* No universally accepted definition of "Germanic language": There are many dialects and variations within the Germanic language family. It's difficult to draw a clear line between what counts as a distinct language and what counts as a dialect.
* Varying levels of fluency: Some people may only understand basic phrases, while others are fully fluent. Defining "speaker" can be subjective.
* Data limitations: Reliable data on language proficiency is often incomplete or outdated.
However, we can estimate a rough range:
* The most widely spoken Germanic languages are English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Icelandic.
* Combining these languages, there are likely hundreds of millions of speakers worldwide.
* Adding in smaller Germanic languages and dialects, the total number of speakers could easily exceed one billion.
Therefore, it's safe to say that hundreds of millions, if not over a billion people, speak Germanic languages globally.