20 Most Spoken Languages In The World
Which are the most spoken languages in the world? Have you ever wondered? Or have you ever tried to learn any of them?
Roughly Mandarin, English, Spanish, and Arabic are some of the most spoken languages in the world 2023.
But do you know that Bengali native speakers are vast in number? It makes the Bengali language one of the 10 most spoken languages in the world.
In this article, let’s explore more exclusive facts about the most spoken languages worldwide.
How Many Languages Are There In The World?
The latest report says there are around 7151 languages spoken to date.
However, the number of spoken languages is not fixed. The facts about each spoken language are changing every day.
Approximately 40% of all the languages spoken today are endangered.
Unlike the native speakers of the most widely spoken languages, they have only 1000 speakers. About 23 languages hold half of the world’s population.
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What Country Has The Most Spoken Languages In The World?
Papua New Guinea is the first among the top 10 multilingual countries globally. According to a world’s spoken languages catalogue, Papua New Guinea includes 839 living languages. The other countries in the list of most spoken languages are:
- Indonesia
- Nigeria
- India
- United States
- China
- Mexico
- Cameroon
- Australia
- Brazil
Is The English Language The Most Spoken Language In The World?
English is the most widely spoken language worldwide. It has 1.5 billion speakers.
English is a language of global communication.
It is a dominant language accepted as the official language worldwide.
English is more than the native language to many. With more connections, the popularity of the English language has also increased.
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Which Is The Second Most Spoken Language In The World?
Mandarin is a language of about 1117 million speakers. It is accepted as the second most spoken language.
What Are The Most Spoken Languages In The World?
Here is a complete list of most spoken languages in the world:
1. English
The world has 370 million native and non-native English speakers. So if you are reading this, you are one of them. About 978 million speakers use it as their second language. English is a successful language.
It marks its presence in the field of travel and business. English is a language spoken worldwide. The language is called the lingua franca of business.
It is the world’s most spoken language because it is easy to pick up. This legacy of the English language family will continue for ages. Do you want to know about Brazil Language? Then you’ve visited the correct post.
2. Mandarin Chinese
If you talk about only the native speakers, Mandarin is the most spoken language.
It is a tonal language with several logograms. The language belongs to the Sino Tibetan language family.
Mandarin has 918 million native speakers worldwide. It has been the second most spoken language worldwide. A set of dialects coming out of the Chinese language forms Mandarin Chinese characters.
One in six people speaks Mandarin in the world. China, Taiwan and Singapore hold Mandarin as their official language.
Also, see: Top 10 Hardest Languages To Learn
3. Spanish
The Spanish language has 471 million speakers. It belongs to the Romance language family.
The language is related to Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and French.
Spanish is popular as the internet language. Colonial expansion took this language very far.
This language is widespread in America, Africa and Asia. In the United States, one will find the largest number of Spanish speakers.
This language is one of the easiest foreign languages. Spanish is the only language with the maximum number of learners throughout the world.
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4. Portuguese
Portuguese belonged to the family of Romance.
It is one among the five most spoken languages in the world. Portuguese originated in the Medieval Galicia.
The language is related to French, Italian, Romanian and Spanish languages.
Medieval Galicia was in the north of Portugal. Interestingly not a huge number of native Portuguese speakers reside in Portugal.
A recent agreement in 2009 added “k”, “w”, and “y” to the Portuguese alphabet.
Portuguese is the official language of Brazil. It is a very common language.
5. Indonesian
Indonesian belonged to the language family of Austronesian.
Indonesian is primarily related to the Malay language. It also has the essence of Javanese, Sundanese and Madurese.
It is predominant in the Eastern region. It contains a standardized variation of Malay.
Indonesian has become the Malaysian official language. There are some distinct dialects across Indonesia that are used in the language. The language has easy pronunciation. Even the simple structure makes it a favourable language for the learners.
6. Arabic
Arabic belonged to the Semitic language family. It is a sub-family of Afro-Asiatic.
The language of Arab is closely related to Hebrew, Amharic and Aramaic
The language has, surprisingly, 11 words for love. The words describe the steps to falling in love.
Arabic has around 295 million native speakers. It has become the sixth most spoken language in the world.
Arabian language has influences from European languages.
Spanish and Portuguese influence the language with some words with the same sounds.
Arabic makes a mark on the English language, too.
7. Bangla/Bengali
The Bengali language has 265 million speakers. It connects to the Indo-European language family.
The language is tricky yet interesting. The Bengali language connects Hindi, Punjabi, Marathi, Kashmiri, and Nepali.
Bangla is one of the most widely used language.
It has different writing systems in the world!
Bengali is also popularly known as Bangla. It is a widely spoken language in Bangladesh and India.
It is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world. Bangla is the most beautiful language spoken after French.
Bangla is the seventh most spoken language in the world. The meaning and the vowel sound never fail to impress.
8. Russian
There is a presence of the Russian language in space technology. So if you have a plan to become an astronaut, you must learn the language.
The Russian language has 258 million speakers. It belongs to the East Slavic family of Indo European language family.
It is a difficult yet most widely spoken language.
Russian has become the eighth most spoken language in the world. Russian grammar has 200,000 words.
Funnily one word in the Russian language has more than one meaning. The language has become the official language of four different countries.
The native speakers of the former Soviet Union use this as their national language. You will find Russian native speakers throughout Europe.
9. Hindi
Hindi emerged from Indo-Aryan, a sub-family of the Indo-European language family.
Hindi is the third most spoken language in the world.
It has 615 million native speakers. The language connects itself with Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Kashmiri and Nepali.
The most incredible fact is that many English words are similar to Hindi. Words like “jungle”, “cheetah”, “avatar”, etc., are used both in English and Hindi.
Such words have been borrowed from the Hindi language. Hindi has its roots in Sanskrit. If you are in India, you should learn the official language a bit.
Hindi is the widely known official language of this country. This language is also used in Nepal, Fiji, Mauritius and Guyana.
10. German
German has around 132 million speakers in all. The language is closely related to English, Dutch and Frisian. It originated from the west Germanic Indo–European family.
The language has over a 100million native speakers.
German is strictly the official language of Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein.
The vocabulary of German contains some super-specific words. The language has seemingly endless sentences.
11. Korean
The first form of the Korean language was discovered in 1446 CE. It was during the rule of the Joseon dynasty.
One can connect the Korean language to the Altaic languages. The countries of Turkey, Russia and Japan use Korean. It has around 82 million speakers around the world.
There are 82 million speakers of Korean all over the world. More than half of the speakers are scattered in China, the United States, Canada, etc.
King Sejong invented the Korean language. The Korean alphabet has 24 letters.
12. Swahili
The Swahili language is originally the Bantu language spoken. People of Eastern Africa and the Comoros Islands use this language.
It has about 69 million native and non-native speakers. The different dialects of Swahili include Coastal, Kiunga, and Wete.
The Swahili speakers use various pronunciations. It makes the language hard to grab.
The language incorporates Arabic languages, English words and Portuguese.
13. Italian
Italian is a beautiful language with rich history and culture. One should learn this language as this language will remain for years to come.
Around 68 million native and non-native Italian speakers are there in the world.
It belongs to the Romance language family.
The Italian alphabet has 21 letters with 5 vowels and 16 consonants.
One will find the influence of French in this language.
Italian is the official language of Italy, Switzerland, and San Marino.
14. Japanese
Around 126 million native Japanese reside in Japan. Japan uses two different writing systems, hiragana and katakana.
The language has heavy influences from the Chinese Kanji characters.
Many Japanese speakers reside in the United States, Brazil and the Philippines.
15. Lahnda (Western Punjabi)
Lahnda is a Pakistani macrolanguage. It includes Western Punjabi.
The language has around 118 million native speakers.
During independence, British divided Punjab was divided in two.
It inevitably forced millions of people to leave their homes and work.
The new language is now trendy, and Punjabi songs now have 50 per cent of chart-toppers.
16. Iranian Persian (Farsi)
The Iranian Persian language is also known as the Farsi language.
The language is closely related to Kurdish, Ossetic, Pashto, and Tati.
It has around 74 million speakers.
The primarily written form of Persian appeared in 226-651 CE. The use of this language declined when the Islamic era prevailed.
The popularity of the language slowly increased between the years 1925-1935. It was during the rule of Reza Shah’s dynasty.
Farsi became the language concerning the school subject for all schools in Iran.
Native speakers of this language either are scattered all over the world. The extensively used dialects of this language add Eastern and Western varieties.
Related blog: How Many Languages Are Spoken In Australia?
17. Vietnamese
Seventy-seven million people use the Vietnamese language.
Vietnamese is a tonal language.
It uses the Latin alphabet.
The Vietnamese alphabet or Latin alphabet has 29 letters with various accents.
Vietnamese originated from ancient languages.
Those languages were primarily spoken in southern China.
Chinese, French, and English influenced the language.
It emerged during the first millennium. Later in 1918, it was written down in the Romanized script.
The Vietnamese also added new symbols like six tones in their writing systems. Vietnamese is a very popular language today.
18. Telugu
Telugu is a language primarily spoken in India. It is one of the oldest languages on earth. Around 96 million speakers use this language. The Telugu language uses its own script.
It is an exciting fact that Telugu is an independent language. You will hardly find any similarity between this language with others.
One writes the Telugu words in syllables rather than letters. There are 60 symbols in the Telugu writing system.
19. Tamil
The Tamil language is on the list of oldest world languages.
It is an Indian language.
Tamil belongs to the Dravidian language family. The native speakers of this language are dispersed everywhere in the world.
The Tamil language has around 85 million speakers.
The language has its origin rooted 1,500 years ago. It is a widely used language in India. Tamil marks as the official languages in Singapore and Sri Lanka.
One will find the Tamil language similar to other languages like Kannada and Malayalam.
In Sri Lanka, too, people speak in Tamil. It is a very sweet language.
20. Marathi
Marathi is one of the most popular Indian languages.
It is also one of the oldest languages on planet earth. It is primarily the language of Maharashtra.
Marathi is commonly spoken in the state of Goa.
The governments of other Indian states equally use it. Many semi- Government organizations also use this language.
Marathi is one among the most spoken languages yet not popular outside India. Marathi’s geographical reach is not as wide as other languages on this list of most spoken languages across the world.
Why Should I Learn The Most Spoken Languages In The World?
Learning the most spoken language is beneficial in any ways. It is good to have knowledge of other cultures.
It provides an opportunity to understand various communities’ traditions, customs, and perspectives. It even provides opportunities to work anywhere.
The Final Verdict
Learning a new language makes you more intelligent. You become more confident. New and improved opportunities open in front of you. You can move to a new country with separate languages.
You will never know what is in store for you. So learn various languages in the world. Be prepared to accept challenges.
Frequently Asked Questions
What language is the fastest to write?
Chinese is the easiest language to write in overall, whether you write by hand or type.
What was the first language used by humans?
The possible straight genetic ancestor of all spoken languages throughout the globe is the Proto-Human language (also known as Proto-Sapiens or Proto-World). If so, sign languages would not be their ancestors. The idea is speculative and resistant to history linguistics study.
What language will have the most speakers worldwide?
Because of its enormous population, Mandarin is expected to be the most commonly used language in 2050. The ongoing use and spread of Chinese languages throughout the globe will depend heavily on China’s economic impact.
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