logoalt Hacker News

shortrounddev2yesterday at 4:20 PM2 repliesview on HN

As their first language, perhaps


Replies

InsideOutSantayesterday at 4:33 PM

There are only about 400 million native English speakers. You can't just add up the population of English speaking countries, because that excludes immigrants living in these countries, and people born there who did not learn English as their first language.

As for people who learned it later, even in Europe, only about 40% self-identify as being able to speak English. If you visit places like China or Indonesia, you'll soon notice that very few people know more than a few basic words in English once you leave the tourist areas.

show 2 replies
Retricyesterday at 4:23 PM

That’s at all, there are only ~380 million native English speakers.

Of that 1/3 (of the global population) a significant percentage have extremely limited skills, though the threshold is above knowing a few random words.

show 2 replies