Which language is spoken more? The most widely spoken language in the world

Everyone knows that learning a language is prestigious. Every day more and more language learning courses appear and more people. Who want to learn foreign languages. Each of us thinks before starting to learn a language: “ Which language is the most necessary and important in this moment? “, “How will learning this particular language help me in the future?” In our article we will try to answer the questions that arise. Moreover, we will compile a ranking of languages.

Many surveys are conducted that are related to the study of foreign languages. And one of these surveys showed that people spend much more time learning a language than any other activity. But they devote not only their precious time to learning the language, but also a lot of effort and Money. And people do not regret either time or money for this. Yes, this is understandable, because most people teach foreign language for career growth.

Today, knowledge of a foreign language opens up many prospects for you; it serves as a passport to the world of financial success. Nowadays you can’t live without a foreign language; if you want to be successful, you need to know at least one foreign language. No matter how funny it sounds, even cleaners, builders, and waiters need a foreign language. This gives them more advantages. At the same time, many employees do not even realize that knowing a foreign language they can earn more. International companies agree to pay a lot of money to a person who understands not only his field of direct activity, but also owns foreign language. Therefore, the importance of knowing a foreign language is very great. And we understand that we need to learn a foreign language, but the question is - which one?

Languages are influenced by geographic proximity and trade relationships. It is clear that if Russian residents buy Chinese equipment, then they need people who know Chinese. But if we take into account the fact that Russia’s trade relations are developed with many countries, then these relations require knowledge of the languages of almost all countries of the world.

When choosing a language, think carefully. Geographical proximity is very important in determining the popularity of a language. If you live on Far East, then it is logical that you need knowledge of the languages of those countries that are nearby. Therefore, in this case, knowledge of Korean, Japanese and Chinese will be prestigious. If we take St. Petersburg as an example, then it is advisable for its residents to know Finnish, because this city is geographically close to Finland.

But without a doubt, the most important and relevant language remains English. This is the language most people speak. English surrounds us everywhere, in transport, at the airport, on TV, on the Internet. This is an international language. Many organizations have documents written in English. Knowledge of English is always highly valued and well paid. Sociologists believe that English is not just a skill, but a necessity of civilization. If we consider Internet requests, then most often people are translators from Russian to English and from English to Russian.

In second place in popularity is German . You can call it the language of technology. And this, you yourself understand, is very important. But despite the fact that the German language is valued, the number of people learning it is growing only slightly. If you know German, you can be sure that you will find a job in a major city. After all, our relations with Germany are strengthening every year.

Another popular language is Italian. This is a very beautiful and melodic language, and its study can be called prestigious. We buy Italian shoes, clothes, many people love Italian cuisine.

Spanish It’s also an important language, because we have trade contacts with countries where Spanish is spoken.

As for French, this language is very beautiful. Previously, almost every person knew French. But today this language is no longer as important compared to others. But despite this, French is studied at school and many universities.

Languages such as Japanese, Chinese and Turkish have quickly become popular in our country. Our relations with these countries have improved, so knowledge of these languages is very necessary. These languages are difficult to learn, so there is no particular competition for those who speak them.

Rating of foreign languages:

English. International language, language business communication.
German. The language of technology.
Italian. A very melodic language.
Spanish. The language needed for trade relations with the Spaniards.
French. The language of fashion.
Chinese. The language needed to develop trade relations with China.
Japanese. The language of the best technology.
Latin. The language of doctors and linguists.
Ukrainian. The language of the Ukrainians, who are our neighbors.
Turkish. Language for business communication with Turkey.
Arab. UN language.
Finnish. The language of our regular guests.

Of course, you may come across ratings that differ from this one. After all, each rating depends on different factors. But our ranking clearly shows that languages such as English, Chinese, German, Japanese, Italian, Spanish and French are unlikely to ever leave the top ten most important languages in the world.

Most popular languages

Among the languages, we can highlight those that are the most popular, judging by the number of speakers of these languages. So, in first place is the Chinese language. It is native to almost a billion and a quarter people; in addition, Chinese is the official language in Singapore, China, Malaysia and Taiwan.

Three hundred twenty-nine million consider themselves family Spanish. In third place is English. He lost only one million to the Spanish. Two hundred and twenty-one million people speak Arabic as their native language. Fifth position in the ranking is occupied by Hindi, which is spoken in Fiji and India - approximately one hundred eighty-two million.

Bengali is the sixth most spoken language. He is dear to one hundred and eighty-one million people. The official language of ten countries, where one hundred and seventy-eight million people live, is Portuguese.

The Russian language ranks eighth in popularity. Among the Slavic ones it is the most common. One hundred and forty-four million people consider him family. One hundred and twenty-five million people speak Japanese as their native language. The list is completed by the German language, located in tenth position. He is native to one hundred and ten million.

How much is the Russian language in demand?

One hundred and forty-four million people on earth consider Russian to be their native language. It is official not only in Russia, but also in Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, in several communes of Romania and in American state NY.

It is known that interest in a language and the need to study it depend not only on the territorial factor, but also on trade relations. Despite the fact that Russian occupies only the eighth position in popularity, interest in it in the world Lately growing. It is studied in many countries.

For several years in a row, Russia has been participating in the Paris Forum of Linguists, where there is always increased attention to the Russian language. It is this forum that establishes a certain “popularity index” of languages.

How far has the Chinese language spread?

The leader in prevalence is the Chinese language; it is also one of the oldest on the planet. It is the official language of four countries, but it remains the mother tongue of millions of Chinese living around the world, where many cities have large Chinese communities. Chinese dialects are spoken by about a fifth of the world's population.

In the American state of New York, there is an amendment to the electoral legislation according to which in those cities where the number of residents exceeds a million, all documents relating to the election process are printed, including in Chinese, and in its three dialects.

The most ancient writing also originated in China. It is known that this hieroglyph is used along with its own alphabet, also by the Republic of Korea and Japan.

As the world's trade relations with China are constantly expanding, learning Chinese has become a necessity in many countries. The number of people studying Chinese abroad has grown particularly rapidly since the early 2000s. Learning Chinese has become fashion trend, and in a number of countries the so-called “Chinese language fever” began.

China's influence on the world stage has increased significantly, which is why knowledge of the Chinese language is a factor for a successful career for many.

There is a non-profit public organization, which is called “Confucius Institutes and Classes”, created to spread Chinese culture and study the Chinese language. More than three hundred and fifty such institutes have already been created in one hundred and fifteen countries of the world.

The most widely spoken language in the world

English has been the language of international communication for many years. Often its knowledge is necessary for career growth. It is prestigious to study it; therefore, courses and schools for learning English are opened in every country. According to sociologists, English is a necessity of civilization, and not just a skill.

English today is the most common language of communication between representatives of many countries. In the world, approximately one and a half billion people know this language and can speak it fluently. It is important in culture, in politics, and in trade relations.

As one of the official languages of the UN, English is widely spoken in computer technologies. More than eighty percent of information of various kinds is stored and transmitted in English. About half of all world literature is written on it.

Every year the number of people learning English is growing, as they understand how important it is to master the world’s universal language of communication. The spread of the English language in the world is also facilitated by its linguistic characteristics - high linguistic capacity with fairly simple rules. A remarkable fact, according to the site, is that the longest word in the world is in the English language.
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Language is usually called a system of signs, words, phonetic, lexical and grammatical means that serve to identify thoughts, motives, and actions for a certain group of people. Among scientists, researchers and linguists, attempts have been made more than once to calculate how many languages there are in the world.

According to various studies, the total number of languages on Earth varies from 3,000 to 6,000 thousand. Such a huge difference can be explained quite simply; different cultural and scientific traditions have their own concepts of what exactly is called a language and what refers to dialects and adverbs.

How many languages are there in the modern world?

When taking into account and identifying the number of all world languages, researchers have to take into account the fact that many less common ones are gradually becoming dead, that is, no one speaks them anymore. This happens for several reasons, including due to replacement by other languages, or the extinction and mixing of the native people. This trend is observed everywhere:

V North America Many indigenous Indian languages are on the verge of extinction;
on African continent there are tribal languages spoken by only a few hundred, sometimes even dozens of people;
In Russia, several languages have disappeared in the last 100 years alone, including Ke-rek in Kamchatka, as well as Sym in the Yenisei.

Scientists linguists claim that, according to their estimates, by the end of the 21st century, up to 50% of today's little-used languages will disappear from the category of living ones. Today, about 1,400 languages are considered endangered.

French researchers tried to answer the question of how many languages there are in the world at the end of the last century. In the review of the world's languages, published by A. Meillet and M. Cohen, 2796 languages are described. Scientists classify more than 3,000 thousand languages as dialects already described. According to various sources, there are about 6,000 languages and dialects in the world; only 500 languages are well studied. Two thirds of all languages do not have their own written language.

How many foreign languages are there in the world?

It is quite difficult to say exactly how many languages modern world. If we talk about learning foreign languages, it should be noted that every widely spoken language has many dialects and dialects. For example, Spanish, which is the official language in 58 countries around the world, has several large groups that differ greatly from each other. A dialect of Spanish, Castilian is partly spoken in Spain, in Latin America– Chile, Argentina, Cuba.

According to census data, there are more than 700 languages and dialects in India alone. The number of languages that are official in individual states is 14 and each of these languages is spoken by at least 10 million people.

The Chinese language, which belongs to the category of quite difficult languages to learn, is fragmented into dozens of dialects. Moreover, the difference between them is such that residents of different areas sometimes have difficulty understanding each other.

How many official languages are there in the world?

If we consider the distribution of various languages in state level, then the following picture emerges:

In general, 95 languages are considered official state languages on our planet. It's funny that Latin, which has long been considered dead, is also on this list, since it is the official language of the Vatican.

The first thing you should do is learn English. The second is German. Knowing English and German, you can learn French without any problems, since the lexical base will already be laid. But they will be of practically no use to you when living, say, in the UAE. And you won't be able to use them if you go to work in China or Uganda.

In China, only a few people can communicate in English, and in Uganda, knowledge of Swahili is especially urgently needed - less than 1% of the population speaks English here. We recommend assessing not the global prospects of the language, but its prospects for you, for your later life and work. How to do this, what languages you need to learn and how to compare them with your own priorities? More on this later.

Which language to learn first

English. With rare exceptions, which only confirm the rule. It is the official language in more than 60 countries around the world. English is spoken by more than 1.5 billion people worldwide globe. It is native to more than 700 million people. Look around - the best songs, scripts of TOP films, documents, instructions - all this is written in English. Knowledge of it significantly increases your chances of employment and your value as a qualified employee, no matter what industry you work in or what your responsibilities include.

5 reasons to learn English first:

Opportunity to clarify in most countries of the world.
Best for travel and business trips abroad.
Opportunity to watch the best hollywood movies in original.
An advantage when getting an education and building a career.
The opportunity not to encounter language barriers in everyday life.

It is the most popular language in the world. Moreover, it is universal and applicable in most situations.

Example: you want to go to study abroad, say, in Italy, but you don’t know Italian. Knowledge of English will allow you to choose a program in which you can use a known foreign language for learning as a base one. But if you only know German or French, then the chance of getting an education in Italy tends to zero.

But there are exceptions. They lie in the individual characteristics of each person. If English is not good for you, if you feel sincere hatred for learning it, if you don’t understand logic, there is no point in torturing yourself. Of course, if these are just your feelings, and not the mediocrity of the teacher and incorrectly structured preparation.

Example: singer Shakira knows many languages, but English was the hardest for her. Despite an IQ close to genius and phenomenal learning abilities, the Colombian native still does not speak English perfectly and prefers to sing and speak it only as a last resort.

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What language should you learn as your second, third, or fourth language?

There is no need to guess here - it is important to be guided by desires, needs and the tasks facing you. Motivation is the basis for fast and successful learning. You must clearly understand why you need it and at what level you need to master it. It is recommended to formulate goals and only then begin to consider options.

Let's assume that after graduating from college you want to enroll in one of the Czech universities for a master's program. Then it’s worth learning Czech. Or in your city there is a factory owned by the Japanese - to make successful career For the manager here, knowledge of Japanese is desirable. We know nothing about the tasks facing you. Therefore, we can offer only the TOP 7 languages (besides English), which are most often chosen for study:

German.
French.
Spanish.
Chinese.
Italian.
Arab.
Norwegian.

Let's make a reservation that Scandinavian languages are among the most complex in the world. If you are planning to move to Norway or Sweden but are having trouble learning Norwegian and Swedish, consider your options. It is no secret that Sweden is quite friendly towards emigrants who do not know the language. Moreover, children have the right to be taught in their native language: if there is at least one Russian-speaking child in the school, then they will definitely find a Russian-speaking teacher for him. Therefore, be sure to clarify the need for training.

TOP 5 most promising languages

If you do not set yourself the goal of moving or frequently traveling to a certain country, working in multinational enterprises and being in demand as a translator, then we recommend paying attention to the most promising languages in the world. They may not be the most in demand and not the most popular at a given time. But if you don’t know which foreign language is better to learn in terms of its prospects in the future, this rating is especially for you.

Chinese

The most common in the world. No one doubts the prospects of the Celestial Empire in terms of economic and industrial development. Strong contacts with Russia, the USA and other leading economies of the world lead to the emergence of a mass of multinational enterprises where knowledge of Chinese is highly welcome. Chinese is made up of at least 10 radically different dialects. It makes sense to learn literary (it is also called Mandarin or Northern Chinese) - you can communicate in it with a speaker of any dialect.

Spanish

It ranks third in terms of prevalence among all languages of the world. It is also one of the easiest to learn. It is used not only in Spain, but also in many countries that were once colonies. Not all of them are alike - for example, in Mexico they speak a special dialect of Spanish called Español mexicano. There are significant differences, but if necessary, you can speak classic Spanish with any Mexican and they will understand you.

German

Germany is one of the strongest economies in the world, one of the most developed and comfortable countries for living. Therefore, the language has not lost its promise for more than a century. German is spoken not only in Germany, but also in Austria, Switzerland, and a number of other European countries. It is especially promising for employment and emigration to Europe.

Arab

It ranks 4th in terms of prevalence in the world. More than 240 million people speak it in different parts of the world. The difficulty is that the language has a lot of local dialects, and studying classical Arabic does not guarantee that you will understand them. However, you will be understood - you will be able to express yourself not only as a tourist, but also as a specialist.

Japanese

Official Japanese is only in Japan, but to varying degrees it is in demand in at least 25 Asian countries. By the way, it has a minimum of similarities with Chinese; you should not combine the study of these two languages, mistakenly assuming their identity. From the point of view of prospects, it is worth noting the development of the state’s economy and the scientific industry. Japan is one of the world leaders in terms of GDP.

What foreign language should I learn to emigrate?

Naturally, this depends on the country to which you plan to emigrate. Our advice will only be relevant if you have not yet decided on your future place of residence.

We are guided by information about the most popular countries for emigration among Russians. What languages should you learn according to this data:

English – most often Russians prefer to emigrate to the USA. It is also in demand for admission to universities in the USA, Great Britain, Canada and a number of other countries under special programs and grants that cover tuition costs.
German and French are ideal if you want to emigrate to these countries and stay there after completing your studies. Education in these countries is practically free (except for mandatory fees of 300-500 euros per semester).
Italian is required for immigration to Italy. Interestingly, the level of English proficiency in this country is almost at the same level as in Russia. In general, Italians, unlike many Europeans, do not speak English well.

Also popular destinations for emigration are the Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Norway, Denmark. Russian citizens are also willing to emigrate to European countries– to Switzerland, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Serbia, and the Baltic countries. But according to surveys, less than 10% of Russians ready to emigrate plan to go to Asia.

What foreign language should a child learn?

Here again, it is important to be guided by the child’s living conditions. You shouldn’t choose the simplest language – choose the most promising one. At the same time, observe the child’s enthusiasm and desire to learn. If you see that he is absolutely indifferent to learning, change the tutor or place of study. If the result remains the same, it makes sense to choose another language to study. The most popular are English, French, German and Spanish. The native languages of the parents (or one of the parents) should not be taken into account.

Which language is better to study as an additional language? It makes sense to pay attention to options with the simplest grammar - Italian, French.

Teachers disagree on whether a child should even learn two languages at the same time. It is important to monitor the condition of children - they should not be overloaded. You shouldn’t take away their childhood, guided only by your own ambitions and the desire to get a well-rounded child prodigy. Observe the child’s attitude towards the educational process - his desire is extremely important.

The easiest and most difficult languages to learn

The starting position is important here: for example, knowledge of English will significantly simplify the study of languages of the Latin and Germanic groups. Your native language is also important. It's no secret that the easiest languages for Russians to learn are Ukrainian and Belarusian, Bulgarian and Serbian. However, they cannot yet be called promising in a global sense. Therefore, we note the easiest European ones to study:

English.
Italian.
Spanish.
French.

Spanish is considered to be the simplest language - it is characterized by simplicity of spelling, grammar and pronunciation. As it is heard, so it is written, there is no need to be afraid of making mistakes. Ideally, if you know English - Spanish has a very similar vocabulary, and learning will proceed as quickly as possible. The second and third places are Italian and French, respectively. English is more difficult, but also quite accessible.

It is from him that all dialects were formed, so even if you move to a country where pure language variations are not practiced, you can quickly adapt. In the classic version it is also easiest to trace the logic of word formation and sentence construction. It is often clearer and more pleasing to the ear. Almost always it is literary and official for the preparation of documents.

Conclusion

Learn the languages that you need and are interested in. Without necessity there is no motivation, and without sincere interest there is no desire. Both of these components form the basis for successful learning. There is no point in studying when the process only causes you tension and irritation. You must genuinely enjoy learning. You must understand why you are studying this particular language, what prospects it opens up for you, and what it allows you to do in the future.

If you don’t know which languages are worth learning right now, try to look into the future. Figure out where you want to live and what you want to do. Choose English as a base and master it at a decent level. If you already speak English, move on to others. But be careful - only some people are able to study French and, say, German at the same time. In other cases, separate training is required.

Which foreign language to study: TOP-5 most promising

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We are all accustomed to the fact that the second foreign language must be English. The entire IT industry, all areas of science, as well as most foreign forums are held in English. Nowadays, knowing English opens up great opportunities for one’s development. We are accustomed 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 official languages of the UN.

But which language is the most widespread in the world? This question was answered by Ethnologue, the most famous reference book on the world's languages, published annually since 1951. Based on the results of research by specialists from Ethnologue and the supplement released in 2016, the site has prepared the twenty most common languages in the world.

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

2. In second place, not surprisingly, Spanish. Thanks to the active colonial activities of Spain in the Middle Ages, Spanish is the official language in almost all countries of the southern and Central America. Spanish is the native language of 437 million people in 31 countries.

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

4. Arabic occupies fourth position. 295 million people speak this language in 57 countries. Most large countries, This Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, Syria.

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

Hindi.

6. Bengali, 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 adjacent areas of Pakistan), 119 million people in 6 countries, the main carrier 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 carrier 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. Despite everything, English still occupies a leading place among highly developed countries, but Chinese is already “sneaking on its heels.”

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