Top 10 Most Spoken Languages In The World
Of the people on the planet, only ten languages are claimed as the mother tongue by over half of them.
It turns out that figuring out which languages are spoken most frequently around the world is harder than you may think. There will be some surprises, but we can fairly confidently predict that Mandarin, English, Spanish, and Arabic will be used (as well as roughly in what order). Could you have predicted that Bengali ranks among the top ten languages spoken worldwide?
One tiny warning: It is nearly difficult to assign "X million native speakers" or any hard figures to any of these languages. The definition of a language or dialect is a contentious topic. What's more concerning is that the term "Chinese" actually refers to a group of languages that are neatly grouped together into a single category, rather than a single language. A catch-all word for a variety of dialects and sub-dialects is "Hindi." The inaccuracy of data sources gathered at various times by various agencies hasn't even been acknowledged yet. The figures below were gathered by Ethnologue, which is regarded as the most comprehensive collection of language data available at the moment.
Who doesn't, however, enjoy a good list? We have therefore prepared two versions for you.
The Top Ten Languages With The Most Native Speakers
These are the most widely spoken languages in the world when counting solely native speakers.
1. Chinese — 1.3 Billion Native Speakers
There's no denying that Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world, even if estimates ranging from 900 million to 1.3 billion native speakers are reported by Ethnologue. This is the language to learn if you want to talk with one in six individuals worldwide. You'll be occupied for sure because Chinese is a tonal language that employs thousands of logograms.
2. Spanish — 486 Million Native Speakers
With over 486 million speakers, Spanish is more common than English among native speakers. Spanish is your best bet if you desire a language that will allow you to travel across entire continents. The politics of language and related identity are hotly debated, as is the case with all the languages on this list. Ask speakers of Catalan or Quechua if Spanish is their native tongue, and you'll likely receive a totally different response. However, it is undoubtedly the official language of Spain, a good portion of the United States, and most of South and Central America.
3. English — 380 Million Native Speakers
You could be one of the billion people who speak English as a second language or one of the 380 million or so native speakers who are reading this post. This demonstrates how well English has performed in its role as the universal language of commerce, travel, and international relations. Being the most widely used official language worldwide, it is also the most prevalent language in the world. English will continue to rule the international scene for the foreseeable future due to its relative ease of learning (particularly when compared to Chinese) and the ubiquitous soft power of American culture. English continues to be associated with opportunity and a higher standard of living for some people.
4. Arabic — 362 Million Native Speakers
According to recent estimates, there are 362 million native speakers of Arabic. However, here's another example where the stats don't convey the whole story: Similar to Chinese, Arabic's dialects range so greatly from one another that they are actually several languages combined into one for convenience's sake. Closely linked to the Classical Arabic of the Quran, Modern Standard Arabic is mainly written. Still, spoken Arabic in Morocco and Oman, for example, differs so much that a couple of philosophy professors from these nations may debate the subtleties of the old texts while still having trouble placing an order for lunch.
5. Hindi — 345 Million Native Speakers
India has twenty-three official languages, the most common being Hindi and Urdu. There is ongoing, intense disagreement over whether Hindustani is one language or two dialects. Urdu utilizes Persian notation, while Hindi, which is primarily spoken in northern India and some areas of Pakistan, uses Devnagri script. A little Hindi will go a long way if you ever travel to the Indian subcontinent. What's not to love? After all, this language brought us shampoo, the jungle, jodhpurs, and bungalows.
6. Bengali — 237 Million Native Speakers
Admit it: you were surprised to see Bengali on the list of languages most spoken. Bengal was separated into two parts by the British in 1947: West Bengal, which is now a part of India, and East Bengal, which is now Bangladesh. West Bengal was predominantly Hindu. It is the language of 130 million or more Bangladeshis, many of whom are highly vulnerable to climate change, Kolkata, the Andaman Islands, and delicious sweets. The population is predicted to quadruple over the next century, and 15% of the land area is predicted to perish under the increasing seas.
7. Portuguese — 236 Million Native Speakers
8. Russian — 148 Million Native Speakers
9. Japanese — 123 Million Native Speakers
10. Lahnda (Western Punjabi) — 118 Million Native Speakers
Top 10 Languages With The Most Speakers Overall
1. English
1.515 billion total speakers
2. Mandarin Chinese
1.140 billion total speakers
3. Hindi
609 million total speakers
4. Spanish
559 million total speakers
5. Standard Arabic
332 million total speakers
6. French
312 million total speakers
7. Bengali
278 million total speakers
8. Portuguese
264 million total speakers
9. Russian
255 million total speakers
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