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#2

The Literal Meaning Of Every Country's Name In Africa

Final score:

118points

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#3

Endings Of Places In Poland

Final score:

113points

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If you have ever taken a casual look at an average map of the world, you have no doubt been struck by the sheer size of Russia and, to a lesser extent, Canada. This does make sense, as these are the largest countries on the planet, however, did you know that a little feature of mapmaking called Mercator projection makes them look significantly larger than they really are?

This comes from the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, who created a “cylindrical” map to represent the world in 1569. After all, unless you are looking at a globe, most maps are drawn, painted, or printed on a rectangular surface. Imagine the tube-like maps pirates are always dragging around and you have a pretty good depiction of an early Mercator map.

#4

Average Color Of US State Based On Satellite Imaging

Final score:

98points

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#5

What’s The Most Popular Sport In Each Country?

Final score:

86points

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#6

Time Needed To Earn 1€ Million Earning On Average Wage

Final score:

84points

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After all, the real landmasses on the planet, which are spherical, don’t translate 1-to-1 on a rectangular map. Certain sections end up stretched and, as a result, appear to be a lot larger than they actually are. Mercator chose to “focus” the map on the northern hemisphere, where locations closer to the “top” of the map would end up seeming larger. Hence Russia and Canada being absolutely gigantic on so many maps.

#7

Population Density In China

Final score:

84points

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#8

How Many % Of People Would Not Want To Live Next Door To Lgbt People?

Final score:

81points

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#9

World Map According To China In 1799

Final score:

80points

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In fact, at the time, these maps were specifically created to aid in marine navigation. While it’s quite irrelevant to us, early seafarers could use a Mercator map to get a “straight” bearing when sailing to a new location. On a map that doesn’t use Mercator projection, the bearing would be a curve, representing the curve of the globe.

#10

U.S. States That Have Banned The Most Books (In Autumn 2022)

Final score:

76points

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#11

Percentage Of Population (25-64yrs) In Europe That Cant Speak Any Foreign Language

Final score:

67points

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TotallyNOTAFox 1 year ago

English is mandatory here in Germany, additionally there are usually choices for french and spanish on top

40points

WindySwede 1 year ago

Swe to. Then you cal choose fre/ger/spa after a few years as a third. I went with German.

7points

Donald 1 year ago

It was in my state of NJ, I took Spanish from 2nd to 8th grade. Switched it up to Latin for 3 years in high school.

4points

Sam Lombardo 1 year ago

Sure, but there are many older people who never learned them.

2points

Bored Retsuko 1 year ago

Also many people grow up bilingual.

2points

WA2DK 1 year ago

Same in Denmark. I think they start teaching English to kids in 1st Grade. And later most kids can choose either German or French.

0points

Perkins Family 1 year ago

I live in Louisiana. At one time, many residents spoke Cajun French (which is more akin to Canadian French). The state government saw French as a not desirable language, so they began banning it in schools and other places, plus they punished students who openly spoke French. Within a few generations, it has almost completely vanished. Now most schools opt to only teach Spanish.

0points

Annik Perrot 1 year ago

English is mandatory here in France as well, from elementary school. I did 7 years in those as a visiting teacher, until they got all the teachers trained for it, and they didn't need us "intervenants extérieurs " any longer. Not sûre if it works better, because we were all chosen for our good pronunciation and accent, which any given elementary school teacher may or may not have,but it saves money, so...

0points

sturmwesen 1 year ago

my school offered italian as third language (1. english 2. latin/french 3. spanish/italian)

0points

Joe B Kearns 1 year ago

Technically Ireland should be at 0% sincde we all speak a foreign language - English

12points

Curlz 1 year ago

Not every Irish person can speak Irish though

2points

Emma S 1 year ago (edited)

We're proud of that in the UK. Everyone know that when meeting a non English speaker you just speak louder and point. 🤣

9points

Phil 1 year ago

And we Americans inherited that knowledge from you.

4points

Kevin the Manager 1 year ago

Isn't English obligatory in most countries? It seems to be the "worldwide trade" language. No?

5points

Astrophile 1 year ago

I wouldn’t say it’s “obligatory in most countries,” but it’s certainly obligatory in a few countries and widely taught in many others. Fun fact, English is such a common worldwide language that the majority of English speakers on earth aren’t native English speakers :)

3points

Pittsburgh rare 1 year ago

It usually is, but studying x number of years and being able to speak it are two very different things. E.g, in Spain is compulsory from an early age but most people can't speak it. Cultural reasons and having everything dubbed on TV play a role.

2points

Boudewijn van der Mik 1 year ago

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kelly 1 year ago

I'm so jealous of people that are bilingual or multilingual! I tried to learn spanish 3 times, and german once through classes at school. I failed :(

4points

Perkins Family 1 year ago

Same here. I would love to be fluent in the languages and cultures of my ancestors (French, Irish, German, Spanish, Native American).

0points

Rob 1 year ago

As foreign language education keeps getting cut, I can only assume that the UK will go down the rankings. I'm 54, and we all had to learn at least 1, usually French, German or Spanish at school.

3points

Ace 1 year ago (edited)

I do wonder about the 8.3% in Switzerland, given that they have four languages that are not 'foreign', so nearly everyone can speak more than just their mother tongue. Absolutely not surprised to see the UK so high - they just don't feel the need. What;'s the equivalent number for North America?

2points

Sea Squirrel 1 year ago

I'm not sure about the USA but when we lived in Michigan, my 8 year old had Spanish at elementary school. In the Netherlands they learned English and also some French and German en middle school.

1point

Fora Nakit 1 year ago

This is weird. For decades elementary school has been obligatory in Croatia, and in elementary school, you learn at least one foreign language, extending to high school and further. It should be fare fewer people not knowing some other language by now.

2points

smugdruggler 1 year ago

I bet if you excluded people who's second language is English, England would be embarrassingly into the nineties.

1point

boredkitten 1 year ago

After Brexit it will go down. We foreigners are probably those in the statistics. We speak English plus our native language as a minimum.

1point

Gary 1 year ago

In our defence (UK) you all speak english, so..

1point

BarkingSquirell 1 year ago

Weird, when I was in Sweden most people spoke English, with a cute British accent because their schools favoured British English.

1point

Strahd Ivarius 1 year ago

outside of my country, everybody is speaking a foreign language

1point

C. S. 1 month ago

Despite many Americans only speaking English, and getting upset when they hear other languages in public, our government will print any government form or literature in any language as we do not have a legal official language.

0points

Lene 1 year ago

I live in Denmark and started having English at school when I was 10yo (my daughter who is 6yo just started having English this year! Lol). I can not remember how it was to only know one language. (Have since had German, French, Latin, Old Norse and a little Arabic in my school "carreer"). I am so fascinated that my dad knows exactly 1 word in German (tod) and 2 words in English (yes, no). He loves to read books and I want to lend him so many great ones I have on my shelves.... but they are in English. I cannot truly understand or relate to how it must feel to be an adult and only know 1 language. I don't feel superior to my dad for it. It just puts a limit to what knowledge I can share with him. And it's a bit sad because we both love to learn new things. It would be a major world-expansioning experience for him if he was to suddenly understand English. Perhaps in his next lifetime he'll be fluent. 😁

0points

Stephanie Barr 1 year ago

Now do the US

0points

Barbara Seeberger 1 year ago

Brits are so arrogant- they expect everyone to speak their language

0points

Kurichfield 1 year ago

now do 'murica

0points

Foto Gini 1 year ago

Look at this well educated European Countries (not all of them but the top ones). And look at the snobby Brits. Now you know...

0points

Holly McRell 1 year ago

I took German in high school because the teacher was cute. While I still remember how to say I have a headache in German, (Ich habe Kopfschmerzen) I really wish he had taught Spanish instead.

0points

Veronica Monell 1 year ago

America should be shown I bet it's also very low loo

0points

Ginny 1 year ago

This is not right

0points

Miki 1 year ago

0points

Roan The Demon Kitty 1 year ago

I am defiant. I'm a half Irish half Romanian living in the UK and I'm fairly multilingual (not just in those languages either) maybe not at a super native level but enough to get by xP

0points

James Twong 1 year ago

Ah 'Global Britain' in action, as promised by the Brexit imbeciles.

0points

Richienotsorich 11 months ago

Another Remainian abusing leave voters rather than actually listening to their reasons. This graphic perfectly shows that we did very little to fit in with our neighbours.

0points

Lesbean Soup 1 year ago

As someone in the UK it's frustrating that learning a language is not mandatory, it's really important to learn another language for many reasons.

0points

detective miller's hat 1 year ago

I wish we'd had better language teachers in school. Took Spanish for 9 years and I can't speak a word of it. :/

0points

quentariel 1 year ago

I wonder if this includes other official languages a country has. Are they counted as foreign languages or not?

0points

Start Wearing Purple 1 year ago

@quentariel I can only respond for Switzerland, where we have different official languages according to the region. So, depending whether you live in the German, the French or the Italian speaking part, the three other national languages are considered as foreign. Finally, there are few bilingual places where two languages are considered as local. I live in such a town, where French and German are equally considered as local languages. All public communication is in both languages. There are French and German classes in public schools and there are bilingual public schools where classes are taught in both languages equally. Unfortunately, places are very limited, so most kids will go to French or German school. The other language is still very present though and most extracurricular activities are bilingual. If you live in the Rumantsch speaking part, I believe German is considered as a local language too, but I'm not sure about that. I don't know how public life is organised there

0points

#12

Europe’s National Animals

Final score:

61points

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