More people speak Malay than Hindi?

[D.G.Damle]

Does the count of Chienese speakers, simply count speakers of any Chinese Lnaguage or a specific Chineses Language?  As I understand it, Choina also has many languages, communication being enabled by a common system of writing more than through common speech.  So, are we talking about Mandarin speakers, which I expect is the largest group or all the different languages of China? 
 
Does anyone know whether there are many or several languages of China or they are rather like dialects?
 
But aren't most of these answers influenced by politics and chauvinism?  Doesn't it make more sense to place these speaker numbers into broader categories?  And other kinds of statistics might be more informative - such as the amount of different kinds of literature in it.  Use in official contexts, education, broadcasting, availability of speakers/translators etc. worldwide and so on?

	-----Original Message----- 
	From: South Asian Linguists on behalf of Greg Cooper 
	Sent: Sat 28/05/2005 06:49 
	To: VYAKARAN at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU 
	Cc: 
	Subject: Re: More people speak Malay than Hindi?
	
	

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	The fact that Hindi and Urdu are essentially the same language can be verified by testing any number of the millions of Pakistanis who watch Indian movies, on their comprehension of the speech in those movies. According to www.ethnologue.com, the Hindi/Urdu language even surpasses Spanish in its speaker population (including second-language speakers), meaning Hindi/Urdu is the third most spoken language in the world, after Chinese and English.
	
	Greg Cooper.
	
	>
	> From: "D.G.Damle" <D.G.Damle at OPEN.AC.UK>
	> Date: 28/05/2005 8:42:31
	> To: VYAKARAN at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
	> Subject: Re: More people speak Malay than Hindi?
	>
	> Probably uninformed, unresearched rubbish.  If only 50% of the nearly 1000 milllion Indians speak Hindi, and far more than that do, that's far bigger than 250 million.  In fact, far more than 50% of Indians speak Hindi now due to the Bollywood movies and so o, even many of them speak other languages and English as well.   Whether all the different varieties of Hindoi count as one language might be argued, but than is no different to the many varieties of English and Chinese.
	>
	> Dileep Damle
	>
	>       -----Original Message-----
	>       From: South Asian Linguists on behalf of Harold F. Schiffman
	>       Sent: Fri 27/05/2005 15:52
	>       To: VYAKARAN at LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
	>       Cc:
	>       Subject: More people speak Malay than Hindi?
	>
	>
	>
	>       VYAKARAN: South Asian Languages and Linguistics Net
	>       Editors:  Tej K. Bhatia, Syracuse University, New York
	>                 John Peterson, University of Osnabrueck, Germany
	>       Details:  Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say: INFO VYAKARAN
	>       Subscribe:Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say:
	>                 SUBSCRIBE VYAKARAN FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME
	>                 (Substitute your real name for first_name last_name)
	>       Archives: http://listserv.syr.edu
	>
	>       What say you Hindi-wallahs to the claim in this article that Malay
	>       is the fourth most frequently spoken language in the world, after Chinese,
	>       English and Spanish?
	>
	>       Hal S.
	>       **************************************************************************
	>
	>       Local Language Experts Attend Secretariat Meeting Of Mabbim
	>       By Rosli Abidin Yahya
	>
	>       Bandar Seri Begawan - In an effort to promote the Malay language and
	>       civilisation, seven experts recently attended the four-day 9th Secretariat
	>       Meeting of Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia Language Council (or
	>       Mabbim) in Bogor.
	>
	>       Led by Hanafiah Hj Zaini, a senior language officer with the Brunei
	>       Language and Literature Bureau (DBP), the event took place at Hotel Puncak
	>       Raya in Cisarua from May 10.
	>
	>       The opening ceremony was officiated by the Head of Indonesia Language
	>       Centre, Dr Dendy Suguno. The local delegates were divided into four
	>       clusters. Hanafiah, Dk Sainah Pg Hj Mohammad and Hjh Saddiah Ramli
	>       represented Brunei in the secretariat sector, Dr Sylviana Moris in dental,
	>       Dr Hj Jaludin Hj Chuchu and Alipudin Hj Omarkandi in analysis with Rasiah
	>       Hj Tuah in publication. The gathering was also a follow up to resolutions
	>       taken during the 44th Mabbim Executive Conference that was held in Mataram
	>       last March 9 and 11.
	>
	>       The respective tasks of member nations will be discussed at the 19" Mabbim
	>       Specialist Conference to be held in Brunei this September. Mabbim has been
	>       able to unify spelling systems and formed hundreds of thousands of
	>       terminology in a variety of subjects.
	>
	>       Malay, spoken by 250 million people, is now the fourth most commonly used
	>       language in the world after Chinese, English and Spanish. Mabbim was
	>       formed on May 23, 1972 with country members comprising Indonesia and
	>       Malaysia.
	>
	>       Before the Sultanate joined, the body was known as the Language Council of
	>       Indonesia and Malaysia (MBIM). Brunei was fully admitted as a member on
	>       November 4, 1985, after which the council adopted its present name
	>
	>       http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/May05/200505/nite25.htm
	>
	>
	>
	
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