If you have ever wondered how many languages there are in the world, this article is for you. There are more than 7,000 registered languages around the world. There are countries like Papua New Guinea, which have more than 800 languages and dialects. This is why we will focus on the total number of native speakers to establish this ranking, let’s get to know the 10 most spoken languages on the planet.
We are sure you will be surprised!
10. French
150 million people speak French natively and 72 million people speak it fluently or as a foreign language.
French is the official language of 29 countries.
There are different variants of French: Northern French, Southern French, Belgian French, Swiss French and Valle d’Aosta French.
9. Japanese
Japanese is spoken by more than 140 million people and is considered to be an isolated language, because although its origin is in Northeast Asia, it has not been possible to establish any relationship with other languages.
8. Russian
Russian can be found in two rankings: The world’s most difficult languages and the world’s most spoken languages.
Although it may not seem so, it is a very important language, estimated to be spoken by more than 170 million people. In addition, due to Russia’s presence in space technology, it is a requirement for foreign astronauts to know a certain amount of Russian.
7. Bengali
This language is used by approximately 228 million native speakers.
It is mainly spoken in South Asia (Bangladesh and West Bengal). It is the second most spoken of the 22 official languages of India, after Hindi.
6. Portuguese
With approximately 232 million speakers worldwide.
It is the official language of Portugal and Brazil, but also in Angola, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, among other countries.
Did you know that only 5% of Portuguese speakers (Portuguese speakers) live in Portugal, where the language originated.
5. Arabic
According to statistics, it is estimated that there are more than 280 million people who speak Arabic, in addition to being official in 20 countries. It has dozens of dialects, sometimes incomprehensible to each other.
If we previously decreed Russian as one of the most difficult languages, Arabic is also added to this list. Did you know that Arabic has the largest vocabulary in the world? 12 million words, no less!
4. Hindi
This language is only spoken as a first language in about 7 countries (mainly in India and Nepal). Its success is mainly due to the large population of these countries. The Hindi-speaking population is between 260 and 425 million speakers.
3. English
There are 370 million native English speakers spread over the 5 continents. But there are also 978 million people who speak English as a second or third language. So if we take into account native and non-native speakers, English would be the most spoken language in the world.
2. Spanish
Our language is the second most spoken language in the world with more than 470 million Spanish speakers. It is mainly spoken in Spain and Latin America, but also stands out in countries such as the United States, Brazil and Canada.
Mandarin Chinese
Around 920 million people in the world speak this language natively. It is one of the languages that is beginning to boom today. It is said that it will be the language of the future, having a good level of Mandarin Chinese is very important for a successful professional and personal future.
Are you considering learning Mandarin Chinese? Enroll in Mandarin Chinese courses online at Mandarin Centers Institute, this training center has native and Spanish-speaking teachers, the best place to learn Chinese in the Western Hemisphere.
