What languages are spoken on Earth?

Answer 1

The actual number of languages spoken in the world is difficult to calculate. One of the problems is that of the definition of what constitutes a language. Most estimates are between 6800-7000.

This leads to the following range in answers:

• The National Virtual Translation Center says there are about 6,900 languages in the world.

• The Ethnologue organization's current catalog includes 6,809 distinct languages.

• The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language says that estimates of total living languages in the world vary from 3,000 to 10,000.

• Voegelins' Classification and Index of the World's Languages (1977) lists 20,000 languages and dialects, grouped into about 4,500 living languages.
  

• The Linguistic Society of America says: No exact figure exists, and we are losing languages every year, as only living speakers die. But a good estimate is about 6,800 languages.

Answer 2

There are thousands of languages spoken on Earth, with approximately 7,000 languages currently in use. The most widely spoken languages include Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi, and Arabic, among others. Language diversity is a prominent feature of human society and culture.

Answer 3

The Ethnologue catalogue lists 6,809 living languages spoken in the world. It is not possible to list them here.

For more information about the most common languages of the world, click here.

Here is a list of the 100 most spoken languages on Earth, representing 85% of the world's population:

1. Mandarin (entire branch)
   
2. Spanish
   
3. English
   
4. Hindi
   
5. Arabic
   
6. Portuguese
   
7. Bengali (Bangla)
   
8. Russian
   
9. Japanese
   
10. Punjabi
    
11. German
    
12. Javanese
    
13. Wu Chinese (Shanghainese)
    
14. Malay (including Malaysian and Indonesian)
    
15. Telugu
    
16. Vietnamese
    
17. Korean
    
18. French
    
19. Marathi
    
20. Tamil
    
21. Urdu
    
22. Turkish
    
23. Italian
    
24. Yue Chinese (including Cantonese)
    
25. Thai
    
26. Gujarati
    
27. Jin
    
28. Southern Min Chinese (including Hokkien and Teochew)
    
29. Persian
    
30. Polish
    
31. Pashto
    
32. Kannada
    
33. Xiang Chinese (Hunanese)
    
34. Malayalam
    
35. Sundanese
    
36. Hausa
    
37. Odia (Oriya)
    
38. Burmese
    
39. Hakka
    
40. Ukrainian
    
41. Bhojpuri
    
42. Tagalog (Filipino)
    
43. Yoruba
    
44. Maithili
    
45. Uzbek
    
46. Sindhi
    
47. Amharic
    
48. Fula
    
49. Romanian
    
50. Oromo
    
51. Igbo
    
52. Azerbaijani
    
53. Awadhi
    
54. Gan Chinese
    
55. Cebuano (Visayan)
    
56. Dutch
    
57. Kurdish
    
58. Serbo-Croatian
    
59. Malagasy
    
60. Saraiki
    
61. Nepali
    
62. Sinhalese
    
63. Chittagonian
    
64. Zhuang
    
65. Khmer
    
66. Turkmen
    
67. Assamese
    
68. Madurese
    
69. Somali
    
70. Marwari
    
71. Magahi
    
72. Haryanvi
    
73. Hungarian
    
74. Chhattisgarhi
    
75. Greek
    
76. Chewa
    
77. Deccan
    
78. Akan
    
79. Kazakh
    
80. Northern Min
    
81. Sylheti
    
82. Zulu
    
83. Czech
    
84. Kinyarwanda
    
85. Dhundhari
    
86. Haitian Creole
    
87. Eastern Min Chinese (including Fuzhounese)
    
88. Ilocano
    
89. Quechua
    
90. Kirundi
    
91. Swedish
    
92. Hmong
    
93. Shona
    
94. Uyghur
    
95. Hiligaynon/Ilonggo (Visayan)
    
96. Mossi
    
97. Xhosa
    
98. Belarusian
    
99. Balochi
    
100. Konkani
     

Answer 4

There are 6,809 living languages spoken in the world.

Answer 5

There are about 6800 languages spoken in the world. See related links for a great website that lists all languages.

Answer 6

As of 2011, the Ethnologue catalogue lists 6,809 languages. It is not possible to list them all.