开云体育

So I'm updating this page, today, and...

Wait.? First, maybe stop reading and come back to it.? Before you get to the end, think about what countries you think/assume have the greatest number of Engish speakers (as a first or second language).? If you live where most or lots of people speak English, think of where your country might be on an ordered list.??
__________________

So I'm updating this page, today, and...

Lots of my stories start that way now. :-)? Years back, if I created a new page it was probably because there had been an epiphany expressed in a discussion, and I didn't have a page to put it on, or there had been a rip-roaring argument in a discussion, and those tend to inspire the writers to WRITE. :-)? But now, it's routine maintenance, most times.

Surprise yet to come; hang on.

The Robin Hood quote I brought here about food, I ended up putting on an obscure page of mine called .? I put it there because the word "content" in that quote has the emphases on the second syllable.? For contrast, I put Bo Burnham's brief bit (from his special "Inside") called "Content" (emphasis on the first syllable).? That's at SandraDodd.com/nounverb

?

THE SURPRISE:

?

India has over three times as many English speakers as the United Kingdom has. The UK is #6?, behind the U.S., India, Pakistan, Nigeria and The Phillippines. (The details and disclaimers on that page are fun.)

I checked to make sure that link still worked.?My page used to say the UK was #5 on the list, but the link DID work, and the UK had been downgraded to #6, by the addition of Pakistan.

Canada and Australia aren't even in the top ten.??

New Zealand is listed after Singapore, but looking at the numbers, I think those two have switched places (or someone updated numbers), and perhaps the table that's there is static, rather than set up to sort by a particular field.? So NZ should be up one, seems to me.

Sandra (lover of English, lover of trivia, big fan of the UK and amused)

?

Here are the complaints and questions about that page. :-)??

I'm off track from discussing how unschooling works, in a way, but not (in another way).? ALL information came from somewhere (sometimes out of someones nether regions or imagination), and the real learning and knowledge doesn't come from hearing and repeating, but in looking and asking, thinking, following trails back to sources, questioning, wondering about it, checking back.??

#1, for unschooling that summary is Read a little, try a little, wait a while, watch.

#2, for that wikipedia page, if Nigeria is argued off it's spot, then the UK is back up to #5.

Of those top spots as it currently stands, U.S., India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Phillippines, the U.S. "did" the Phillippines, but England did the rest.? It's an interesting effect of colonization (a word much misused and abused this year) that the parent country or language will complain about a new variant (or accent, or choices of spellings, or use of commas :-) ).??

A tipping point came when Asian countries preferred American or Canadian English to British, in visiting teachers, or authors of instructional materials, at least in South Korea, but maybe other countries to different degrees at different times.?

I love this stuff.? Sorry to bore those who don't (who already quit reading; that's fine :-) )

?

Sandra