By Rinshi Ansari
The foundation of communal life is language. It doesn’t take long to realise this if you’ve ever visited a country where the language isn’t your own.
Which restroom is the closest to me? What is the cost of this? Language is one of the most important tools civilization can provide for us to communicate with one another and understand the world around us, from the most basic problems of human life to complicated theological and philosophical works.
Around the world, there are countless dialects, some of which are related to one another and others of which are entirely foreign. Find out which language is spoken the most and which new language you could find the simplest to learn from the 2022 list we have prepared for you.
According to Statistics & Data, English will have more than 1.4 billion speakers worldwide in 2022, according to the online language learning resource Babbel. Both native and non-native speakers are included in this.
If you limit the criteria to native speakers, Babbel states that Chinese, which includes Mandarin and several other dialects, is the language with the most native speakers, with 1.3 billion. So, the second most spoken language in the world is Mandarin.
According to Statistics & Data, the top 10 languages in the world by the number of speakers are as follows:
Let us now understand why these languages are popular and the most spoken in the world.
This Indo-European language is among the most widely spoken in the world, with 1.348 billion speakers. More than 370 million people speak English as a second language. Learning English, which is the most widely spoken language worldwide, can make communicating with individuals from other nations simpler. English is a universal language, and anyone might benefit from having language skills. Given that pilots are required to speak it well, English is sometimes referred to as the “language of the sky.”
The second most widely used language in the world is mandarin. It is recognised as the national tongue of Taiwan, Singapore, and China. This language, which is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family, is spoken by 1.09 million people. One in six people on the planet speaks Mandarin, one of the most widely spoken languages.
Because the language is tonal, the pronunciation of each word affects its meaning. Mandarin is regarded as one of the hardest languages to master out of all the languages spoken worldwide.
Hindi ranks third among the top ten most widely spoken languages in the world among the languages spoken most frequently on the Indian subcontinent. There are 600 million speakers of the language. It utilises the Devanagari writing system and belongs to the Indo-Aryan language family. One of India’s 23 official languages is Hindi. Additionally, parts of Pakistan, Nepal, Fiji, Guyana, and Mauritius speak it.
Spanish is one of the world’s most widely spoken languages, with 543 million native speakers. It is regarded as the most widely spoken language in the world and is spoken in twenty-two nations. Spanish is a member of the Romance language group. Additionally, it is one of the six official languages of the UN. In the European Union and the Organization of American States, Spanish is a widely used language for communication.
One of the most widely spoken languages in the world is French. This romantic language is one of the UN’s official languages and is spoken in 29 different nations. The most renownedly romantic language is French.
It is widely used in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Luxembourg and is the third most widely used language in the EU. The Strasbourg Oaths, the first written document in French, dates back to the year 842.
Bengali is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, with 268 million native speakers. Bengal, which is split between Bangladesh and India, is where Bengali first emerged. The script for the language is known as Bangla. The gender-neutrality of Bengali nouns is an intriguing phenomenon.
Around the world, 274 million people speak Arabic. It comes from northwest Arabia and is spoken as a first language in 25 nations. The fact that the language is read and written from right to left sets it apart from other tongues. The use of root words forms the basis of word formation. In formal settings like the media, legislation, and written texts, the standard version known as the MSA is used.
There are speakers of this love language on practically every continent. Portuguese, which is an official language in nine different nations, is the second-fastest-growing language in Europe after English. Anticonstitucionalssimamente, a Portuguese word of 29 letters, is the longest word in the language. Only 5% of those who speak Portuguese are natives of Portugal, which is an entertaining fact about the language. The language is spoken by 258 million people worldwide.
Russian is spoken by 258 million people worldwide and is the official language of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan. Russian is a member of the East Slavic branch of the Slavic language family. Nouns in the language can be either male, female, or neuter. The Cyrillic script is used for the Russian language. Ten vowels, twenty consonants, one semivowel, and two unvoiced modifiers make up its 33 letters.
Urdu, the tenth most spoken language in the world, is known for its exquisite and poetic literature. With 230 million speakers, Urdu is the official language of Pakistan and India. Significant Arabic, Persian, and Hindi influences can be found in the language. Laskhari, Hindvi, Hindustani, and Lahori were additional names for Urdu. There are 36 letters in the language, and Amir Khusrau is regarded as the first Urdu author.
Language proficiency is always useful. It makes a variety of chances for the global travel and employment possibilities. Cultures and languages are related. Understanding new cultures are made possible by learning a new language. The ability to speak multiple languages is useful in today’s society. Learning a new language will increase your knowledge and open you more chances, whether in a work context or during a learning experience.