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List of languages, sorted by number of speakers A list of languages, sorted by the approximate number of people in the world who have a given language as their native language, data from the Encarta encyclopedia published in 2009. No. Language Mother tongue (million... ... Wikipedia
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Language is the main way of communication between people and this article presents the most popular, widespread and in demand languages of the peoples of the world.
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14. French
Even though this language is not among the ten most widespread languages in the world, in our short presentation it takes an honorable 14th place, opening our ranking. The French language, in addition to being one of the most widespread, is also one of the most beautiful languages in the world, which is very often called the language of love, just as the capital of France, the city of Paris, is called the city of love. This language is part of the Romance group of languages and has the status of an official language in 29 countries, in particular Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, Monaco and, of course, France. It is one of the six official languages of the UN and is spoken in a number of African countries and former French colonies. According to some estimates, French is spoken by about 250 million people around the world, but 75 million speak it as a native language.
Many people learn French because of its beauty, others learn it because it is a fairly popular language in Europe and knowledge of such a language will be useful for work and travel. This language is not very difficult to learn as a foreign language. Of course, French will be easier for some, more difficult for others, but many agree that in terms of difficulty of learning it is somewhere between German and Spanish.
13. Korean
Korean is the native language of approximately 78 million people, is the official language of South Korea and the DPRK, and is partially spoken in China, Japan, the United States and Russia. This language is not very popular and not many people study it in other countries. However, in terms of the number of native speakers, it takes an honorable 13th place in our ranking of the most common languages on earth. Most researchers classify it as an isolated language, that is, a language that is not included in any known language family. However, some believe that the Korean language may be part of a hypothetical Altaic family. According to some linguists, the Korean language may have some degree of relatedness to the Japanese language.
Some people think Korean is easier to learn than Japanese and Chinese, but the grammar in Korean is still more difficult, in their opinion. Chinese and Japanese languages are studied mainly for romantic reasons, out of a desire to get closer to the culture of the East and learn about the centuries-old history of the region. Korean is taught mainly to earn money.
12. German
German is the most popular and in-demand language in Europe after English, and many people learn it not for cultural reasons or for travel, but for doing business and business negotiations. German is the official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and Belgium. This language is native to 100 million people, and there are more than 120 million native speakers. The German language is part of the Germanic group, like English, but the German language is considered much more complex than English, like some other languages.
Beginners learning a language are frightened by words that are 2-3 times longer than their counterparts in other languages, many tenses, regular and irregular verbs conjugated differently, the presence of a definite and indefinite article, and genders of nouns that do not always match. However, the German language cannot be called one of the most difficult languages of the world, since with the right approach it can be studied without any problems, like any other European language.
11. Javanese
There are so many languages in the world, but not many of our citizens even know about the existence of this language, not to mention the fact that the Javanese language is one of the most widespread. The language is spoken by about 105 million people and is spoken mainly on the Indonesian island of Java and several neighboring islands. It is the largest Austronesian language in terms of speakers. This is a fairly developed language that has a rich literary tradition with different genres of poetry and prose, and many varieties of theatrical genres. Despite the fact that almost half of the Indonesian population actively uses the Javanese language in everyday life, it, like all other existing languages in the country, does not have official status.
10. Punjabi
This language belongs to the Indo-Aryan languages of the Indo-European language family and is one of the official languages of India. Punjabi is the language of the Punjabis and Jats, ethnic groups in India. The language is spoken in the eastern part of Pakistan, as well as in some parts of India. There are approximately 112 million Punjabi speakers in the world. There are approximately 105 million native speakers living in Pakistan and India. While the rest live in countries such as the UK, Canada, UAE, USA, etc. Among the features of the language, one can highlight the fact that it is a tonal language. In tonal languages, the height of a stressed syllable changes its meaning. In Punjabi, a stressed syllable can have three different pitches. This is very unusual for Indo-European languages.
9. Japanese
Ninth place in our list of the most common and popular languages in the world is occupied by another language from Asia. There are 130 million native speakers of this language. Japanese is studied mainly for two reasons. Firstly, the language is studied for doing business, since Japan is one of the strongest economies in the world. Secondly, Japan has a rich and interesting culture that attracts thousands of people and sooner or later makes them interested in the country's language. Japanese is by no means an easy language. One of the main difficulties in learning this language is the hieroglyphs, which came from Chinese, but have changed slightly over time as the language developed.
In Japanese, almost all hieroglyphs have not one, but two or more sounds, depending on the words in which they are used. Today in Japan, about two and a half thousand hieroglyphs are the most commonly used, while in China at least 3,500 hieroglyphs are used. Japanese is a simpler language compared to Korean and Chinese, but Japanese grammar is very complex. There are no tones in Japanese, but there are two alphabets. The Hiragana alphabet is the basic alphabet, used for purely Japanese words, grammatical markings, and sentence endings. Katakana is another Japanese alphabet and is used for words of foreign origin and names.
8. Russian
Russia is one of the most important countries in the world, occupying a vast territory where many people live. The country's rich, vibrant and vibrant culture and beautiful cities attract many foreigners who are also interested in the “mighty” Russian language. There are about 160 million people for whom Russian is their native language. In total, there are about 260 million Russian speakers. Russian is the official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. It is the most widespread Slavic language in the world and the most widespread language in Europe in terms of the number of native speakers. Russian is one of the working languages of the UN. It is quite difficult to learn, its grammar is complex but logical. Russian can be called one of the simple “complex” languages.
Many foreigners choose French or German because they are common in Europe. People choose Russian when they want to experience Russian culture, when they have Russian friends with whom they want to speak their language, when they move to live or work in Russia. Basically, people study Russian because they like it, like, in general, any other language. You cannot learn a language through force, it must interest and attract, there must be a desire to learn it.
7. Bengali
The language of Bengalis, one of the languages of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family. It is widespread and is the official language in Bangladesh and India. There are about 190 million people for whom it is their native language and about 260 million people who speak it. Some aspects of the language are often different in India and Bangladesh. The letter in most cases fully matches the pronunciation. The written language is based on Sanskrit and does not always take into account the changes and mergers of sounds that have occurred in the language over time. The history of the Bengali language dates back at least a thousand years, as evidenced by both the dating of the first literary monuments and linguistic reconstruction data.
6. Portuguese
Portuguese is the mother tongue of approximately 230 million people, and the total number of speakers is approximately 260 million. It is the official language in Portugal, Brazil, Angola and some other countries. Most of the native speakers live in Brazil. The Portuguese language is comparable in difficulty to learning to Spanish, French and Italian, as it is in the same group of Romance languages. There are two main varieties of the language, European Portuguese and Brazilian, as well as a number of varieties in African and Asian countries, differing from each other at the level of phonetics, vocabulary, spelling and grammar. African countries use the European version of Portuguese with a large number of lexical borrowings from African languages.
5. Arabic
Arabic is spoken in 60 countries around the world, such as Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt and Libya, and is official in 26 of them. One of the working languages of the UN and belongs to the Semitic branch of the Afroasiatic family of languages. The number of native speakers of the language exceeds 245 million people, and the total number of people speaking it is more than 350 million. Arabic is of great importance in the political and economic spheres, in the fields of energy and security. This is a very popular language and people who know it will always be able to find a good job. Arabic is one of the five most difficult languages in the world; there are many dialects of Arabic that differ significantly from each other.
4. Hindi
The language is one of the 23 official languages of India and is also spoken in Pakistan and Fiji. There are 260 million people who speak Hindi as their mother tongue, and the total number of Hindi speakers is approximately 400 million. At the colloquial level, Hindi is virtually indistinguishable from India's other official language, Urdu. The latter is distinguished by a large number of Arabic and Persian borrowings, as well as the fact that it uses the Arabic alphabet, while the traditional Hindi script is the Devanagari syllabary. English is one of the official languages of India, but, nevertheless, according to some sources, Hindi is quite a promising language and it can become one of the most popular languages by 2050.
3. English
The top three of our list of the most popular and widespread languages opens with English, which is the most common language for learning as a foreign language. This language is native to 350 million people, and the total number of speakers is about 1.4 billion. English is one of the working languages of the UN, the official language of Australia, New Zealand, USA, England, Canada and some other countries. The English language in the modern world plays a huge role in many areas of life, from politics and business, to culture and travel. This is explained by the colonial policy of the British Empire in the 19th century and the global influence of the United States of America at the present time.
English is also considered one of the easiest languages to learn, if not the easiest. However, this language also has its difficulties. In many countries around the world, English is taught in schools almost from primary school as a foreign language.
2. Spanish
In second place is a very beautiful language, which is official in Spain, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba and most countries in South America. Spanish is very similar to Italian and Portuguese, as it is in the same Romance group with them. Approximately 420 million people speak Spanish as their native language, and there are about 500 million speakers around the world. It is the most widely spoken Romance language, with 9/10 of its speakers living primarily in the Western Hemisphere. It is a fairly easy language to learn, which, in addition to the Spanish culture and beauty of the language, adds to the desire of foreigners to learn Spanish.
There are several dialects of the Spanish language, but Castilian is considered the true, original Spanish language. Castilian, Catalan, Basque and Galician dialects are common in Spain, while in South America there are five main dialect groups. The first group is used primarily in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Mexico. The second is in Peru, Chile and Ecuador. The third is in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The fourth group is the Argentine-Uruguayan-Paraguayan variant, which includes Eastern Bolivia. The fifth group is conventionally called Mountain Latin American Spanish. This language is spoken by the inhabitants of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, the Andes of Colombia and Venezuela, Quito (the capital of Ecuador located at an altitude of 2800 m), the Peruvian mountain range and Bolivia.
1. Chinese
The Chinese language is a collection of very different dialects, and therefore is considered by most linguists as an independent language branch, consisting of separate, although related, language and dialect groups. In fact, Chinese is made up of many other languages. But at the same time, the hieroglyphs are the same. The writing of basic characters has become much simpler since the mid-20th century, after the reform in China. The unified Chinese language is called Mandarin or simply Mandarin, which is called Putonghua in China. The Chinese language has 10 dialect groups and seven main traditional dialects.
Many people consider Chinese to be the most difficult language to learn, more difficult than Japanese and Arabic. Mainly because it uses over 3,000 characters, which are noticeably more difficult to write than Japanese or Korean. The use of tones in a language also makes it difficult to learn. Despite all the difficulties of learning, Chinese remains one of the most promising and popular languages in the world. It is the mother tongue of 1.3 billion people and has more than 1.5 billion speakers. China is one of the strongest countries in many areas, one of the largest in terms of territory and the largest in population. Nowadays, the Chinese language is very popular and interesting, both for doing business and for understanding the most ancient culture on the planet.
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The first thing you should do is learn English. The second is German. Knowing English and German, you can learn French without any problems, since the lexical base will already be laid. But they will be of practically no use to you when living, say, in the UAE. And you won't be able to use them if you go to work in China or Uganda.
In China, only a few people can communicate in English, and in Uganda, knowledge of Swahili is especially urgently needed - less than 1% of the population speaks English here. We recommend assessing not the global prospects of the language, but its prospects for you, for your future life and work. How to do this, what languages you need to learn and how to compare them with your own priorities? More on this later.
Which language to learn first
English. With rare exceptions, which only confirm the rule. It is the official language in more than 60 countries around the world. English is spoken by more than 1.5 billion people around the world. It is native to more than 700 million people. Look around - the best songs, scripts of TOP films, documents, instructions - all this is written in English. Knowledge of it significantly increases your chances of employment and your value as a qualified employee, no matter what industry you work in or what your responsibilities include.
5 reasons to learn English first:
- Opportunity to clarify in most countries of the world.
- Best for travel and business trips abroad.
- The opportunity to watch the best Hollywood films in the original.
- An advantage when getting an education and building a career.
- The opportunity not to encounter language barriers in everyday life.
It is the most popular language in the world. Moreover, it is universal and applicable in most situations.
Example: you want to go to study abroad, say, in Italy, but you don’t know Italian. Knowledge of English will allow you to choose a program in which you can use a known foreign language for learning as a base one. But if you only know German or French, then the chance of getting an education in Italy tends to zero.
But there are exceptions. They lie in the individual characteristics of each person. If English is not good for you, if you feel sincere hatred for learning it, if you don’t understand logic, there is no point in torturing yourself. Of course, if these are just your feelings, and not the mediocrity of the teacher and incorrectly structured preparation.
Example: singer Shakira knows many languages, but English was the hardest for her. Despite an IQ close to genius and phenomenal learning abilities, the Colombian native still does not speak English perfectly and prefers to sing and speak it only as a last resort.
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What language should you learn as your second, third, or fourth language?
There is no need to guess here - it is important to be guided by desires, needs and the tasks facing you. Motivation is the basis for fast and successful learning. You must clearly understand why you need it and at what level you need to master it. It is recommended to formulate goals and only then begin to consider options.
Let's assume that after graduating from college you want to enroll in one of the Czech universities for a master's program. Then it’s worth learning Czech. Or in your city there is a factory owned by the Japanese - to make a successful career as a manager here, knowledge of Japanese is desirable. We know nothing about the tasks facing you. Therefore, we can offer only the TOP 7 languages (besides English), which are most often chosen for study:
- German.
- French.
- Spanish.
- Chinese.
- Italian.
- Arab.
- Norwegian.
Let's make a reservation that Scandinavian languages are among the most complex in the world. If you are planning to move to Norway or Sweden but are having trouble learning Norwegian and Swedish, consider your options. It is no secret that Sweden is quite friendly towards emigrants who do not know the language. Moreover, children have the right to be taught in their native language: if there is at least one Russian-speaking child in the school, then they will definitely find a Russian-speaking teacher for him. Therefore, be sure to clarify the need for training.
TOP 5 most promising languages
If you do not set yourself the goal of moving or frequently traveling to a certain country, working in multinational enterprises and being in demand as a translator, then we recommend paying attention to the most promising languages in the world. They may not be the most in demand and not the most popular at a given time. But if you don’t know which foreign language is better to learn in terms of its prospects in the future, this rating is especially for you.
Chinese
The most common in the world. No one doubts the prospects of the Celestial Empire in terms of economic and industrial development. Strong contacts with Russia, the USA and other leading economies of the world lead to the emergence of a mass of multinational enterprises where knowledge of Chinese is highly welcome. Chinese is made up of at least 10 radically different dialects. It makes sense to learn literary (it is also called Mandarin or Northern Chinese) - you can communicate in it with a speaker of any dialect.
Spanish
It ranks third in terms of prevalence among all languages of the world. It is also one of the easiest to learn. It is used not only in Spain, but also in many countries that were once colonies. Not all of them are alike - for example, in Mexico they speak a special dialect of Spanish called Español mexicano. There are significant differences, but if necessary, you can speak classic Spanish with any Mexican and they will understand you.
German
Germany is one of the strongest economies in the world, one of the most developed and comfortable countries for living. Therefore, the language has not lost its promise for more than a century. German is spoken not only in Germany, but also in Austria, Switzerland, and a number of other European countries. It is especially promising for employment and emigration to Europe.
Arab
It ranks 4th in terms of prevalence in the world. More than 240 million people speak it in different parts of the world. The difficulty is that the language has a lot of local dialects, and studying classical Arabic does not guarantee that you will understand them. However, you will be understood - you will be able to express yourself not only as a tourist, but also as a specialist.
Japanese
The official Japanese language is only in Japan, but it is in demand to varying degrees in at least 25 Asian countries. By the way, it has a minimum of similarities with Chinese; you should not combine the study of these two languages, mistakenly assuming their identity. From the point of view of prospects, it is worth noting the development of the state’s economy and the scientific industry. Japan is one of the world leaders in terms of GDP.
What foreign language should I learn to emigrate?
Naturally, this depends on the country to which you plan to emigrate. Our advice will only be relevant if you have not yet decided on your future place of residence.
We are guided by information about the most popular countries for emigration among Russians. What languages should you learn according to this data:
- English – most often Russians prefer to emigrate to the USA. It is also in demand for admission to universities in the USA, Great Britain, Canada and a number of other countries under special programs and grants that cover tuition costs.
- German and French are ideal if you want to emigrate to these countries and stay there after completing your studies. Education in these countries is practically free (except for mandatory fees of 300-500 euros per semester).
- Italian is required for immigration to Italy. Interestingly, the level of English proficiency in this country is almost at the same level as in Russia. In general, Italians, unlike many Europeans, do not speak English well.
Also popular destinations for emigration are the Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Norway, Denmark. Russian citizens also willingly emigrate to European countries - to Switzerland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Serbia, and the Baltic countries. But according to surveys, less than 10% of Russians ready to emigrate plan to go to Asia.
What foreign language should a child learn?
Here again, it is important to be guided by the child’s living conditions. You shouldn’t choose the simplest language – choose the most promising one. At the same time, observe the child’s enthusiasm and desire to learn. If you see that he is absolutely indifferent to learning, change the tutor or place of study. If the result remains the same, it makes sense to choose another language to study. The most popular are English, French, German and Spanish. The native languages of the parents (or one of the parents) should not be taken into account.
Which language is better to study as an additional language? It makes sense to pay attention to options with the simplest grammar - Italian, French.
Teachers disagree on whether a child should even learn two languages at the same time. It is important to monitor the condition of children - they should not be overloaded. You shouldn’t take away their childhood, guided only by your own ambitions and the desire to get a well-rounded child prodigy. Observe the child’s attitude towards the educational process - his desire is extremely important.
The easiest and most difficult languages to learn
The starting position is important here: for example, knowledge of English will significantly simplify the study of languages of the Latin and Germanic groups. Your native language is also important. It's no secret that the easiest languages for Russians to learn are Ukrainian and Belarusian, Bulgarian and Serbian. However, they cannot yet be called promising in a global sense. Therefore, we note the easiest European ones to study:
- English.
- Italian.
- Spanish.
- French.
Spanish is considered to be the simplest language - it is characterized by simplicity of spelling, grammar and pronunciation. As it is heard, so it is written, there is no need to be afraid of making mistakes. Ideally, if you know English - Spanish has a very similar vocabulary, and learning will proceed as quickly as possible. The second and third places are Italian and French, respectively. English is more difficult, but also quite accessible.
It is from him that all dialects were formed, so even if you move to a country where pure language variations are not practiced, you can quickly adapt. In the classic version it is also easiest to trace the logic of word formation and sentence construction. It is often clearer and more pleasing to the ear. Almost always it is literary and official for the preparation of documents.
Conclusion
Learn the languages that you need and are interested in. Without necessity there is no motivation, and without sincere interest there is no desire. Both of these components form the basis for successful learning. There is no point in studying when the process only causes you tension and irritation. You must genuinely enjoy learning. You must understand why you are studying this particular language, what prospects it opens up for you, and what it allows you to do in the future.
If you don’t know which languages are worth learning right now, try to look into the future. Figure out where you want to live and what you want to do. Choose English as a base and master it at a decent level. If you already speak English, move on to others. But be careful - only some people are able to study French and, say, German at the same time. In other cases, separate training is required.
Mankind's speech skills have evolved over many centuries. There is still no reliable data that reveals the secrets of the origin of speech communications. Language statistics show that some types of speech have long disappeared, while others are actively spreading and becoming in demand.
History of origin
The role of languages in the world is very great. With their help, communication between people is carried out. Today more than 6 thousand types of speech are known. However, no one can say for sure how they appeared.
There are many theories about the origin of speech communications. Some believe that everything happened as a result of evolution. Others believe that this skill was given by God. However, existing theories do not provide comprehensive answers to the questions. For example, evolutionists cannot explain how the simplification of speech communications occurred. After all, the most ancient languages of the world (Latin, Sanskrit) are much more complex than modern ones.
This pattern contradicts the principles of the theory of biological evolution. Among the various versions, modern science about the languages of the world most accepts the theory of gestures. According to scientists, people constantly developed and improved the sign system. They began to use gestures, and sounds were added in the process. However, the vocabulary was not rich.
So, there are many versions - from creation by God to sudden emergence. Each of them has the right to exist. But no one knows exactly what contributed to the spread of languages in the world.
Number of media
Language statistics include 6–7 thousand types of speech. Many of them are spoken by only a small part. Scientists classify types of speech into groups according to their characteristics. The similarity of languages implies the same sound, similar words. One of the main ones is the genealogical group.
The number of languages in the world is constantly decreasing. On average, one species disappears every two weeks. As a result, the number of forgotten languages is gradually increasing. What are the statistics of languages in the world? 80% of the world's population speaks 80 languages. The rest are distributed among the remaining inhabitants of the planet.
The uneven distribution of types of speech among them threatens complete extinction. According to UNESCO, 50 types of speech are under threat in Europe alone. Globalization also contributes to the decline.
The most densely populated region in terms of the number of speakers of different types of speech is Papua (New Guinea). Many tribes live here. Moreover, the region’s territory is smaller in area than Ukraine. About 6 million people live in Papua. Language statistics list from 800 to 1000 dialects common among tribes.
The most common
The most common are:
- Chinese– ranks first in the TOP 10, as it is used by 1.3 billion people in 35 countries. Chinese language is one of the most ancient in the world. It has 85,568 characters. It is also considered the most difficult language in the world.
- English- second most common. It is official in the UK, India, Canada, Ireland. It ranks 1st among the most popular languages in the world. It is used by about 600 million people in 106 countries. It also leads in the number of words - 490 thousand. However, a person’s vocabulary is no more than 60 thousand words. Knowledge of English in the modern world helps many people get well-paid jobs. International business is also conducted on it.
- Hindi– takes third place. Language statistics include 490 million speakers in 4 countries.
- Spanish– the language is used in 31 countries. It is considered official in the European Union and the UN. Spanish is the easiest language in the world. It is spoken by about 437 million people.
- Arab– it is used by 290 million people in 58 countries. The Arabic language is spreading rapidly throughout the world thanks to the Quran. Until 1924, the Arabic alphabet was used in Kabardian. Today its carriers are especially in demand on. Most energy negotiations avoid this type of speech.
- Russian– the most popular in the Russian Federation and Europe. It is used by about 270 million people in 17 countries.
French is ranked 10th in the world. The number of speakers is 150 million people in 53 countries. It is also considered one of the most beautiful. From the list you can see how many languages are spoken most in the world.
Certain languages are spreading and becoming popular in different countries of the world. The main factors are political and economic influence, as well as ease of study. This is how they gradually become international languages of the world. The graph shows what type of speech websites on the Internet use:
State standards
Among the official languages of the world, English ranks first. Official languages in other countries of the world:
The most ancient dialects
It is technically impossible to identify the most ancient existing languages of the world. They were used long before writing appeared on earth. List of the most ancient languages in the world (some are no longer used):
Statistics on foreign language learning around the world show that Spanish, English, French and Italian are among the most popular. At the same time, after English they often study German. It is usually used in business communication. Among the studied languages of the world, Russian is also recommended.
The list of easy languages of the world also includes Turkish. One of the new types of speech was Esperanto. It was created by Warsaw ophthalmologist Lazar Markowicz in 1887.
Unusual types of speech
Gestures are among the most unusual languages in the world. They are used mainly by people who are hard of hearing. In Iceland, sign language is considered the official language. Language statistics show that there are several types of such speech. For example, American and English are very different from each other.
There are also funny languages of the world. For example, Chalkatongo-Mixtec. There is no difference between interrogative and affirmative sentences. The peculiarity of Berik (Papuan) is that when something is said, it is necessary to indicate where and when it was done. The phrase “I was in the store” in lordly would be “I was in the store after lunch.”
What place does Russian take?
Russian is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. It is also used as a worker - UN, UNESCO. It is included in the list of the richest languages in the world. However, not all speakers use Russian words correctly.
This language is spoken in 17 countries around the world. It is considered state for Russians, Belarusians, Kyrgyz, as well as residents of Ingushetia. In Kyrgyzstan, the language is used by about 48% of the population. Most technical terms in Ingush are borrowed from Russian. Along with the Chechen language, it is widespread in the North Caucasus. It ranks sixth in terms of the number of speakers.
What are the statistics of the Russian language in the world? There are about 270 million people who speak it. Of these, 137.5 million speakers live in Russia.
Russian is also well known in Ukraine and Latvia. Language statistics show that 92% of Ukrainians and 81.2% of Lithuanians are fluent in Russian. Interesting Facts:
- The alphabet is similar to the Latin version.
- Has a word with three letters "E" - long-necked.
- The English use the English phrase “Yellow-blue bus” to teach “I love you” in Russian.
- There are no original Russian words starting with the letter “A”.
The great importance of the Russian language in the world lies not only in its widespread use. It is also applied in international relations. Great literary works make the Russian language even more popular in the world. This contributes to the spread of the culture of the Russian people.
Study methods
What is the best language in the world? No one can give a definite answer. Language statistics highlight only the most popular ones. One of the most popular is English.
There are also different methods to study them. You can study with a teacher or study on your own. The main thing is to practice every day. There are many that provide the necessary training materials. Audio courses are also sold to help solve pronunciation problems. And by country it will only consolidate the knowledge gained.
It’s difficult to say how many languages there are in the world. According to various experts, from 2 to 5-6 thousand. Most likely, it is simply impossible to count them, since there are a great many adverbs and modifications of various languages. Some African tribes speak languages that no one in the neighboring village speaks.
For example, in the country of Papua New Guinea there are more than 800 languages. It is believed that this is the largest figure in the world for a single country.
The UN uses six official languages - English, Spanish, Russian, French, Arabic and Chinese.
The most common languages are often either the languages of Asian countries with large populations (China, India, Indonesia), or the languages of countries that were once empires and had colonies around the world (France, Spain, Great Britain).
10. Punjabi
- Used by 102 million people;
- Worldwide prevalence 1.44%.
The language is official in India, and in Pakistan it has regional status in the Punjab province. It is spoken by approximately half of Pakistan's population. The number of native speakers will grow, as the distribution area falls in regions with high birth rates.
9. Japanese
- Used by 125 million people;
- Global prevalence 1.9%.
It has official status in Japan, native to 125 million people, and about 140 million people speak Japanese fluently.
8. Russian
- Used by 155 million people;
- Worldwide prevalence 2.33%.
It has state status in the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus (together with Belarusian) and some unrecognized republics - Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia. It is also widespread in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and partly in other former republics of the Union.
7. Bengali
- Used by 205 million people;
- Worldwide prevalence 3.11%.
Bengali is official in the Republic of Bangladesh and is widely used throughout India. It is spoken by over two hundred million people on the planet.
6. Portuguese
- Used by 215-220 million people;
- Global prevalence 3.27%.
Portugal is the smallest country on this list, but one of the most widely spoken languages. Portuguese, in addition to its homeland, is used in Brazil, Angola, Mozambique and a number of smaller countries in Africa and Asia.
5. Arabic
- Used by 295-300 million people;
- Worldwide prevalence 4.43%.
Arabic has official status in 27 countries, including Israel and some non-Arab African countries - Chad and Somalia. One of the most dynamically spreading languages in the world due to the high birth rate in Arab countries.
- Used by 310-450 million people;
- Global prevalence 4.7%.
Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India out of 20 officially used in this state. The exact number of people who use Hindi is as difficult to calculate as the population of India; according to various estimates, from 260 to 490 million people use it.
3. English
- Used by 400 million people;
- Worldwide prevalence 5.43%.
English is spoken in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, a number of African countries and other lands - a total of about 75 territories around the world with the exception of South America. As a second language, it ranks first in terms of use - up to 1.5 billion people.
2. Spanish
- Used by 410 million people;
- Worldwide prevalence 6.15%.
More than 400 million people speak Spanish or Castilian. The largest countries are Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, and more than 35 million people speak it in the USA.
1. Northern Chinese (Mandarin Chinese)
- Used by 1 billion people;
- Worldwide prevalence 14.4%.
Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken Chinese language and is spoken by approximately one billion people. This is not surprising, since the Chinese are the largest ethnic group in the world.
