English is the largest language in the world, if you count both native and non-native speakers. If you count only native speakers, Mandarin Chinese is the largest.
Source: Ethnologue
Patrick Russo
Alex DamianouIf you take the ratio of total speakers to native speakers, the ranking differs a bit. The ratio of total to native speakers in French and English is 3.6:1 and 3.0:1, but they aren't the highest. Swahili (6.1:1), Jula (6:1), and Indonesian (4.6:1) are the top 3 in terms of total to native speakers -- what is driving adoption of these languages by non native speakers?
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