Have you ever wondered which are among the most spoken languages in the world?
We are surrounded daily by people who speak a different language than ours and without our will we bump into them or situations where we are put face to face with an unknown language, but we have never asked ourselves which of these languages is the most dominant a lot.
Of course, we all first think of the English language, which is really at the top, but you will be surprised by the other languages, which I assure you you won’t even think can be in the top 10.
1. English
We all expected the English language to be in the first place. It has 1,132 million speakers, such as:
- Native speakers: 379 million
- Non-native speakers: 753 million
For example, a bilingual person, who speaks Spanish and English, can understand 1 in 3 people who connect to the Internet. In addition, he or she can access over 60% of everything published on the web.
2. Mandarin
I suppose that this is one of the languages that you would not have expected to be at the top, especially in second place.
Therefore, you will be surprised to learn that the Mandarin language is spoken by 1,117 million speakers, slightly below English.
It has:
- Native speakers: 918 million
- Non-native speakers: 199 million
Adding native and non-native speakers, Mandarin is the second most widely spoken language in the world. However, it is the first, if only native speakers are taken into account.
3. Hindi ( 615 million speakers )
Hindi is the third most spoken language in the whole world.
It has:
- Native speakers: 341 million
- Non-native speakers: 274 million
Hindi is, along with English, one of the 22 official languages of India, the second most inhabited country in the world. The region’s linguistic diversity (more than 1,600 languages coexist) explains the high rate of non-native speakers who use it as a lingua franca.
4. Spanish ( 534 million speakers )
I suppose that in the Spanish language you would have expected a lot to appear at this top. As a result, it occupies the astonishing place of the fourth most spoken language in the world.
It has:
- Native speakers: 460 million
- Non-native speakers: 74 million
Spanish is the second of the most widely spoken languages globally in terms of the number of native speakers. In addition, it is the most spoken of the Romance languages and is the third most used on the internet.
5. French
French is among the most loved languages in the world because of the accent it is therefore spoken by 280 million speakers.
It has:
- Native speakers: 77 million
- Non-native speakers: 203 million
If English is the language of business, French is considered the language of culture. Its enormous importance is also reflected in the fact that it is the third language with the largest number of non-native speakers.
6. Arabic
Arabic is the official language of 26 countries. Due to this territorial coverage, it is actually a set of dialects. It is also the liturgical language of Islam.
It is spoken by 274 million speakers, and it has:
- Native speakers: 245 million
- Non-native speakers: 29 million
It is not only the language that treasures the enormous cultural legacy of the Arab world but also a necessary tool for the field of business in that region of the world.
7. Bengali
This is also one of the languages that you would not have expected to be at the top, but it is especially, it occupies the seventh place.
It is spoken by 265 million speakers, and it has:
- Native speakers: 228 million
- Non-native speakers: 37 million
Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh. In addition, people speak it in some areas of India and Burma. It may come as a surprise that a language spoken in such a small territory appears in a list of the most spoken languages in the world. However, it makes sense when you think about the population density of that region.
8. Russian
The Russian language is among the most controversial at the time, given the circumstances, but it is in the top 10 of the most spoken languages in the world, with 258 million speakers
It has:
- Native speakers: 154 million
- Non-native speakers: 104 million
Less surprising is the inclusion of Russian among the most widely spoken languages globally if we think about Russian history and territories. It is the official language of four countries, but people also speak it in all those parts of the former Soviet Union. It is the language with the largest number of native speakers in all of Europe.
