[Foundation-l] A simple question on languages.

[geni]

On 23/01/2008, Gregory Maxwell <gmaxwell at gmail.com> wrote:
> What is the minimum number of languages must you write in to
> effectively communicate with 99.9999% of all the world's literate
> people?
>

99.999 % would probably be around 200. "Literate" is the killer here.
Most mass literacy programs are generally run by governments who tend
to standardize on a very small number of languages (well outside india
which has 22). So you could make a reasonable start by looking at the
number of official languages.

 99.9999% is harder since groups of say 10K are going to have more of an impact.
-- 
geni