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In case you were wondering, here is a list of the 30 most spoken languages in the world and the areas in which they are spoken.

  1. Mandarin / China, Malaysia, Taiwan
  2. English / USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand
  3. Hindi / North and Central India
  4. Spanish / The Americas, Spain
  5. Arabic / Middle East, Arabia, North Africa
  6. Russian / Russia, Central Asia
  7. Portuguese / Brazil, Portugal, Southern Africa
  8. Bengali / Bangladesh, Eastern India
  9. Malay, Indonesian / Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore
  10. French Indo-European / France, Canada, West Africa, Central Africa
  11. Japanese / Japan
  12. German / Germany, Austria, Central Europe
  13. Farsi (Persian) / Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia
  14. Urdu / Pakistan, India
  15. Punjabi / Pakistan, India
  16. Vietnamese / Vietnam, China
  17. Tamil / Southern India, Sri Lanka, Malyasia
  18. Wu / China
  19. Javanese / Indonesia
  20. Turkish / Turkey, Central Asia
  21. Telugu / Southern India
  22. Korean / Korean Peninsula
  23. Marathi / Western India
  24. Italian / Italy, Central Europe
  25. Thai / Thailand, Laos
  26. Cantonese / Southern China
  27. Gujarati / Western India, Kenya
  28. Polish / Poland, Central Europe
  29. Kannada / Southern India
  30. Burmese / Myanmar

This question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer. Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary considerably. For example, English estimates vary from 275 to 450 million, Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian from 150 to 180 million.

To further complicate matters, the definition of "speaker" can be vague. Some surveys of languages give information on native speakers only. Others count both native speakers and secondary speakers (those who use the language regularly or primarily even though it is not their native language).

Lastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages. Some languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used almost exclusively in a few countries. On the other hand, other languages have relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different countries as an official or national language.

The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) lists the following as the top languages by population:

(number of native speakers in parentheses)

1. Chinese* (937,132,000)

2. Spanish (332,000,000)

3. English (322,000,000)

4. Bengali (189,000,000)

5. Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)

6. Arabic* (174,950,000)

7. Portuguese (170,000,000)

8. Russian (170,000,000)

9. Japanese (125,000,000)

10. German (98,000,000)

11. French* (79,572,000)

This question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer. Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary considerably. For example, English estimates vary from 275 to 450 million, Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian from 150 to 180 million.

To further complicate matters, the definition of "speaker" can be vague. Some surveys of languages give information on native speakers only. Others count both native speakers and secondary speakers (those who use the language regularly or primarily even though it is not their native language).

Lastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages. Some languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used almost exclusively in a few countries. On the other hand, other languages have relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different countries as an official or national language.

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11y ago
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12y ago

This question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer. Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary considerably. For example, English estimates vary from 275 to 450 million, Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian from 150 to 180 million.

To further complicate matters, the definition of "speaker" can be vague. Some surveys of languages give information on native speakers only. Others count both native speakers and secondary speakers (those who use the language regularly or primarily even though it is not their native language).

Lastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages. Some languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used almost exclusively in a few countries. On the other hand, other languages have relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different countries as an official or national language.

The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) lists the following as the top languages by population:

(number of native speakers in parentheses)

1. Chinese* (937,132,000)

2. Spanish (332,000,000)

3. English (322,000,000)

4. Bengali (189,000,000)

5. Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)

6. Arabic* (174,950,000)

7. Portuguese (170,000,000)

8. Russian (170,000,000)

9. Japanese (125,000,000)

10. German (98,000,000)

11. French* (79,572,000)

This question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer. Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary considerably. For example, English estimates vary from 275 to 450 million, Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian from 150 to 180 million.

To further complicate matters, the definition of "speaker" can be vague. Some surveys of languages give information on native speakers only. Others count both native speakers and secondary speakers (those who use the language regularly or primarily even though it is not their native language).

Lastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages. Some languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used almost exclusively in a few countries. On the other hand, other languages have relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different countries as an official or national language.

For the source and more detailed information concerning your request, click on the related links section indicated below. English is the worlds most spoken language. See http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/reprints/weber/rep-weber.htm for further details. The language is the official language of many countries around the world, it is a second language of huge numbers of people and also studied by huge numbers of people; at the time the website above was launched was being stuided by nearly a quarter of China's population.

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13y ago

English

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Q: What is the world's most spoken language?
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