most important unistate language

What is the most important language spoken in only one country?

Mandarin, of course. Only spoken in CHINA (Singapore excluded, though Singaporean speak Mandarin, together with English).

There is a diaspora of Mandarin speakers, though.

Japanese is pretty important too.

Yes, but, unfortunately the title is "the most important ..."

Yes, but we should be comparing the relative importance of unistate languages, even if it is clear that Chinese is ahead. That way it is more interesting. The point of the thread wasn't to get a one word answer "Chinese", it was to stimulate discussion and analysis.

Italian

I can't think of a language that doesn't have a diaspora. Do you know any?

Probably very small languages lack a diaspora. I mentioned Mandarin because there are Chinatowns in so many places in the world. In Yokohama, in S F, in Boston, in Los Angeles, in NY, in Toronto...

Where do you draw the line between a handful of immigrants and a diaspora?

test

<<Probably very small languages lack a diaspora. I mentioned Mandarin because there are Chinatowns in so many places in the world. In Yokohama, in S F, in Boston, in Los Angeles, in NY, in Toronto..>>

Yes, but in how many of these Chinatowns do they actually speak Mandarin? Usually, it's something like Cantonese.

But I do agree that Mandarin is the most important of unistate languages.

In Europe it is either Italian or Polish.

Here in Sydney's Chinatown, even Cantonese who've been living here for generations, are forced to pick up Mandarin for economic reasons.

Flemish.