I was waiting for my friend for a few hours just this afternoon and I came across a German student. And I realize how it was so difficult to count German's 1 to 10 numbers. Well, I was proud of pronouncing 'VOLKSWAGEN' right. Even though English is now our universal language, some countries preserve their language such as Mandarin in China and Japanese in Japan and so on.So if you are curious, like me, here are the top ten most spoken languages all over the world:
10. German
Speakers:
Over 90 Million
German is the official language of Germany. However, it is also the official language of Austria, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. It is one of three official language of Belgium. German is also one of four official language of Switzerland. German is also recognized as a minority language in several countries such as Poland, Denmark and Czech Republic.
9. Japanese
Speakers:
132 Million
Japanese is the official language of Japan where Japanese Cartoons(A.K.A Anime). Native Japanese speakers also live in Korea, United States and Europe. When you became an addict to anime like me and some of the people I know, we tend to memorize a certain catchy phrase and would now want to learn Japanese thanks to the influence of anime.
8. Russian
Speakers:
144 Million
Russian is the official language of Russia. Other Russian speakers include Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Russian is also written is Cyrillic alphabet.
7. Portuguese
Speakers:
178 Million
Portuguese is the official language of both Portugal and Brazil. It is also the official language of Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe, and is a mandatory subject of study in schools in Uruguay and Argentina.
6. Bengali
Speakers:
181 Million
Bengali is a member of the Indo-Aryan language family, alongside languages such as Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. Most speakers live in Bangladesh where it is the official language. Speakers also live in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam. Some of the speakers also live in Europe, the United States and even in Saudi Arabia. Bengali is written in the Bengali script, which is related to the Sanskrit and Hindi scripts.
5. Arabic
Speakers:
221 Million
Arabic is the official language of 26 countries. Wow. It is most identified with the Middle East and North Africa. The largest population speakers are both in Europe and North America. It sits alongside Hebrew as the official language of Israel. Arabic is written in Arabic script.
4. Hindi-Urdu
Speakers:
242 Million
Hindi-Urdu is a member of Indo-Aryan family language, alongside Bengali. Hindi is the official language of India while Urdu is the official language of Pakistan. Urdu and Hindi are also spoken in parts of Europe and North America with heavy Indian and Pakistani immigrant populations.
3. English
Speakers:
328 Million
English is now our universal language so a lot of us know and must learn English. The majority speakers of the language lives in United States with about 309 Million. English is the official language of 53 countries, including Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Jamaica, and New Zealand, and is the de facto language of the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. It also has large speaking populations in several African and Oceanian countries, and is a “subsidiary official language” in India. The British accent is difficult for me still to grasp in a conversation. But it is so cool! It makes me want to learn.
2. Spanish
Speakers:
329 Million
Spanish is the official language of 20 countries. It is closely related to Portuguese and is the most distributed language in the world. Spanish is the official language of nearly every state in Latin America, excepting Brazil, Belize, etc. Additionally, large populations of native speakers have immigrated to the United States, and Spanish is now one of the most common languages in the American southwest.
1. Mandarin
Speakers:
845 Million
Mandarin is often called as 'Chinese' by non-speakers. But there are several categories of the Chinese language such as Cantonese. The number of speakers are from China and Taiwan. But don't forget about the migrants in some part of the world like in the Singapore and United States.
Congratulations Mandarin! For being the number one most spoken language. What language so you speak?
Have a nice day! :)
Source: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-most-spoken-languages.php
