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This list gives the most spoken languages in the world according to the Ethnologue, a widely cited reference for languages around the world. The Ethnologue is sometimes criticised for using out-of-date data, but there is no available fully authoritative source for numbers of first language speakers which uses the same criteria for counting in each case. Another tendency of the Ethnologue is to separate what many others (sometimes including speakers of the varieties) consider to be single languages: see for example comments in this article on English and German. Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language. ...
“Native Language†redirects here. ...
This list, based on the 15th edition (2005), aims to count first language speakers only (though there are some difficulties with this criterion, as with any other, caused by issues such as bilingualism, differing perceptions of cultural identity and the questions of when language varieties are to be considered different languages or dialects). It also counts macrolanguages, as defined by the Ethnologue, such that Chinese and Arabic are counted as united languages rather than by the varieties also listed, such as Mandarin Chinese or Egyptian Arabic. The year bracketed next to the number of speakers is the year given in the Ethnologue for when the data was taken (for the country with most speakers). The term bilingualism (from bi meaning two and lingua meaning language) can refer to rather different phenomena. ...
Cultural identity is the (feeling of) identity of a group or culture, or of an individual as far as he is influenced by his belonging to a group or culture. ...
For dialects of programming languages, see Programming language dialect. ...
ISO 639-3 defines some languages as macrolanguages. ...
This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ...
Egyptian Arabic (Marī مصري) is part of the Arabic macrolanguage of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. ...
| Ranking by number of native speakers | Language | Number of speakers | Where spoken natively by more than 5% of the population (in order of population, down to 20,000 speakers) | Comments | | 1 | Chinese | 1,205m (1999) | People's Republic of China, Republic of China (Taiwan), Malaysia, Singapore | This figure includes all varieties of Chinese such as Mandarin and Cantonese, which are not necessarily mutually intelligible | | 2 | Spanish | 322.3m (1986) | Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Spain, United States, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Panama, Belize, Andorra, Gibraltar | | | 3 | English | 309.4m (1984) | United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland, Singapore, Bermuda, Northern Mariana Islands, Bahamas, Guam, Cayman Islands | Does not include significant populations in countries such as Jamaica and Guyana, where speakers are said to speak creoles. See, List of countries by English-speaking population. | | 4 | Arabic | 206m (1998) | Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Mauritania, Palestinian Territories, Israel, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Chad, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Djibouti, Western Sahara | Figure from all Arabic dialects, which are not necessarily mutually intelligible | | 5 | Hindi | 180.8m (1991) (Khariboli dialect only) | India, Fiji | Speakers of the main Khariboli dialect. Indian census (1991) figure is 337m, and represents all Hindi dialects, which the Ethnologue deems mutually unintelligible. Hindi and Urdu are considered as separate languages although they are mutually intelligible when used in everyday conversation. They are written in two different scripts. | | 6 | Portuguese | 177.5m (1998) | Brazil, Portugal | | | 7 | Bengali | 171.1m (1994) | Bangladesh, India | | | 8 | Russian | 145m (2000) | Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Israel, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Estonia, Lithuania, Turkmenistan | | | 9 | Japanese | 122.4m (1985) | Japan | | | 10 | Standard German | 95.4m (1994) | Germany, Austria, Switzerland | This figure seems to include Swiss German, even though this is listed under a different code. Ethnologue divides "German" into 18 dialects[1] (Middle and Upper German, not including Low German and Yiddish), totalling to 114.2 million. Including Yiddish and Low Saxon, the total is 118 million. | | 11 | Javanese | 75.5m (1989) | Indonesia | | | 12 | Telugu | 69.7m (1997) | India | | | 13 | Marathi | 68m (1997) | India | | | 14 | Vietnamese | 67.4m (1999) | Vietnam | | | 15 | Korean | 67m (1986) | South Korea, North Korea | | | 16 | Tamil | 66m (1997) | India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia | | | 17 | French | 64.9m | France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, French Guiana, French Polynesia | Figure does not include significant populations in countries such as Haiti and Mauritius, where speakers are said to speak creoles. 14th edition (2000) gives 77m total. | | 18 | Italian | 61.5m | Italy, San Marino | Population includes some of whom are native bilinguals of Italian and regional varieties, and some of whom may use Italian as second language. Sicilian is included. | | 19 | Western Panjabi | 60.8m (2000) | Pakistan | Figure does not include Eastern Panjabi, spoken in India, 27.1m | | 20 | Urdu | 60.5m (1997) | India, Pakistan | Standard Hindi and Urdu are considered as separate languages although they are mutually intelligible when used in everyday conversation. They are written in two different scripts.
For the Chinese civilization, see China. ...
This article is on all of the Northern and Southwestern Chinese dialects. ...
This article is about all of the Cantonese (Yue) dialects. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
[--168. ...
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable language that originates seemingly as a new language, sometimes with features that are not inherited from any apparent source, without however qualifying in any appreciable way as a mixed language. ...
This is a list of countries of the world sorted by the total English-speaking population in that country. ...
Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ...
This article is about the Palestinian territories as a geopolitical phenomenon. ...
The Arabic language is a Semitic language with many varieties. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Hindi (हिनà¥à¤¦à¥€) is a language spoken mainly in North and Central India. ...
Khariboli (also Khadiboli, Khadi-Boli, or Khari dialect), (/ /; Hindi: खड़ी बोली; Urdu: كهڑى بولى, khaṛī bolī; lit. ...
Khariboli (also Khadiboli, Khadi-Boli, or Khari dialect), (/ /; Hindi: खड़ी बोली; Urdu: كهڑى بولى, khaṛī bolī; lit. ...
Bangla redirects here. ...
Standard German is the prescriptive norm variant of the German language used as a written language, in formal contexts, and for communication between different dialect areas. ...
Swiss German (Schweizerdeutsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch) is any of the Alemannic dialects spoken in Switzerland. ...
Central German (in German: Mitteldeutsch) is a group of German dialects spread from the Rhineland to Thuringia, south of Low German and north of Upper German. ...
Some basics of Germanic linguistics : in linguistics, German and Germanic do not have the same meaning: see Germanic. ...
Low German (also called Niederdeutsch, Plattdeutsch or Plattdüütsch) is a name for the regional language varieties of the West Germanic languages spoken mainly in Northern Germany where it is officially called Niederdeutsch (Low German), and in Eastern Netherlands where it is officially called Nedersaksisch (Low Saxon). Low refers to...
Yiddish (ייִדיש, Jiddisch) is a Germanic language spoken by about four million Jews throughout the world. ...
Low Saxon (in Low Saxon, Nedersaksisch, Neddersassisch, Plattdüütsch or Nedderdüütsch) is any of a variety of Low German dialects spoken in northern Germany and the Netherlands. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
“Telugu†redirects here. ...
Marathi (मराठी ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western India. ...
Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ...
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable language that originates seemingly as a new language, sometimes with features that are not inherited from any apparent source, without however qualifying in any appreciable way as a mixed language. ...
Sicilian (, Italian: ) is a Romance language. ...
Punjabi (sometimes spelled Panjabi) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ...
The phrase Zaban-e Urdu-e Mualla written in Urdu Urdu () is an Indo-European language of the Indo-Aryan family that developed under Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Hindi, and Sanskrit influence in South Asia during the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire (1200-1800). ...
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See also
This is a list of languages, ordered by the number of native-language speakers, with some data for second-language use. ...
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics), a Christian linguistic service organization which studies lesser-known languages primarily to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language. ...
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