Have you ever wondered which languages are spoken the most in the world? This story on the top 10 most widely used languages to communicate verbally in the world should help you.
Language is the most primary way for every human to convey his feelings, thoughts and needs. It has helped build most of our common hobbies, such as, love of literature and poems, music, and movies!
There are over 5 to 6 thousand languages spoken in the world today, and over 200 of these are spoken by a million or more native speakers. With migration and the global village phenomenon, people learn more than one language to be able to communicate with fellow humans around the world. Here are a list of ten of these that top the charts.
Mandarin Chinese
You may say there are more English speakers, but Mandarin Chinese beat English by a 2:1 ratio. Mandarin Chinese also takes the title of the hardest to learn. Wow, more than a billion people in China can speak one of the most difficult languages. That's truly remarkable, I say.
Good Morning: Zǎoshang hǎo Goodbye: to Zàijiàn.
English
English has become a global language that helps people from different continents, countries, and even states to communicate with ease. With many countries including the Queen's language in their official lists, English has taken up the second position as the most widely spoken in the world.
A recent study showed that there are more English speakers in India than in all of Western Europe with the exception of the United Kingdom. It was seen that English was the primary language for 2.3 lakh Indians, second language for 86 lakh Indians and 39 million Indians speak English as their third language.
The multilingual Indians have found the key to stay connected with the world by becoming fluent in a global language.
If you can read this it means you know what Good Morning and Goodbye means!
Hindi
The second most populous country in the world, India's national language Hindi takes the third place. Hindi is the primary language in the multilingual Indian continent. And as India has been predicted to soon surpass China as the most populous country, Hindi is bound to be spoken by more number of people.
Good Morning: Namaste Goodbye: Accha, chalta hun
Spanish
The land of fiestas, traditions and bullfight, Spain has its national language, Spanish bagging the fourth place as the most widely used in the world. Used in every Central and South American country, Cuba, Spain and also in the United States makes the language an extremely popular one.
In fact, it has been a forerunner in contributing some words like tornado, taco grande supreme and patio, etc., to the English dictionary.
Good Morning: Buenos días Goodbye: Adiós
Arabic
One of the oldest languages of the world, Arabic is spoken in the Middle East. Speakers living in countries that include Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, Lebanon, etc., all speak it.
Many Muslims all over the world can read, write, and speak Arabic even though Arabic is not their mother tongue. This is because Arabic is the language of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.
Good Morning: Shabba Khair Goodbye: Ma'a Salama.
Portuguese
Say Portuguese and it reminds you of the greatest explorer ever, Vasco Da Gama. With all the explorers from this country who went on in search of new, exotic places, Portuguese became a language that was established in many other parts of the world.
The counties other than Portugal where Portuguese is spoken include Brazil, Venezuela, Macau, Angola, and Mozambique.
Good Morning: Bom Dia Goodbye: Adeus.
Bengali
Spoken in Bangladesh which has a population of over 120 million people, there are a significant number of speakers of Bengali in the neighboring country, India. Although, Bengali may be a new discovery for you, there is a significant population in the world that speaks Bengali.
Good Morning: Suprobhat Goodbye: Bidaye, aabaar dyakha hobe.
Russian
Russian is one of the most widely used languages in the world to communicate verbally. It is also spoken in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and even America.
Good Morning: Dobroe Utro Goodbye: Do Svidaniya.
French
French is the language of romance and is spoken in Belgium, Canada, Cameroon, Rwanda, Haiti. Popular for Eiffel Tower, and its delicious cuisine, the language spoken in France is also one that is truly swoon-worthy.
Good Morning: Bonjour Goodbye: Au Revoir.
German
The first language of Germany is spoken by more than 95% of the population. Germany also has speakers in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, and some German-speaking communities of Northern Italy, East Cantons of Belgium, French Alsace region South Jutland county of Denmark and many more parts of Europe.
Good Morning: Guten Morgen Goodbye: Auf Wiedersehen.
Other honorable mentions that did not make it up to the top 10 list are Malay-Indonesian, Japanese, Urdu, Punjabi, Korean, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Cantonese, Wu, Vietnamese, Javanese, Italian, Turkish, Tagalog, and Thai.