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Earth

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Languages of the World

Most Widely Spoken Languages

___ Most widely spoken Languages in the World.

What are the most spoken languages in the world?

In how many countries people speak...?

On this page you will find answers to this questions. The figures below are more or less reasonable assumptions
based on various data sources, but they give an overview of which languages are most used worldwide.

In this context there are various zealous debates, disputes and discussions about following points:
- Should the more than fifteen dialects of spoken Arabic, defined by geographical areas, considered as one Language?

- Should the various dialects of spoken Chinese considered as one Language?

- Should English considered to be a German dialect?
(That was not a joke, because English is a West Germanic language.)

- The number of official languages of countries.
This numbers vary utmost from source to source, e.g.:

"English is the official language of only seven countries".
(Michael Lerner, President, Learn the Net.com for IBM)

The ISO 3166-1 code lists 83 countries and regions with English as "official language".
(ISO 3166-1 Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions.)

Ethnologue states: English is spoken in the United Kingdom and in 104 other countries.

And here we come to the problem with
- The number of second language speakers, Ethnologue says, and no one put that into question, that English is spoken in the United Kingdom and in 104 other countries, well but what is with the other let's say100 countries and regions in the world?
English is the most widely used "second" and "learning" language in the world used for international communication in various fields like aviation, business, internet, science and technology to name only some.

Most Common Languages

List of languages by total speakers, ranked by numbers of first language speakers. (est. 1999)
Language	ISO 639-2 alpha-3 code	Population total all countries first language speakers	Including second language speakers
Chinese, official in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore and Taiwan.	chi/zho
Chinese, Putonghua (Mandarin)		874 000 000	1 052 000 000
Chinese, Wu		77 175 000	77 175 000
Chinese, Yue		52 000 000	71 000 000
Chinese, Jinyu		45 000 000	45 000 000
Chinese, Min Nan		45 000 000	45 000 000
Chinese, Hakka		33 000 000	33 000 000
Chinese, Gan		20 580 000	20 580 000
Total Chinese: without several million speakers of other Chinese dialects		1 146 755 000	1 343 755 000
Hindi (Hindustani), the primary official language of the Republic of India.	hin	366 000 000	487 000 000
English has been widely dispersed around the world, it is official language in 83 countries/regions (ISO), spoken in 105 other countries (E). Curiosity: English language does not have official status in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.	eng	341 000 000	508 000 000
Spanish, with the expansion of the former Spanish Empire (Spain), the language spread around the world, it is official language in 21 countries (ISO), spoken in 44 countries (E); Mexico contains the largest population of Spanish speakers.	spa/esp	322 200 000 to 358 000 000	417 000 000
Arabic, (in various dialects) Official language in 26 countries (ISO), spoken in the Middle east, north Africa, Arabian Peninsula and other Islamic countries.	ara	280 000 000 (figueres: UNHCR)	N/A
Bengali/Bangla Official language in Bangladesh (ISO), spoken in 8 other countries (E).	ben	207 000 000	211 000 000
Portuguese, natively spoken in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and East Timor; official language in 9 countries (ISO), spoken in 34 countries (E).	por	176 000 000	191 000 000
Russian, most widely spoken of the Slavic languages, spoken in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, official (or co-official) language in 4 countries (ISO), spoken in 31 countries (E).	rus	167 000 000	277 000 000
Japanese, official language in Japan and spoken in Japanese emigrant communities around the world.	jpn	125 000 000	126 000 000
German, Standard German is official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Italy (South Tyrol); 5 countries (ISO), spoken in 40 other countries (E).	ger/deu	121 000 000	128 000 000
Tai-Kadai, national languages of Thailand and Laos. The Tai-Kadai languages, also known as Kadai, Kradai, or Kra-Dai languages, and in China as Zhuang-Dong languages, are a tonal language family found in southern China and Southeast Asia.		83 000 000 up to 100 million	N/A
Korean spoken in North Korea, South Korea; one of two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, China.	kor	78 000 000	78 000 000
French is spoken as a first language in France, French-speaking Switzerland, in parts of Belgium, (Brussels), Monaco, and in parts of Canada, (Quebec), and by French communities elsewhere. Official language in 40 countries (ISO), spoken in 54 countries (E)	fra	77 000 000	128 000 000
Source: Ethnologue (E); UNHCR ; ISO/CD 3166-1 country codes (ISO); and others

See also:
Languages of the World
with an updated Top 20 list of the most widely spoken languages by "First language" speakers (2009).

Countries by Languages
Mega languages around the World - List of Chinese, English, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, and French speaking countries.

Official and National Languages of the World by Continent:

Languages of Africa

Languages of the Americas

Languages of Asia

Languages of Australia and the Pacifics

Languages of Europe

Languages and Codes
List of languages in English and French names, with a short description where this languages are spoken, with ISO 639-2 language codes.

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