don't know. I guess it's fairly important, and its importance will grow.

German is important only if you intend to do business in German-speaking Europe.

And the importance of Russian will decrease even further in the future.

[Lábaru]

I think the Spanish is the second because is increasing in number in the U.S.

[Wyn]

Can 'Chinese' really be listed when all the different forms of spoken Chinese aren't mutually intelligible? I suppose I'd reiterate Psychonaut's choice of Standard Mandarin and include English. I don't know to what degree Spanish is used in global commerce, so I can't comment on that.

[Eldritch]

Can 'Chinese' really be listed when all the different forms of spoken Chinese aren't mutually intelligible? I suppose I'd reiterate Psychonaut's choice of Standard Mandarin and include English.

Well whenever this topic comes up, and people mention "Chinese", that's the form of Chinese I always assume they're talking about.

[Psychonaut]

Well whenever this topic comes up, and people mention "Chinese", that's the form of Chinese I always assume they're talking about.

Yeah, even us Chinese linguists don't usually single out Mandarin unless we're talking about some situation that might potentially involve some of the other Chinese dialects. Even though Wúyǔ is the second most commonly spoken Chinese language, no one would think to place it alongside Pǔtōnghuà in terms of potential global influence (no one except some pompous Shanghai aristocrat).

[Don]

1.- English.

2.- Castellano.

3.- 汉语/漢語.

[Comte Arnau]

First of all, define 'important'. A language that's important for me is not important for you, and vice versa.

At a global scale, let us be frank, there is only ONE language that is relevant in most fields related to global relationships, and that's the one I'm writing now in.

Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Hindostani... they are languages with a significant number of speakers but strongly attached to specific areas of the world. Their relevance becomes weaker and weaker the more we leave those areas.

French is the only language that, like English, got to be really transcontinental, although its grandeur is gone decades ago and, out of their native territories, its relevance has mainly reduced to Africa. Only the insistence of French speakers in not recognizing this fact has maintained the language in diplomatic spheres.

[Magister Eckhart]

English, American Spanish, and Mandarin Chinese are the dominant tongues on the planet; this is indisputable.

Most important, though? Well, I have long agreed with Martin Heidegger that German and Greek are the two languages best given to the discussion of philosophical truth because of their ability to express abstract concepts and the reality that is difficult to reach sensually. These therefore rank very high for the higher castes of men.

However, with the West on the way out, the two most important languages to understand are probably Russian and Arabic, since these are the two chief possibilities for the inheritors to our High Culture.

Resistance to the Mohammedan incursion from the Coloured World would best be facilitated by our ability to infiltrate and destroy them, which is impossible so long as we collectively lack even so much as a primitive understanding of Arabic. "How to Recognise the Enemy and his Culture" courses for the public in which Arabic and Farsi are taught may be prudent to keep them from overwhelming the Occident before we can enter our age of Caesarism.