[fer]

> of the languages spoken by five million people or more within a thousand miles or so of where you live, what percentage do you know

By that metric you shouldn't feel bad for not speaking Russian in most of Russia, or for not knowing the most common languages in your immediate surroundings in large swaths of Africa (i.e. most Bantu languages would be excluded).

[musicale]

The essay is a bit tongue in cheek, but I think that was basically the point.