Andre Hartslief
This could be a very tricky question, even if a few people have a pretty fair idea of how many people speak the major languages of the world, to try and determine where they’re mostly spoken can be a different ball game entirely. I wanted to know what language was the most commonly spoken and I wanted to know where it was spoken as well.
Countries often have official languages that are given Legal status, but there are often additional determinants like — regional languages, minority languages, national languages, and widely spoken languages included to make the determination.
In attempting to piece these all together, I have come across some really easy-to-view world maps, which have broken down the most commonly spoken languages based on their total number of speakers, and sharing where you will hear them spoken most. Appropriately enough, they start with the language my Virily post is written in, which also happens to be the most commonly used in the entire world, English spoken by 1.5 Billion speakers.
While there is a list of 25 major languages spoken in the world, I will mention only the remaining top 9 most spoken languages, which are:
2. Mandarin-Chinese- 1.3 Billion3. Spanish- 661 Million4. Hindustani- 544 Million5. Arabic- 422 Million6. Malay- 281 Million7. Russian- 267 Million8. Bengali- 261 Million9. Portuguese- 229 Million10. French- 229 Million
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Did you know that English had overshot Mandarin?
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Yes
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No
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That is awesome to know. I always thought English might wind up to be the universal language.
I did not know this but it is cool to know!
I assume these numbers do not refer to speaking the language as their primary language.
Mandrin as I knew was the most widely spoken but not surprised too that English tops the list now.