Have you ever wondered which are the most spoken languages in the world?
Currently, there are more than 7,000 languages in the world. Out of these 7,000 languages, English is by far the most spoken language. It is followed closely by Mandarin Chinese and Hindi.
Here is the list of top 10 most spoken languages in the world in 2022.
1. English
Language family: Germanic
The English language is one of the most important languages in the world. It is a language of a diverse population, which always holds people’s attention.
It is difficult to categorize this language into a certain group. Furthermore, it has similarities with many other languages but still remains unique. English is one of the official languages of the United Nations. Many countries are planning to make it as their official language too in order for it to influence their culture and develop its own identity.
English is used not only in the USA, India, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand but also by people from all over the world, who know how to speak this language well enough to communicate with each other effectively.
The United States(238 million) and India(125 million) have more total speakers than any other country.
2. Chinese(Mandarin)
Language family: Sino-Tibetan
The Chinese(Mandarin) language has been around for thousands of years. It is one of the most widely spoken language in the world. It has many dialects and many more dialects are evolving over time.
Mandarin is by far the largest of the seven or ten Chinese dialect groups, spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese. Mandarin is also spoken as a second language in many places around the world, like Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao.
It is the official language of The People’s Republic of China, but it is also the official language in Taiwan and Singapore.
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3. Hindi
Language family: Indo-Ayran
Hindi is the major language in India and many other countries with many Hindi speakers, such as Fiji, Mauritius, and Suriname.
Hindi is one of the major languages spoken in India. It is the third most popular language on earth.
Hindi is one of the richest languages in terms of vocabulary. It consists of around 833 words per million. This richness also makes it difficult for beginners to learn Hindi with ease as there are so many new words to be learned as well as other grammar rules to be followed.
4. Spanish
Language family: Romance
The Spanish language is one of the most spoken languages in the world. It is spoken by more than 500 million people and used as a national or official language in 20 countries.
The Spanish language has evolved over time and has grown to become a diverse and complex language. It is also the most widely spoken Romance language, which means that it has a lot in common with other Romance languages like French and Italian.
Major Romance languages are : French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian
5. Arabic
Language family: Semitic
Arabic is the native language of Muslims and Arab world. It is a Semitic language that was used as a lingua franca in much of the Middle East.
The word “Arab” refers to people who speak Arabic or descendants from Arabs, who are spread across many countries worldwide.
The Arabic language is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. It is a Semitic language with about 350 million native speakers around the globe. The dialect, which was spoken by Prophet Muhammad, is called Classical Arabic.
Arabic is one of the holy languages, among the few languages that have the status of a holy language. It has been used for religious texts and religious rituals, as well as for non-religious writing like scientific and philosophical texts.
6. Bengali
Language family: Indo-Aryan
The Bengali language is one of the most spoken language in the world. It is a member of the Indo-European family and also one of the most studied languages in the world.
Bengali has a rich history and culture, contributing greatly to various fields, including literature, art, music, social science and philosophy. The people in Bangladesh are very proud of their language and culture, which has given them various advantages over other people.
The Bengali language is great because it has a rich history, beautiful sound system and thousands of songs. Apart from being used for literature and mass communication, Bengali language is also extensively used as a second language in Bangladesh and India.
7. French
Language family: Romance
French is the official language of France. It is also one of the main languages spoken in Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. In addition, there are many French speakers in Canada, Madagascar and other countries around the world.
The French language is one of the most beautiful languages in the world. It has been ranked as the most beautiful language by UNESCO.
French is spoken by approximately 275 million people worldwide and is the most widely spoken Romance language in continental Europe.
8. Russian
Language family: East Slavic
Russian is considered to be the largest and one of four major groups among the Slavic languages, together with Czech, Slovak, and Polish. The Russian language is also one of the six official languages(Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish) of the United Nations.
Russian is a language that is difficult to learn. With its long and complicated grammar rules, Russian can be hard to master even for native speakers.
9. Portuguese
Language family: Romance
Portuguese is one of the oldest Indo-European languages as it shares a number of similarities with Latin and other ancient Indo-European languages. Portuguese is one of the 10 most influential languages in the world according to a comprehensive academic study.
It is the official language of nine countries. Portuguese is also the fastest-growing European language in the world. Brazilian Portuguese is different from European Portuguese.
10. Urdu
Language family: Indo-Ayran
Urdu is a language from South Asia, with roots in Sanskrit and Prakrit. It is one of the official languages of Pakistan. Urdu is an Indo-Aryan language with a significant amount of Arabic vocabulary.
It also has an important role in South Asian culture and society.
Next Five most spoken languages
11. Indonesian
12. German
13. Japanese
14. Marathi
15. Telugu