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letnja_kisha) wrote2004-05-17 11:22 am
letnja_kisha) wrote2004-05-17 11:22 am
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Major languages of the world
Number of native speakers
1. Mandarin Chinese 836,000,000
2. Hindi 333,000,000
3. Spanish 332,000,000
4. English 322,000,000
5. Bengali 189,000,000
6. Arabic 186,000,000
7. Russian 170,000,000
8. Portuguese 170,000,000
9. Japanese 125,000,000
10. German 98,000,000
11. French 72,000,000
12. Malay 50,000,000
(from http://www.al-bab.com/arab/language/lang.htm). They seem to have combined all Arabic variants into one - whether that is legitimate or not, is an open question.
Another rating, also by number of native speakers:
1. Mandarin Chinese, 890 million
2. Spanish, 330 million
3. English, 320 million
4. Bengali, 190 million
5. Hindi, 180 million
6. Portuguese, 170 million
7. Russian, 170 million
8. Japanese, 125 million
9. German, 120 million
10. Wu Chinese, 77 million
11. Javanese, 75 million
12. Korean, 75 million
13. French, 72 million
1. Mandarin Chinese 836,000,000
2. Hindi 333,000,000
3. Spanish 332,000,000
4. English 322,000,000
5. Bengali 189,000,000
6. Arabic 186,000,000
7. Russian 170,000,000
8. Portuguese 170,000,000
9. Japanese 125,000,000
10. German 98,000,000
11. French 72,000,000
12. Malay 50,000,000
(from http://www.al-bab.com/arab/language/lang.htm). They seem to have combined all Arabic variants into one - whether that is legitimate or not, is an open question.
Another rating, also by number of native speakers:
1. Mandarin Chinese, 890 million
2. Spanish, 330 million
3. English, 320 million
4. Bengali, 190 million
5. Hindi, 180 million
6. Portuguese, 170 million
7. Russian, 170 million
8. Japanese, 125 million
9. German, 120 million
10. Wu Chinese, 77 million
11. Javanese, 75 million
12. Korean, 75 million
13. French, 72 million
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А так просто интересно, что считаешь по-разному, и совсем другие результаты получаются.
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*falls over laughing*
No wonder there are Chinese people all over the place, here too...
All those zeros...>_
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Mentioning the Arabs to the Maltese would be like willingly jumping on a land mine! I can't even describe how much the Maltese can't stand the Arabs (I'm really full of ethnic conflicts lol) and been associated with them is just, not done.
I don't blame them though, as most of the Arabs we get here are major criminals, the type that follow you around making "psssst" noises behind you...
It sounds like a bad comedy but it's crazy.
Maltese is the only semitic language written in latin alphabet. It's pretty romantic really. Malta was under British rule for 160 years and therefore the Maltese are all the more proud of their language. During those times Maltese was forbidden everywhere but the farms, basically. I remember hearing stories about my school (pretty snobby, catholic, etc) where the students would get their hands whipped for speaking in their language.
Pretty sad.
And that's why I speak it loud and proud hehe, even if it has no importance in the world.
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Can you understand spoken Arabic?
And do all Maltese people still speak Maltese?
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I was in Tunisia a few years back and it was amazing how much I understood. They speak much faster and the language is 'rougher' than Maltese is (if that's possible!) but all in all I'd understand about 70%. It was also amusing to see how they respect Maltese people (they kept reciting this little phrase to us whenever we said where we're from which literally means "Malta is holy like bread and sardines", which I've been told is a good thing lol) even though it's a 99% Roman Catholic country.
When my mum first came here, all newspapers and TV channels were in English. Malta had only been independant for 20 odd years but now, everything is in Maltese and a great majority speak Maltese as their first language. There's also a population of Maltese who use English as their second language (generally these people are more educated and have attended private schools) and don't use Maltese at all. I have many friends who are 100% Maltese and yet don't even speak their own language, which I find pretty pathetic. There are times where I wish I don't understand Maltese, but it's always better to be aware of what's going on around you.
Malta is a sociologist's paradise, it seems. Or a shrink's ;)
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So bread and sardines are the holy things in Tunisia, interesting :-)
English-Maltese dualism is actually very understandable - once Malta became independent, they wanted their own identity, so the Maltese resurrection figures. Just as the non-Maltese speaking Maltese (it's a prestige issue, just like many language prejudices).
How come Malta is Roman Catholic and speaks a vernacular Arabic variety after being under the English? Where do the Maltese people come from originally?
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Now that my exams are over I'm pretty much floating on air <3
I could probably learn Arabic in a short time, but as in German, it's a language I *really* don't like and for me to learn a language I have to fall in love with it and its people, even though I'm not exactly crazy about the French ;) Spanish will be next on my list hopefully.
God, I wanted to kill myself by the end of my trip in Tunisia because of that phrase. I went there with my aunt when I was 15 and we went all over the country. The fondest memory was jumping in an Oasis waterfall, clothes on, in 44 C weather :)
So, to the tougher questions. Malta was conquered by the Arabs and that's where the language originates from. However, in 60 AD St Paul was shipwrecked on the islands, taking the opportunity to introduce Catholicism to the islands.
The Maltese are a mix of many things. You'll find people who are as dark as Arabs, while most are fair skinned but dark haired like Italians and THEN, you'll see someone blonde with blue eyes speaking Maltese, who most probably would have someone English in their family.