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Top Ten Languages
(My Unusual Road of Life....)
The see how widely certain languages are spoken and used in the world!
Date: 3/7/2020 4:29:50 AM ( 4 y ago)
When we talk about the most widely spoken languages in the world, we mean to say the number of countries and territories where it is spoken. We won’t be basing it on the number of people who can speak the language. After all, it is impossible to talk to every person on the planet. What is more plausible is to be able to visit each country in this world. So the question is, how many places can you go to where the people will understand your language?
How widely spoken in this world is your native language?
So here now is a list of the top ten most widely spoken languages in the world based on the number of countries where it is used.
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ENGLISH – 59 COUNTRIES
The old British Empire spread far and wide, so much so that the sun never set for them. Along with former territories of the United States, the English language has become the most widely spoken in the world. Countries that speak it include Antigua, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Barbuda, Belize, Botswana, Cameroon, Canada, Dominica, Eritrea, Fiji, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
9
FRENCH – 29 COUNTRIES
The French used to have a vast empire of its own, colonizing several countries in the African continent. It remains one of the official languages of international organizations like the Olympic movement. Plus French terms are used in cooking, the Arts, Science and Literature, Scitinific terms, Dancing, and much of the entertainment jargon! French is widely spoken in countries like Andorra, Belgium, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo Republic, Congo Democratic Republic, Cote d’ Ivoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu.
** What language is applicable in everyday use in most countries in the world?
The international distress call for ships and planes is "Mayday" or "Help me" from French!
French, as well as English, is used in both the UN HQ and in Aircraft communication everywhere in the world!
One of the most commonly spoken languages in the world is French, which has an estimated 160 million speakers. Besides being the official language of France, it is commonly spoken in many other countries around the globe, such as Canada, Belgium, Cameroon, Haiti, and Rwanda. ** A 1/3 of the English language is from French, with about 20% is from German!
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3. ARABIC – 25 COUNTRIES
The Arab world encompasses much of West Asia and Northern Africa. The Arabic language is spoken in Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Palestine, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. There are several variations of Arabic used in different countries today!
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SPANISH – 24 COUNTRIES
Time was when Spain ruled half the world courtesy of the Treaty of Tordesillas. This allowed Spain to rule the whole of Central and South America, except for Brazil. Gayana, French Guyana, and Surinam.
Spanish is still spoken in Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Belize, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Gibraltar, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
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5. RUSSIAN – 12 COUNTRIES
Russia used to dominate the old Soviet Union until its collapse in 1991. The countries that made it up thereafter declared their independence. Still, Russian can be spoken and understood in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Russian is the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and is considered the largest native language in Europe.
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6. PORTUGUESE – 11 COUNTRIES
Portugal was once a great power in the old world, along with Spain. It went on an exploration binge in the name of the Roman Catholic faith. The territories it captured absorbed the language of its colonizers. Until 1999, Macau, which is deep in the heart of Asia, was a Portuguese colony. Up to now, Portuguese is spoken widely in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Macau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe, Goa, Daman and even Diu in India.
4
GERMAN – 7 COUNTRIES
Germany is located in the heart of Europe. Its central location, along with its economic might and its former military glory, means that they were able to spread its wings over other countries in the area. And even up to now, the German language is still widely spoken in countries like Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and Switzerland. The South Tyrol area in Italy also speaks German. There is also a community in Belgium that still speaks the language.
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8. ITALIAN – 6 COUNTRIES
The Italians have a beautiful language, and it is spoken even outside its native Italy. The Vatican City, being a state located inside Rome, obviously speaks the language as well. Other countries that can speak and understand Italian are San Marino and Switzerland. The former Yugoslavia states of Croatia and Slovenia have areas that also speak Italian. These are the Istria County in Croatia and Slovenian Istria in Slovenia.
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9. CHINESE – 4 COUNTRIES
In terms of the number of speakers, Chinese is the most used language in the world. Having a population of over a billion will jack up the number. It is also known as standard Chinese or modern standard Chinese. Its other names are Mandarin, Guoyu, modern standard Mandarin and Putonghua. At the risk of stating the obvious, the language is widely spoken in the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China, or what is more commonly known as Taiwan. It is also one of the four official languages of Singapore. Chinese is also spoken and understood in the Wa State in Myanmar.
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DUTCH – 3 COUNTRIES
Dutch is a West Germanic language that is spoken by most of the population in the Netherlands. It is also used by around 60 percent of the population of neighboring Belgium and the former Dutch colony of Suriname in South America. The three countries form the Dutch Language Union. Dutch is also spoken in the Caribbean, being widely used in countries like Aruba, Curacao and Saint Maarten. The language of South Africa called Afrikaans is considered a daughter language of Dutch, and they are mutually intelligible to each other. There are also parts of Indonesia that still used the language, as Indonesia used to be a Dutch colony as well.
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Top 10 Most Spoken Languages in the World 2020EDUCATION, WORLD BY SANTOSH KUMAR ON JULY 11, 2019 NO COMMENTS
Language is a primary parameter of human existence as it helps in effective communication between human beings. The world has more than 6800 languages spoken throughout it, some of which are spoken by a large proportion of the world population, while others are spoken by only a minority.
Here is a list of top 10 most spoken languages around the world:
10. Urdu
Urdu
Featuring next on the list of top 10 most spoken languages in the world in Urdu, with 160 million speakers This is attributed to the fact that Indonesia comes on number 9 in terms of the population around the world.
9. French
French language
One of the most commonly spoken languages in the world is French, which has an estimated 160 million speakers. Besides being the official language of France, it is commonly spoken in many other countries around the globe, such as Canada, Belgium, Cameroon, Haiti, and Rwanda.
8. Russian
Russian
The next language to make it on the list of most spoken languages in the world is Russia, which is spoken not only in the country of its origin, but also many other such as Kazakhstan, Belarus, and the US. It is also one of the six official languages of the UN and has more than 170 million speakers at present.
7. Portuguese
Portuguese
With an estimated number of 200 million speakers around the globe, Portuguese becomes the eighth most spoken language in the world. The reason behind this is that the Portuguese were born explorers, who spread their roots in all parts of the world, establishing their colonies in many countries like Brazil, Mozambique, Macau, Angola, and Venezuela, where this language continues to be popular till date.
6. Bengali
Bengali is another widely spoken language, which is spoken by over 210 million people around the world. Besides being the principal language of Bangladesh, which has a population of 120 million Bengali speaking people, the language is equally popular in the Indian states surrounding the country.
5. Hindi
Hindi
Since India is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, its language Hindi becomes the third most spoken language around the globe, with as many as 380 million speakers. Despite English becoming a popular language in the country, the prominence of its official language is still unsurpassed. The success of the Hindi film industry on a global level is another reason for the popularity of this language.
4. Spanish
Spanish
With nearly 420 million speakers around the world, Spanish becomes the fourth most spoken language in the world. Besides being the language of Spain, it is spoken in nearly all Central American and South American countries. This language also furnished many words to the English language.
3. Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is another widely spoken language, which has an estimated 560 million speakers around the globe. It is one of the oldest languages in the world and is spoken widely in countries of the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, and Syria. It was also declared as the sixth official UN language in 1974.
2. English
English
Next among the most spoken languages in the world is English, which is spoken in almost every country around the world and has nearly 890 million speakers. USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada, and South Africa are some of the countries where this language is immensely popular.
1. Mandarin
mandarin
Mandarin, the language of the most populated country in the world, China is the most spoken language, with more than 1030 million speakers. This language is tough to learn as it constitutes complex tones, which bear a close resemblance to each other and sometimes, it is hard to distinguish one tone from the other.
This list is widely influenced by the populations of the countries of origin of the languages. For instance, India and China are highly populated countries, which is perhaps the reason for such a large number of speakers of Hindi and Mandarin.
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