some of... vs. some... et al.

This has been bothering me for a while w.r.t. Kash. Is it really necessary
to have such a distinction? Context... for ex.

Some people (or: [number] people) came to my house. One spoke French // One
of them spoke French.  Any difference?  Similarly, esp. when you cite a
specific number-- 50 people.... Some spoke French // Some of them spoke Fr.
etc. Similarly with most of the other quantifiers.

I can see that in a few cases, it might be necessary to know that one is
presupposing a specific vs. generic group-- "All people are fools" // "All
of the people [context required] are fools"; or a contrast, e.g.--
  --Some of thése tomatoes look good, but some of thóse are rotten.

I can see how to handle that, but as for the other usages, am I perhaps
worrying about nothing more than an English translation problem???

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