List of the most common languages ​​in the world. The most widely spoken languages ​​in the world. Business languages

As the world becomes more closely connected economically and socially, the ability to communicate and understand each other has never been more important than it is today. Whether you are traveling, doing business or studying, then learning another language is a must. The article presents a list of ten of the most important languages that will definitely come in handy in life.

Experts advise to start mastering the language that you like or extremely necessary, since the most important link in mastering a new means of communication is motivation, forcing a person to study tirelessly. If you still find it difficult to make a choice, then you can refer to this list.

Languages ​​are chosen according to their global importance (prevalence, influence in politics and economics), ease of learning and usefulness for a particular person (for example, when traveling or getting a job).

10. Portuguese

Compared to Spanish Portuguese has a distinct, distinct history, including Latin and Celtic influences. This language is more difficult to learn than Spanish. More than 230 million Portuguese speakers consider it their native medium of communication. In fact, it is the official language in ten countries. It is spoken in places as remote as Angola in Africa and Timor Leste in the Pacific.

9. Russian

With over 250,000,000 native speakers, Russian is geographically the most widely spoken. Using the Cyrillic alphabet may seem a little daunting at first, but once you get familiar with it, you will realize that it serves as a good basis for understanding Slavic languages ​​such as Ukrainian, Serbian and Bulgarian. Besides its importance in business world This international communication tool boasts the largest collection of scientific and technical literature in the world, making it extremely practical for those hungry for knowledge.

8. Japanese

Japanese is important to understand. When you travel in Japan, you may be surprised to find that several road signs are written in English, and most of the population does not speak English at all. More than 120 million people speak Japanese, and some consider it to be the most difficult language in the world. It has three confusing writing systems, levels of formality, and a structural grammar that many may find perplexing. However, those who study it find it quite funny.

7. Hindi

Along with English, Hindi is the official language of the Indian government. It is a truly rich language that has expanded its vocabulary from Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Turkish and English. Although most people associate it with India, it is also Fiji's official medium of communication, as well as a regional language in Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mauritius.

6. Arabic

Arabic is the official language in 26 countries and has approximately 422 million native and non-native speakers. It has become extremely important in the energy and security sectors, especially in cities in the Middle East such as Dubai, UAE, Doha and Qatar. However, it contains different dialects (for example, there are large differences between Egyptian Arabic and Moroccan Arabic) and has a complex writing style.

5. German

There are many good reasons to learn German, primarily because it is the spoken language in the EU. Business communication is carried out in German, since Germany is the economic center of Europe. While the younger generation of people in Eastern Europe more likely to learn English, those who grew up under the Iron Curtain were more likely to learn German. Despite the fact that it has a more complex grammar compared to English, it is more logical.

4. French

After World War II French became European. It was badly needed for business and tourism. Today there are 110 million speakers. In addition, 190 million people speak it as a second language.

Americans who want to speak French with native speakers should visit Quebec and New Brunswick. Residents of these Canadian provinces use it as their primary means of communication.

3. Spanish

About 470 million people speak it as their first language, in addition to 100 million people speak it as their second language. It is the official means of communication for 20 countries. First of all, it is common in South America and the Caribbean. Of course, it is also very desired language for Americans who are teaching it because of the growing number of Hispanics in Florida, Texas, and the Southwest. It should be noted that it is very easy to learn.

2. Chinese

China is set to overtake the United States with its largest economy. Thus, the most widespread communication tool in the world (about 955 million speakers) acquired great importance... At first, this is an extremely difficult language: changing the tone can change the meaning of the sentence. The grammar system is relatively simple, although writing Chinese letters is notoriously difficult.

1. English

More than 400 million people speak English as their first language, and another 1.1 billion speak it as a foreign language. Simply put, it is impossible to travel or do business internationally without knowing this medium of communication.

A good career is unthinkable without knowledge of English. In fact, commercial pilots are required to speak it, and most diplomatic positions also require it. Difficult spelling rules and specific grammar can be a serious problem, but if you've mastered it, then that's just fine.

Countries and peoples differ from each other in socio-cultural, religious, economic grounds. But one of the main differences is the language. In some states, all residents speak only one language. In other countries, people can communicate with each other in dozens or even hundreds of different dialects and dialects.

What languages ​​are the most spoken in the world? And in which countries do they have official status? We will tell you about this in our article.

The most spoken languages ​​in the world: list

Today, linguists identify about 7 thousand languages ​​on the planet. There are even more dialects, dialects and adverbs. However, their geography is extremely uneven. So, just 80 languages ​​account for almost 80% of the global population. The most variegated linguistic mosaic is characteristic of Africa.

The most common in modern world is a family of Indo-European languages. The total number of their carriers reaches 2.5 billion people. The geography of their distribution is marked on the map in dark green (see figure below). This family includes, in particular, Slavic (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Serbian, etc.), Baltic, Romance, English and German, Hindi and Urdu.

Languages, like peoples, tend to die. Moreover, in the 21st century, this process is taking place especially intensively. According to statistics, every two weeks one of the languages ​​disappears from the world. And this danger, first of all, threatens those nationalities and tribes that do not use writing.

What is the most spoken language in the world? The answer to this question is in the following table (data are presented for 2017).

If we start not from the number of speakers, but from the number of countries in which one or another language has official status, then the situation will be different. In this case, the following languages ​​will be among the absolute leaders: English (59 countries), French (29), Arabic (26) and Spanish (20).

Now let's take a quick look at the five most spoken languages ​​in the world. Why are they interesting, and in which countries are they spoken?

Putonghua

The most widely spoken language in the world is Chinese. And this is absolutely not surprising if we recall the well-known saying about “every fifth inhabitant of the Earth”. The term "Mandarin" is customary to designate only the spoken, spoken form of the Chinese language. But his written standard is called the word "baihua".

At least 1.3 billion people speak Chinese today. These are mainly residents of China, Singapore and Taiwan.

It is important to note that Mandarin is a literary (artificial) language. His vocabulary is based on the so-called Peking dialect. Mandarin is spreading rather slowly. Thus, according to a 2004 survey, only 53% of the population in the PRC can speak this language. However, only 18% of Chinese speak it at home.

Chinese writing is based on hieroglyphs - special graphic signs that can mean both individual sounds and whole words and even concepts. There are at least 100 thousand of them! However, for reading modern books and newspapers in Chinese, it is enough to learn about 10 thousand hieroglyphs.

Hindustani

Hindustani is a generalized name for a fairly large group of languages, dialects and adverbs. At the same time, Hindi is the Indian version of this name, and Urdu is Pakistani. Until the partition of India in the middle of the twentieth century, these two concepts were synonymous. Today they differ slightly in literary norms and techniques. In particular, in Hindi the Sanskrit influence is very noticeable, and in Urdu there is a Persian influence.

The languages ​​of this group are spoken in only two modern states - the Republic of India and Pakistan. The total number of Hindustani speakers is 490 million. Outside South Asia, Hindustani is spoken only by the diasporas of immigrants from these two countries, which are scattered almost all over the world.

Hindi and Urdu belong to the Indo-Aryan language group. The Hindustani script is represented either by the ancient Indian script Devanagari, or nastalik (one of the handwritings of Arabic calligraphy). The Latin alphabet is also often used, in particular, on the Internet and in the design of "Bollywood" films.

Spanish

Spanish is one of the most beautiful languages and one of the easiest to learn. It is believed to have originated in Castile around the second century BC. Today 437 million people communicate on it. In twenty states of the planet, it is official. This is Spain, as well as most of the countries of South and Central America. Since the natural increase in all these states is quite high, the total number of Spanish speakers is increasing every year.

Spanish belongs to the languages ​​of the Romance group. His closest "relatives" are Italian, Portuguese and Romanian. Most words in Spanish are spelled exactly the same way as they are pronounced. And this fact greatly simplifies the process of studying it. On the other hand, Spanish has a rather complex verb conjugation system.

The Spanish language is very homogeneous. That is, the inhabitants of Spain, Mexico or Chile understand each other perfectly, despite the fact that they live on different continents. It is also one of the fastest languages ​​(due to the abundance of vowels in words).

English

English is the most spoken language in the world of business and information technologies... So, it is on it that the content of 51% of all websites on the Internet is presented. It is one of the most demanded and studied languages, and also a very important tool of globalization. Nevertheless, only one billion people on our planet are fluent in English. This is a lot, but not so much either.

English is easy enough to learn. The main difficulty in the process of mastering it is pronunciation. The same letters in English can be pronounced in completely different ways. By the way, the most "frequent" letter in English alphabet- E, and the most "rare" - Q.

English is one of the richest languages. Today, at least 800 thousand are known English words... For example, there are over two thousand synonyms for the word drunk. Nevertheless, 2-3 thousand words are enough for everyday communication.

Arabic

Arabic is the fifth most native speaker in the world. Today it is spoken in 26 states (mainly the countries of the Middle East and North Africa). It is one of the six working languages ​​of the United Nations. The Koran is written in classical Arabic - the holy book for all Muslims. By the way, many people study Arabic precisely in order to read this work in the original.

The Arabic language is one of the most difficult to learn. In addition, there are a huge number of its dialects, which differ significantly from each other. Many words and concepts are very difficult to translate into other languages. At the same time, a number of Arabic words were borrowed by Europeans (the most vivid examples- "algebra", "giraffe", "coffee").

Arabic writing is a real art. The alphabet of this language has only 28 letters. And from them on paper are created beautiful patterns and drawings.

Finally…

The most widely spoken language in the world is Chinese. It is spoken by about 17% of the earth's population. If we take into account not the number of speakers, but the number of countries, then the most widespread language in the world is English. In 59 states of the planet, it has an official status. In addition, English is also the most studied language in the world. It is taught as a second language in schools and universities in many countries.

It is difficult to say how many languages ​​there are in the world. According to various experts, from 2 to 5-6 thousand. It is most likely that 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 knows in the neighboring village.

For example, in the country of Papua New Guinea, there are more than 800 languages. It is believed that this is the largest indicator 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 more often either the languages ​​of Asian countries with large population(China, India, Indonesia), or the languages ​​of countries that were once empires and had colonies all over the world (France, Spain, Great Britain).

• 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 about half of the Pakistani population. The number of native speakers will grow, as the distribution area falls on regions with a high birth rate.

9. Japanese

• Used by 125 million people;
• Worldwide prevalence 1.9%.

It has official status in Japan, native to 125 million, about 140 million people speak Japanese fluently.

8. Russian

• Used by 155 million people;
• The prevalence in the world is 2.33%.

It has state status in the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus (together with the Belarusian one) and some unrecognized republics - Transnistria, Abkhazia, South Ossetia. It is also widespread in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and partially in other former republics of the Union.

7. Bengali

• Used by 205 million people;
• The prevalence in the world is 3.11%.

Bengali is official in the Republic of Bangladesh and is widely used in India. It is spoken by over two hundred million inhabitants of the planet.

6. Portuguese

• Used by 215-220 million people;
• The prevalence in the world is 3.27%.

Portugal is the smallest country on this list, but the language is one of the most widely spoken. 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;
• The prevalence in the world is 4.43%.

The Arabic language has an official status in 27 countries, including Israel and some non-Arab countries in Africa - Chad and Somalia. One of the most dynamically spreading languages ​​in the world due to the high birth rate in the Arab countries.

• Used by 310-450 million people;
• The prevalence in the world is 4.7%.

Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India out of 20 officially spoken in this state. The exact number of people using Hindi is as difficult to calculate as the population of India, according to various estimates, it is used by 260 to 490 million people.

3. English

• Used by 400 million people;
• The prevalence in the world is 5.43%.

English is spoken in the UK, USA, Australia, Canada, a number of African countries and other lands - only 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;
• The prevalence in the world is 6.15%.

Spanish or Castilian is spoken by over 400 million people. The largest countries are Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, and more than 35 million people speak it in the United States.

1. Northern Chinese (Mandarin Chinese)

• Used by 1 billion people;
• The prevalence in the world is 14.4%.

North Chinese(Mandarin Chinese) is the most widely spoken of the Chinese languages, spoken by about a billion people. This is not surprising, since the Chinese are the largest ethnic group in the world.

We are all accustomed to the fact that the second foreign language must necessarily be English. The entire IT industry, all spheres of science, as well as most foreign forums are held in English. Nowadays, knowing English, great opportunities for their development are opening up for a person. We are used to the fact that English is the international language.

But few people know that in addition to English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and French are also considered international - these languages ​​are the official languages ​​of the UN.

But what is the most spoken language in the world? This question was answered by "Ethnologue" - the most famous reference book on the languages ​​of the world, published annually since 1951. According to the results of research by experts from Ethnologue and a supplement released in 2016, the site has prepared the twenty most spoken languages ​​in the world.

1. First place is taken by Chinese... This language is spoken by 1.284 billion people. The language is used by 37 countries around the world, the main country is, of course, China.

2. In second place, surprisingly, Spanish... Thanks to the active colonial activities of Spain in the Middle Ages, Spanish is a state in almost all countries of South and Central America. Spanish is the native language of 437 million people in 31 countries.

3. English takes only third place. 372 million people speak this language in 106 countries of the world.

4. Arabic takes the fourth position. 295 million people speak this language in 57 countries around the world. The largest countries are Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, Syria.

5. Closes the top five Hindi, from India. Despite the fact that almost 1.3 billion people live in India, 447 different languages, 2 thousand dialects are spoken there. The most common of these is Hindi, owned by only 260 million people.

6. Bengal, 242 million people in 4 countries, the main carrier state is Bangladesh.

7. Portuguese, 219 million people in 13 countries, the main carrier state is Portugal.

8. Russian, 154 million people in 19 countries, the main carrier state is Russia.

9. Japanese, 128 million people in 2 countries, the main carrier state is Japan.

10. Punjabi(languages ​​of Indian West Punjab and surrounding areas of Pakistan), 119 million people in 6 countries, the main speaker state is Pakistan.

11. Javanese, 84.4 million people in 3 countries, the main carrier state is Indonesia.

12. Korean, 77.2 million people in 7 countries, the main carrier state is South Korea.

13. German, 76.8 million people in 27 countries, the main carrier state is Germany.

14. French, 76.1 million people in 53 countries, the main carrier state is France.

15. Telugu, 74.2 million people in 2 countries, the main carrier state is India.

16. Marathi, 71.8 million people, distributed mainly in India.

17. Turkish, 71.1 million people in 8 countries, the main carrier state is Turkey.

18. Urdu, 69.1 million people in 6 countries, the main carrier state is Pakistan.

19. Vietnamese, 68.1 million people in 3 countries, the main host state is Vietnam.

20. Tamil, 68.0 million people in 7 countries, the main carrier state is India.

Thus, for every third inhabitant of the earth to understand you, it is enough to know Chinese, Spanish and english languages... In spite of everything, English still occupies a leading place among the highly developed countries, but Chinese is already "on the heels".

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