Language is perhaps the most important function of the human body – it allows us to get sustenance as a child, it allows us to get virtually anything we want as an adult, and it allows us many hours of entertainment through literature, radio, music, and films. This list (in order of least to most spoken) summarizes the most important languages in use today.
Number of speakers: 129 million
Often called the most romantic language in the world, French is spoken in tons of countries, including Belgium, Canada, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Haiti. Oh, and France too. We’re actually very lucky that French is so popular, because without it, we might have been stuck with Dutch Toast, Dutch Fries, and Dutch kissing (ew!).
To say “hello” in French, say “Bonjour” (bone-JOOR).
Number of speakers: 159 million
Malay-Indonesian is spoken – surprise – in Malaysia and Indonesia. Actually, we kinda fudged the numbers on this one because there are many dialects of Malay, the most popular of which is Indonesian. But they’re all pretty much based on the same root language, which makes it the ninth most-spoken in the world.
Indonesia is a fascinating place; a nation made up of over 13,000 islands it is the sixth most populated country in the world. Malaysia borders on two of the larger parts of Indonesia (including the island of Borneo), and is mostly known for its capital city of Kuala Lumpur.
To say “hello” in Indonesian, say “Selamat pagi” (se-LA-maht PA-gee).
Number of speakers: 191 million
Think of Portuguese as the little language that could. In the 12th Century, Portugal won its independence from Spain and expanded all over the world with the help of its famous explorers like Vasco da Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator. (Good thing Henry became a navigator . . . could you imagine if a guy named “Prince Henry the Navigator” became a florist?) Because Portugal got in so early on the exploring game, the language established itself all over the world, especially in Brazil (where it’s the national language), Macau, Angola, Venezuela, and Mozambique.
To say “hello” in Portuguese, say “Bom dia” (bohn DEE-ah).
Number of speakers: 211 million
In Bangladesh, a country of 120+ million people, just about everybody speaks Bengali. And because Bangladesh is virtually surrounded by India (where the population is growing so fast, just breathing the air can get you pregnant), the number of Bengali speakers in the world is much higher than most people would expect.
To say “hello” in Bengali, say “Ei Je” (EYE-jay).
Number of speakers: 246 million
Arabic, one of the world’s oldest languages, is spoken in the Middle East, with speakers found in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. Furthermore, because Arabic is the language of the Koran, millions of Moslems in other countries speak Arabic as well. So many people have a working knowledge of Arabic, in fact, that in 1974 it was made the sixth official language of the United Nations.
To say “hello” in Arabic, say “Al salaam a’alaykum” (Ahl sah-LAHM ah ah-LAY-koom).
Number of speakers: 277 million
Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Yakov Smirnoff are among the millions of Russian speakers out there. Sure, we used to think of them as our Commie enemies. Now we think of them as our Commie friends. One of the six languages in the UN, Russian is spoken not only in the Mother Country, but also in Belarus, Kazakhstan, and the U.S. (to name just a few places).
To say “hello” in Russian, say “Zdravstvuite” (ZDRAST-vet-yah).
Number of speakers: 392 million
Aside from all of those kids who take it in high school, Spanish is spoken in just about every South American and Central American country, not to mention Spain, Cuba, and the U.S. There is a particular interest in Spanish in the U.S., as many English words are borrowed from the language, including: tornado, bonanza, patio, quesadilla, enchilada, and taco grande supreme.
To say “hello” in Spanish, say “Hola” (OH-la).
Number of speakers: 497 million
Hindustani is the primary language of India’s crowded population, and it encompasses a huge number of dialects (of which the most commonly spoken is Hindi). While many predict that the population of India will soon surpass that of China, the prominence of English in India prevents Hindustani from surpassing the most popular language in the world. If you’re interested in learning a little Hindi, there’s a very easy way: rent an Indian movie. The film industry in India is the most prolific in the world, making thousands of action/romance/musicals every year.
To say “hello” in Hindustani, say “Namaste” (Nah-MAH-stay).
Number of speakers: 508 million
While English doesn’t have the most speakers, it is the official language of more countries than any other language. Its speakers hail from all around the world, including New Zealand, the U.S., Australia, England, Zimbabwe, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Canada. We’d tell you more about English, but you probably feel pretty comfortable with the language already. Let’s just move on to the most popular language in the world.
To say “hello” in English, say “What’s up, freak?” (watz-UP-freek).
Number of speakers: 1 billion+
Surprise, surprise, the most widely spoken language on the planet is based in the most populated country on the planet. Beating second-place English by a 2 to 1 ratio, but don’t let that lull you into thinking that Mandarin is easy to learn. Speaking Mandarin can be really tough, because each word can be pronounced in four ways (or “tones”), and a beginner will invariably have trouble distinguishing one tone from another. But if over a billion people could do it, so could you. Try saying hello!
To say “hello” in Mandarin, say “Ni hao” (Nee HaOW). (“Hao” is pronounced as one syllable, but the tone requires that you let your voice drop midway, and then raise it again at the end.)
Contributor: flamiejamie
Seriously guys, how can it be, that I am the only one who have mentioned Body Language?
I dare to say 78% of all humans on this planet, and 90% of all the animals speak Body Language.
It’s such an important and wide spoken language I don’t understand how it could have been missed.
Randall: I understand what you’re saying. I am still at school, and starting September it will be my last year. I’ve been studying English comparatively to French. I have studied linguistics and I have studied English and I have studied French, believe me.
In saying “writers”, I meant any person who writes a text, whether it be professionally or within an office, etc. Sorry if that wasn’t clear. And that’s exactly what I’m saying, if they can’t grasp the language, they shouldn’t be writing, but they are anyway.
I’m not going to argue with you. I guess it depends what you believe is the criteria for a “good” language. In my opinion, no language is “good” or “bad” and I’m not going to say you are WRONG, as you seem to favour saying about me, because obviously we’re not agreeing on the criteria for a “good” language. In my opinion, by not installing rules, English will come to be so diluted that it won’t be English anymore. If that is WRONG, as you say, then I guess I am WRONG. We’re obviously both biased on our native languages.
That being said, I was simply trying to say that English is not BETTER than any other language, not trying to discredit it, if that wasn’t clear to anyone.
Val:
Well, please also understand, I’m sorry if I’ve been hard on you, but I’ve been in the field, professionally, for years. So in a way, I’m just trying to help.
I DO know that French Canadians have a certain… issue… with English. I’d just ask you not to let that color your view of the language.
“In my opinion, by not installing rules, English will come to be so diluted that it won’t be English anymore. If that is WRONG, as you say, then I guess I am WRONG.”
Ha! Yes, Val, I’m truly sorry, but on the one hand you’re correct–English won’t become “diluted” (which is what French speakers are paranoid about, in regards to French) but yes, English WILL continue to evolve and will probably continue to diverge and change and may, in time, be partly unrecognizable to us today. (But this could take a great deal of time). But that is the STRENGTH of English, not its weakness. THAT is how English has made the journey its made. Not via imperialism, and not by unfair competition—but by being able to adapt, by its chameleonlike ability to change and borrow and mix itself around. So while you’re right that English will continue to change wildly and uncontrollably in the future (god willing) you’re also wrong in thinking that this is a bad thing, and in thinking that it’s a negative for English not to have stricter rules. These are the things that keep English ALIVE and VITAL. These are the things that ensure its popularity and success. Unlike prissy and pristine, unassailable French, English is a rough and tumble, let’s-get-down-and-dirty language. It’s a street rumbler. It grabs and steals and rolls around in the dirt and doesn’t care. And that’s what keeps it in shape, always moving and always evolving.
And if you know anything about linguistic history, then you should know that languages which fail to adapt, which keep isolated and pristine, begin to suffer hardening of the arteries and wither and die.
This will not happen to English, given its past proclivities. And that is what’s to be praised about English, not damned.
peyton – my hubby is one that you would call a banana. He prefers twinkie personally LOL.. Actually I am too but I can actually speak and understand Mandarin and some Cantonese. English is definitely our primary language, but I would like our children (when we get around to having one/some) to learn it.
goatmissile – perhaps SF is not the best place for you! I find that the common mandarin spoken may not sound the best but if it’s used in poetry, or some other proper way, it is a very beautiful language.
Allo!
My cégep french teacher (cégep is a school between high school and university in the province of Quebec) once told me that during the Mid-Ages, french was the language spoken by the monarchy everywhere in Europe, even in England. It was like a sign of higher education. English was left to the rest of the population because it was easier to learn. I’m not sure if its totally true, but I would believe it, because even today, complex english words are very similar to their french traduction, while the easiest words are very differents.
ex: scientific = scientifique
dog = chien
Oh, and about the Canadian accent, it sounds pretty similar to the French spoken many centuries ago. So, technically, canadian French is the ”true” French, by opposition to France French, wich changed a lot through the years.
By the way, sorry for my poor English
124. Anaïs:
Ouiiii. France is saying how bad our French is, haha >.>; France installed new rules which were unattainable to those in Canada at the time, so the Canadian French just kept speaking the “old” French while the new French “evolved”.
You’re actually the first person from Québec I see say something like that. All the people from Québec I know are so pro-France. congrats XD
Oh sorry Randall, I just read your comment and I think I didn’t choose the good moment to post my comment. I don’t want it to sound offensive or anything like that!!
Christine:
You said :
goatmissile – perhaps SF is not the best place for you! I find that the common mandarin spoken may not sound the best but if it’s used in poetry, or some other proper way, it is a very beautiful language.
Au contraire, it is the best place for me because of my bias. How else will I rid myself of it? It doesn’t always sound that way, just with some shrill, loud people.
Tempyra:
Thank you.
And yes, I have seen that cartoon before. Kiwiboi shared that one with me once.
And we agreed… that’s him and me, to a “T.”
“Do you like it when people’s opinions disgree with your own? Or do you reply to them because the idea that someone might be spreading their ‘wrongness’ over the internet bothers you?”
It’s a little bit of both. I’ve been at this a long time. Way back in 1995-1996 and for a few years after, (when the ‘net was very young) I was a contributor/correspondent on a well-known science site along with my then-girlfriend at the time (she was a lovely brainiac of a woman, like Winona Ryder with the mind of Aristotle or Marie Curie) and it was the fun of the thing for us, back then, to encounter debate and disagreement–we thrived on it, and enjoyed the hell out of it. But also, it was our job to educate and inform, and we took that seriously. Naturally i still do. I’ve fought battles with creationists and conspiracy theorists online, and historical revisionists and political nincompoops, and I’ve also tried to help people who just wanted to know ***** and get the right answers. (Cecil Adams is one of my heroes).
The debating and arguing is for fun though, for the most part. I can’t really care, after all these years, if people are that wrong on the internet… it’s too huge, it’d be like trying to police the desert. It’s mainly a way for me to entertain myself, else I’d be doing something else more interesting.
I DO have a problem when people toss wildly incorrect information around on the ‘net though–to me it’s already a problem in our society that there’s a lot of bad information and distortions and even lies floating around. Someone needs to speak up for truth and accuracy sometimes.
But mostly, I just love the polemics. Until it turns dull. Then I walk away.
Whoa whoa. Nice list there, but as a TRUE frenchmen, and a damn proud one at that, the correct pronounciation is NOT Bone-JOOR, but rather, the N is silent, resulting in a trademark French inflexion i wouldn’t even begin to know how to describe. On in french is not Onne, but the O sound is rounded off with an N inflexion.
The problem with this list is that it looks like it gets its data from where everyone else gets it, which always leaves out a very important factor: people who speak English as a second language (or French, or whatever). Nobody really knows how many people speak English, including non-native speakers, so it always seems like Mandarin is the most spoken language, except hundreds of millions of people in the world speak two languages, one of them English. Mandarin is generally only spoken by natives, and very rarely by people outside of countries where it is an official language, whereas English is very commonly spoken outside of countries where it is the official language.
So, someone needs to figure out the real figure for these languages…
What’s the language I think it’s Asian, might be African where they speak using only clicks of their tongues? That would be hard to learn.
What about that language where the people use only clicks of their tongues? That must be hard to learn. And understand.
Azucar = sugar. That’s my fave!
2 universally recognized words world-wide:Coca-Cola, and Okay
I swear that it is actually Britian that speaks it, not just england
DON’T FORGET ABOUT SCOTLAND, N.IRELAND AND WALES!
Growing up in Texas, it was natural for me to take Spanish in school. I’ve forgotten more than I ever knew, simply because it’s a “use it or lose it” sort of thing. But when I immerse myself in it, things come back to me. I’ve also read somewhere that English was one of the hardest languages to learn, because we have many words that sound the same but are spelled differently(it’s sad I can’t remember the word for that), many exceptions to the “rules”, and so on and so forth. Spanish was easy, in comparison. Once I got the conjugation of verbs down, that is. It also helps that Spanish is a phoenetic language.
Diamond_Dragon: I think the list is specifically spoken languages. Saying people “speak” body language is not correct in this form. It would be akin to people “speaking” sign language. But, you are correct – if it did apply here -it would definitely be number one. I’m sure no one means any disrespect.
HOMONYMS!!! i think that’s what i was referring to in my previous post
Anais:
Not at all, and I love your name. I had a friend from Belgium who named her daughter Anais. It’s a lovely name. Anais Nin is one of my biggest faves.
in 1066, Anais, the Normans invaded Britain. Up to that point, English was a primarily Germanic tongue, composed of a couple different Germanic dialects and Danish/Viking. When the Normans took over, they superimposed French onto the language, and French was, for a couple hundred years or so, the official language of court.
really good and interesting list
bt Indonesia has 17000 islands and is the fourth most populous country in the world
Randall: have you ever researched or studied Olde English (besides the 8-ball version)? Just asking because you mentioned Germanic influence.
Hindi I think there r more than 500 million speakers though few ppl can’t read or write they speak vividly as mentioned there are so many dialects it seems… And oh English is not only a beautiful language but MOST WANTED everywhere and in India or most of the corporate companies and even small offices test people in English if they need to get the job…I have my cousins who speak amazing English and their accent is much better than mine and I speak in Northern way … and I am just done with my High school and my dad says that he won’t sent me back to UK for my higher studies but have to study in India… I have a tutor called Pavan whom I have to address as Pavan “ji” as respect ehehe!(wink wink) Well I do speak little hindi and still learning coz I have to stay here for another 3 years…
Hearing people who sign are considered bilingual. Sign is a language.
#143 was my comment but it posted under him. His info was in my “Name” line. Huh?
trojan_man:
I did indeed. I love the sound of it. I had a professor in college who could recite passages in old English with perfect accent and cadence. Amazing.
And Chaucer too (middle English, but still)… it was great fun just to sit and listen to the guy in class.
vera: i didn’t realize that “asian” and “african” were languages.
Vera Lynn: They might be considered bilingual but they are not verbally communicating and I belive that is what the author of the list meant.
Randall: Those writings do not sound near as good when they are read in today’s English.
Vera Lynn: by the way, that happens from time to time (someone else’s name in your comment). I think you have to refresh again or leave the site and come back. It’s happened to me before.
Not sure where these numbers came from, but I’ve seen a vastly different bunch of lists and counts based on censuses and collective estimates.
I guess my number one question is whether these numbers are for people’s ‘first language’ or if it’s just anyone who speaks it…
Interesting list, nonetheless.
Yeah Indonesia is 4th in population. Assuming the list is about native speakers only. Some non-native speakers speak a language better than some native speakers. Over a billion people can function in English, since it is so widely studied. Fluency is hard to measure. I’ve heard China may soon have more English speakers than the US. Not sure how proficient.
jajdude: I second you statement about non-native speakers. The college in the town where I live has a good number of Hatian students who speak perfect English, Spanish, and French. It is truly amazing.
I’ve heard that the language one speaks affects the shape of the palette. Native German speakers have decidedly differently shaped palettes than that of French speakers. One is not born with the differense; it is created and developed by the stress of the language. Thought that was interesting.
I’ve enjoyed reading the discussion of the list more than the list itself.
#146 DiscHuker Haha. I know that. I meant the place where it originated. Either in Asia or Africa. You big silly
One of the most famous (of three) languages where you click your tongue is called the Xhosa language, from Africa. The actual ‘clicking’ sounds you can make are in fact several types of consonants called click consonants. Actually, you should use one of those tongue clicks to say ‘Xhosa’ correctly!
VeraLynn: That’s pretty cool. I took 3 years of German in school and didn’t have a problem speaking it (at least without my retainer) but then last year I started Latin and find that a lot harder.
I think the most fun language is Gaelic. It’s so much fun to talk in a language no body else knows, you’d be suprised.haha
I like how Mexico was omitted from the Spanish section even though it has more spanish-speakers than the rest of Latin America. And yes, it is located in North America.
Very interesting list, languages are so fascinating. Nice jokes too.:)
What an interesting contribution! Although it is not in your list, I would like to argue the case for Esperanto as the international language. It is a planned language which belongs to no one country or group of states. Take a look at http://www.esperanto.net
Esperanto works even though it has only a couple of millionb speakers so far! I’ve used it in speech and writing in a dozen countries over recent years.
I tried teaching myself Mandarin once and gave up. I think it’s next to impossible to learn it as an adult. You’d have to be immersed in the culture and even then it would be extremely difficult.
Spanglish is catching on too, even Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke Spanglish in The Terminator “Hasta la Vista baby”
Taranis, actually I’m trying to learn Japanese and Irish Gaelic at the same time. Gaelic is another language that is usually considered “ugly” but that I love. It’s hard to keep track of what all those h’s do to the letters. And the accent marks. Seriously, how would an English speaker pronounce “an bhmhuil”?
Don’t they speak Spanglish in Spangladesh?
no its spoken in California
and Texas
yes and in Texas or Tejas
Val (52): I think that important and significant have subtly different meanings. Additionally, by having multiple words for one (general) meaning, you get a lot more flexibility for rhetoric and prose
Take these two sentences for example – same meaning but different nuances and feeling:
“The British attempted to destroy the Colonial uprising in America.” compared to:
“The British fought to crush the Colonial uprising in America.”
The second sentence is the better one btw, because it uses no romance words – they are all germanic words, giving more force and clarity to the sentence.
how do we speak in Gaelic…
great list… not only is it interesting, but the funny side comments are great
I enjoyed learning that we got “taco grande supreme” from Spanish! Who knew!
Great list, yes…
I have to say this, though…Prince Henry the Navigator only became ‘The Navigator’ after he did all the exploring stuff and the founding of the navigation school and so one. Why would someone call their children ‘The Navigator’?
That is a kind of nickname, I don’t know exactly the word in english for that.
Gosh I wish I was in a more convenient time zone, to join in with this discussion, which at a brief skim through probably ranks as one of the best ever on LU.
I will read this more carefully at work and respond. (I can probably justify spending a long time here, as this is “language research”.)
I added these numbers together. 3610,000,000 people speak these 10 languages – over half the world’s population.
Its funny how the only people I heard say that english is a beautiful language are all anglos
.
Really, I (and most people I know, I’m spaniard) don’t think of english as a beautifull language. Not as an ugly one, either. For me beautiful would be italian (first) and french (second) and ugly would be japanese and german. English would sit in the middle. Same with poetry, I’ve hear and read english poetry and didn’t get very impressed about it, I like it more in spanish but maybe that’s because I’m spanish, but at last I can see this bias which most english speakers can’t.
About how hard is english to learn, well as you can see my english is far from perfect but I didn’t found it very hard to learn. Gramatically it is not very different from spanish – you can think in spanish and translate to english with minimal mental adjustments and a lot of the vocabulary is pretty similar. I think spanish must be harder to learn because of the verbs. The only part where it differs a lot is in pronunciation.
I don’t buy the Randall argument of english being the lingua franca of the world nowadays. I’m sure that argument make you feel warm and fuzzy about your culture but people speak english because other people know english, no less, no more.
It’s really pretty naive to think that a spanish or french speaker would think “ok, so I’ve to learn a language, I think I will learn english because its gramatically superior and has more words”… no!. I’m sure ALL people who doesn’t have english as a native language is with me on this. No matter how much you’ve studied on this, this is a very simple fact that everybody from outside the anglo-speaking world can see very clearly.
And before you ask, people started to learn english some time ago because of the British empire, making it a convenient language for science and business. Just like latin was before english, and greek before latin.
I knew this. Maybe you could do a list of the least spoken languages, or the most beautiful languages (Finnish should be no. 1!)
“Bonjourrrrrrrrr, yah cheese-eatin’ surrender monkeys”
Great list, very interesting, and pretty much the order I would have expected.
I have a true story which illustrates just how inter-related the romance languages are, and how handy that is!
I was on a crew doing a month long shoot deep in southern Mexico. We were based in an old colonial city which was not on the radar as far as western tourists were concerned, and too bad, because the city, Zacatecas, is gorgeous.
Anyway, in high school I had studied Latin and French. One of my good friends on the crew had studied Latin and Italian. Neither of us had any more Spanish than one learns growing up in L.A., but an odd thing happened…after about 4 days, if one of the hotel staff ( for example ) spoke to us in Spanish, he’d answer in Italian, I’d answer in French, and we’d all get it!
That’s a kind of linguistic magic if you don’t understand the root’s for all 3 of the languages spring from the same foundation…Latin (which we both knew ). It freaked out some of the crew, though.
About the world-wide use of English – I remember a series on PBS several years age (‘The Story of English’) that included this bit: a lot of former British colonies adopted English as the official language after independence to avoid favoring any one tribe over another.
nice Willie reference:)
Randall/Juanjux: I was taught by my latin/french teacher (I excelled at both), that English was most spoken, not because it was most beautiful, not because it had the most words, not because of British colonialism, but simply because it is the language of commerce and technology. Money does in fact talk.