Top 8 Most Spoken Languages In The World

It is estimated that around 3,000 to 8,000 languages are spoken worldwide. It is rather difficult to obtain the exact figure for this since the experts in this field are unable to determine whether it is a language or the same dialect that is spoken.

However, as many as 6,909 languages are listed as of now and only 6% are used by more than 1 million people. It collectively contributes to 94% of the world's population. Here we would like to share with you the top 7 most spoken languages in the world.

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8. Russian Language

The Russian language is the official language of Russia, the biggest country in the world. The number of Russian citizens in 2022 comprised 146,084,805 people in which all of them speak this language.

But the Russian language is also used in other countries such as Moldova, Latvia, and Ukraine. It is known as the official language of Belarus and Kazakhstan. The Russian language is the most spoken native language in Europe.

In the 20th century, this language is not only spoken by urban residents and the top elite group but also among the commoners around the world.

7. Bengali

Bengali is the official language spoken by the people of Bangladesh and there are some countries like India and Myanmar that also practice this language. With around 265 million people speaking the language in 2020, it is not a surprise to see it on this list.

In India, Bengali is mostly spoken in the western Bengala region from Tripura to Manipur. The language expanded from the eastern dialect of the Indo-Arya language that is known as Pracya and it was a dialect used by the Buddhists in India around 700BC.

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6. Arabic

Arabic is the Middle-Eastern Semitic language that exists during the Metal Age on the west coast of Arab that is now the main communicative language for the Arabian Peninsula. The name was given as such to visualize the population that lived in Mesopotamia from east to west and the Sinai Peninsula.

Arabic also happens to be the language of the Quran and the official language of Islam. The modern Arabic language is obtained from classic Arabic. Both types of the Arabic language have been officially merged together as Arabian literature (fusha) and became the official language of 26 countries.

5. French

Who knows how many people around the world speak French? Based on the record, around 280 million people around the globe have mastered the pronunciation of the language perfectly.

It is definitely a language full of complexity especially when it comes to pronouncing the words correctly. 45% of the people who speak this language is from Africa since 2018.

4. Spanish

The language is used by more than 527 million people originating from Indo-European and Romanic families. 75% of the Spanish language is obtained from Latin and the other big portion is from the Ibero-Romanic language.

It happens to be the 6th official language of the United Nation, the European Union, the Union of South American Nations, Caribbean countries, and many other organizations. The language itself is mostly spoken in the American continent with around 418 million populations speakers.

It is definitely one thought language to master and borrows most of its words from the English language.

3. Hindi

Also known as Hindavi, Dehlavi, Urdu-e-Mualla, and Rekta, the language is used by more than 544 million people around the world. It is the language mostly spoken in northern India and Pakistan.

The language has been obtained from the Indo-Aryam language and its foundation is from the dialect of Khariboli from Delhi, India. Aside from India and Pakistan, it is also used by other countries like Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, and Nepal.

The vocabulary was mostly merged from Sanskrit, Persian, and Arabic. There have been two official standards namely the modern Hindi standard and the modern Urdu standard.

Before the split of the British Indian Empire, the term Hindustani, Urdu, and Hindi are very synonymous and all of them are now known as Urdu and Hindi to this day.

2. English

It cannot be denied that English is one of the most spoken languages in the world today. It can be said as the most crucial language to be learned for ease of communication wherever you go.

If mastering English seems to be an added advantage back then, it is now considered a necessity so that you won't trouble yourself. It happens to be the first ever western Germanic language spoken during the Middle Age in England.

The name English comes from the "Angles" which is one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England. It is closely related to the Frisian language but its vocabulary is mostly influenced by Northern Germanic(Norse), Latin, and French.

The earliest dialect which is old English was brought to Great Britain by an Anglo-Saxon explorer in the 5th century. Middle English started in the late 11th century and modern English started at the end of the 15th century.

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1. Mandarin

With the population of the Chinese on the rise, it only makes sense that Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world. Mandarin comes from the Sino-Tibetan family and it is used mostly in China with a population of 1.4 billion people.

Mandarin is the most widely used dialect among the top 10 dialects of Chinese languages. It is spoken by 70% of the Chinese. Not just that but it is also one of the hardest languages to learn due to how complicated the tone sounds.

Mandarin became the official language of China, and Taiwan and also one of the official languages of Singapore. It is also used by the United Nations as means of communication.

Source:

• Sinar Plus

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