List of languages by number of native speakers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For various estimates of the total speakers of the top dozen languages, see List of languages by total number of speakers.
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The following tables list the 100 largest languages in the world by native speakers, roughly corresponding to languages with more than 7.5 million estimated native speakers, ordered by number of speakers. Two lists are given, which disagree in many particulars; other estimates will vary again, and the numbers should be taken as no more than an indication of the rough order of magnitude of a linguistic community.
Since the definition of a single language is to some extent arbitrary, some mutually intelligible idioms with separate national standards or self-identification have been listed together, including Indonesian and Malay; Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian etc.
For a list of the smallest languages in the world, please see Lists of endangered languages.
Contents |
Nationalencyklopedin (2007)
The estimates used for this list are those of Nationalencyklopedin and is based on estimates published in 2007. As census methods in different countries vary to a considerable extent, and some countries do not record language in their censuses, any list of languages by native speakers, or total speakers, is based on estimates.
| Language | Native speakers (in millions)[1] |
% of world population | Mainly spoken in | Updated 2010 figures and Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | 935 | 14.1% | China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore | (955 million)[1] Part of Chinese language family |
| Spanish | 387 | 5.85% | Hispanic America, Spain, United States, Equatorial Guinea | (407 million)[1] |
| English | 365 | 5.52% | Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, Singapore | (359 million)[1] |
| Hindi | 295 | 4.46% | India | (311 million)[1] Part of Hindi languages family. Includes approx. 100 million speakers of other Hindi languages not counted below. Mutually intelligible with Urdu. |
| Arabic | 280 | 4.23% | North Africa, Western Asia (Middle East) | (293 million)[1] The Arabic language contains many different dialects. Most are mutually intelligible. See Varieties of Arabic |
| Portuguese | 204 | 3.08% | Angola, Brazil, Mozambique, Portugal | (216 million)[1] |
| Bengali | 202 | 3.05% | Bangladesh, West Bengal (India), Tripura (India), Assam (India) | (206 million)[1] |
| Russian | 160 | 2.42% | Russia, former Republics of the Soviet Union, Mongolia, Israel | (154 million)[1] Partially mutually intelligible with Ukrainian[citation needed] and Belarusian |
| Japanese | 127 | 1.92% | Japan | (126 million)[1] |
| Punjabi | 96 | 1.44% | Punjab region (Pakistan, India) | (102 million)[1] Indian Punjabi is underestimated: some speakers are counted under Hindi above. |
| German | 92 | 1.39% | Austria, Belgium (Eupen-Malmedy), Germany, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, South Tirol (in Italy) | (89 million)[1] |
| Javanese | 82 | 1.25% | Java (Indonesia) | Javanese is the largest language without an official status anywhere (and thus the largest minority language in the world), despite being used throughout Southeast Asia and Suriname. |
| Wu | 80 | 1.20% | Zhejiang, Shanghai, southern Jiangsu (eastern China) | Part of Chinese language family |
| Malay/Indonesian | 77 | 1.16% | Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore | |
| Telugu | 76 | 1.15% | Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Puducherry (India) | |
| Vietnamese | 76 | 1.14% | Vietnam | |
| Korean | 76 | 1.14% | North Korea, South Korea | |
| French | 74 | 1.12% | Belgium (Wallonia, Brussels), Canada (particularly Quebec, New Brunswick and Eastern parts of Ontario), France, Switzerland, Francophone Africa, French Caribbean, French Polynesia, various islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. | |
| Marathi | 73 | 1.10% | Maharashtra (India) | |
| Tamil | 70 | 1.06% | Tamil Nadu, Karnataka (India), Puducherry (India), Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Mauritius | |
| Urdu | 66 | 0.99% | Pakistan, India | Mutually intelligible with Hindi, Urdu in India is underestimated: some speakers are counted under Hindi above |
| Persian | 65 | 0.99% | Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan | |
| Turkish | 63 | 0.95% | Turkey, Cyprus, Bulgaria | |
| Italian | 59 | 0.90% | Italy, Switzerland, San Marino | |
| Cantonese | 59 | 0.89% | Canton Province, southern Guangxi (southern China), Hong Kong, Macau | Part of Chinese language family |
| Thai | 56 | 0.85% | Thailand | |
| Gujarati | 49 | 0.74% | Gujarat (India) | |
| Jin | 48 | 0.72% | Shanxi, parts of Inner Mongolia, Hebei, Henan, Shannxi (northern China) | Part of Chinese language family |
| Min Nan | 47 | 0.71% | Fujian, eastern part of Guandong (southeastern China), Hainan (southern China), Taiwan, Malaysia | Part of Chinese language family |
| Polish | 40 | 0.61% | Poland, England, western Ukraine, Lithuania. | |
| Pashto | 39 | 0.58% | Afghanistan, Pakistan | |
| Kannada | 38 | 0.58% | Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra (India) | |
| Xiang | 38 | 0.58% | Hunan (south central China) | Part of Chinese language family |
| Malayalam | 38 | 0.57% | Kerala (India) | |
| Sundanese | 38 | 0.57% | Java (Indonesia) | Sundanese is the second largest language (after Javanese) without an official status anywhere (not counting Chinese dialects such as Wu, Yue, Jin, Min Nan, Xiang). |
| Hausa | 34 | 0.52% | Nigeria | |
| Oriya | 33 | 0.50% | Odisha (India) | |
| Burmese | 33 | 0.50% | Burma | |
| Hakka | 31 | 0.46% | Southern China | Part of Chinese language family |
| Ukrainian | 30 | 0.46% | Ukraine | |
| Bhojpuri | 29 | 0.43% | Bihar (India) | Part of Bihari. This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under Hindi above. |
| Tagalog | 28 | 0.42% | Manila and Northern Philippines | |
| Yoruba | 28 | 0.42% | Nigeria, Benin and Togo | |
| Maithili | 27 | 0.41% | Bihar (India) | Part of Bihari. This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under Hindi above. |
| Uzbek | 26 | 0.39% | Uzbekistan | |
| Sindhi | 26 | 0.39% | Sindh (Pakistan and neighboring areas in India) | |
| Amharic | 25 | 0.37% | Ethiopia | |
| Fula | 24 | 0.37% | West and Central Africa, from Senegal to Sudan | |
| Romanian | 24 | 0.37% | Romania, Moldova | |
| Oromo | 24 | 0.36% | Ethiopia and Kenya | |
| Igbo | 24 | 0.36% | Nigeria | |
| Azerbaijani | 23 | 0.34% | Azerbaijan and Northern Iran | |
| Awadhi | 22 | 0.33% | Uttar Pradesh (India) | Part of Hindi languages family. This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under Hindi above. |
| Gan Chinese | 22 | 0.33% | Jiangxi (Southeastern China) | Part of Chinese language family |
| Cebuano | 21 | 0.32% | Central and Southern Philippines | |
| Dutch | 21 | 0.32% | Belgium (Flanders, Brussels), Netherlands and Suriname | |
| Kurdish | 21 | 0.31% | “Kurdistan”, northern Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria | |
| Serbo-Croatian | 19 | 0.28% | Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro | |
| Malagasy | 18 | 0.28% | Madagascar | |
| Saraiki | 17 | 0.26% | Sindh (Pakistan) | |
| Nepali | 17 | 0.25% | Nepal and neighbouring areas, Sikkim, (India) | |
| Sinhalese | 16 | 0.25% | Sri Lanka | |
| Chittagonian | 16 | 0.24% | Chittagong in Bangladesh | |
| Zhuang | 16 | 0.24% | Guangxi (Southern China) | |
| Khmer | 16 | 0.24% | Cambodia | |
| Assamese | 15 | 0.23% | Assam (India) | |
| Madurese | 15 | 0.23% | Madura, and Java (Indonesia) | |
| Somali | 15 | 0.22% | Somalia | |
| Marwari | 14 | 0.21% | Rajastan (India and Pakistan) | This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under Hindi above. |
| Magahi | 14 | 0.21% | Bihar (India) | Part of Bihari |
| Haryanvi | 14 | 0.21% | Haryana (India) | Part of Hindi languages family |
| Hungarian | 13 | 0.19% | Hungary and areas in neighbouring countries | |
| Chhattisgarhi | 12 | 0.19% | Chhattisgarh (India) | Part of Hindi languages family. This is only a fraction of the speakers; the others are counted under Hindi above. |
| Greek | 12 | 0.18% | Greece, Cyprus | |
| Chewa | 12 | 0.17% | Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe | |
| Deccan | 11 | 0.17% | Deccan (India) | Part of Urdu |
| Akan | 11 | 0.17% | Ghana, Ivory Coast | |
| Kazakh | 11 | 0.17% | Kazakhstan | |
| Min Bei | 10.9 | 0.16% | Fujian (Southestern China) | Part of Chinese language family |
| Sylheti | 10.7 | 0.16% | Northern Bangladesh and neighbouring parts of India | |
| Zulu | 10.4 | 0.16% | South Africa | |
| Czech | 10.0 | 0.15% | Czech Republic | |
| Kinyarwanda | 9.8 | 0.15% | Rwanda | Part of Rwanda-Rundi |
| Dhundhari | 9.6 | 0.15% | Rajastan (India) | |
| Haitian Creole | 9.6 | 0.15% | Haiti | |
| Min Dong | 9.5 | 0.14% | Fujian (Southeaster China) | Part of Chinese language family |
| Ilokano | 9.1 | 0.14% | Northern Luzon in the Philippines | |
| Quechua | 8.9 | 0.13% | Peru and Bolivia | A language family, not a language |
| Kirundi | 8.8 | 0.13% | Burundi and Uganda | Part of Rwanda-Rundi |
| Swedish | 8.7 | 0.13% | Sweden and Finland | |
| Hmong | 8.4 | 0.13% | Laos and neighbouring areas | A language family, not a language |
| Shona | 8.3 | 0.13% | Zimbabwe | |
| Uyghur | 8.2 | 0.12% | Xinjiang (Western China) | |
| Hiligaynon | 8.2 | 0.12% | Western Visayas in the Philippines | |
| Mossi | 7.6 | 0.11% | Burkina Faso | |
| Xhosa | 7.6 | 0.11% | South Africa | |
| Belarusian | 7.6 | 0.11% | Belarus | |
| Balochi | 7.6 | 0.11% | Balochistan (province in Pakistan and Iran) | |
| Konkani | 7.4 | 0.11% | Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra (States in India) |
Ethnologue (2013, 17th edition)
The following list derives from SIL Ethnologue.[2] Ethnologue lists 1,300 languages with 100,000 speakers or more, 750 with 300,000 or more, some 400 with a million or more, 200 with at least 3 million, 80 with 10 million, and 40 with 30 million. Figures are accompanied by dates the data was collected; for many languages, an old date means that the current number of speakers will be substantially greater. A range of dates means that the figure is the sum of data from more than one country and from different years.
More than 100 million native speakers
| Language | Family | Native speakers (Ethnologue 17)[2] |
Total speakers (Ethnologue 17)[2] |
Other estimates | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mandarin [3] | Sino-Tibetan, Chinese |
848 million (2000) | 1026 million | One of the six official languages of the United Nations. All varieties of Chinese: 1,200 million (2000) |
1 |
| Spanish [4] (Castilian) |
Indo-European, Romance |
406 million (1995–2011) | 466 million | 420 million native.[5] 500 million total (2009)[6]
One of the six official languages of the United Nations. |
2 |
| English [7] | Indo-European, Germanic |
335 million (2003–2011) | > 765 million | Approximately 1500 million L1 speakers, 375 million L2 speakers, and 750 million EFL speakers. Totaling about 1.5 billion speakers.[8]
One of the six official languages of the United Nations. |
3 |
| Hindi [9] | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan |
260 million (2001), including partial figures from many Hindi languages | 380 million | 490 million total speakers of Hindi/Urdu.[10] | 4 |
| Arabic [11] | Afro-Asiatic, Semitic |
206 million (1999) | 452 million (100 million are not proficient in Standard Arabic) | 280 million native.[12]
One of the six official languages of the United Nations. |
5 |
| Portuguese [13] | Indo-European, Romance |
202 million (1998-2005) | 217 million | 220 million native, 240 million total.[14] | 6 |
| Bengali [15] (Bangla) |
Indo-European, Indo-Aryan |
193 million (2001) | 250 million | 7 | |
| Russian [16] | Indo-European, Slavic |
162 million (2010) | 272 million | One of the six official languages of the United Nations.[17] | 8 |
| Japanese [18] | Japonic | 122 million (1985) | 123 million | 9 |
50 to 100 million native speakers
| Language | Family | Native[2] | Total[2] | Other estimates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Javanese [19] | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 84.3 million (2000) | — | 85 million (2012),[20] 75 million (2006),[21] 70 million native speakers (1997)[22] |
| German [23] | Indo-European, Germanic | 83.8 million (standard German, 1990) | 111.8 million | 101 million native (2005: 82 million in Germany, 8 million in Austria, 5 million in Switzerland), 60 million second language in EU[24] + 5–20 million worldwide. |
| Lahnda [25] (the boundary between this and Eastern Punjabi is spurious) |
Indo-European, Indo-Aryan |
82.7 million (1998–2000) | ||
| Wu [26] (Shanghainese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 77.2 million (1984) | — | 90 million,[27] Shanghainese is not mutually intelligible with some other Wu dialects/languages. |
| Telugu [28] | Dravidian | 74.0 million (2001) | 79 million | 84.6 million (2011 census)[29] |
| Marathi [30] | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 71.8 million (2001) | — | 72 million (2001 census)[29] |
| Tamil [31] | Dravidian | 68.8 million (2001) | 76.8 million | |
| French [32] | Indo-European, Romance | 68.5 million (1987-2011) | 118.5 million | 128 million "native and real speakers" (includes 65 million French people,[33] 72 million "bilinguals".[34] More than 200 million native and second language.[35][36]
One of the six official languages of the United Nations.[17] |
| Vietnamese [37] | Austroasiatic, Viet–Muong | 67.8 million (1999) | — | 86 million total?[citation needed] |
| Korean [38] | language isolate | 66.4 million (1986) | — | 72 million (2010 WA) |
| Urdu [39] | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan |
63.4 million (1998) | 167.4 million | |
| Yue [40] (Cantonese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 62.2 million (1984–2006) | — | 70 million[41] |
| Malay [42] (Malaysian-Indonesian) |
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 59.4 million (2000–2007) | ||
| Persian [43] | Indo-European, Iranian | 56.6 million (2011) | — | |
| Turkish [44] | Turkic, Oghuz | 50.7 million (1987) | — | 74 & 83 million (2005)[24] Turk-Azeri-Turkmen = 80 million (1987–2007) per Ethnologue figures. |
30 to 50 million native speakers
| Language | Family | Native[2] | Total[2] | Other estimates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Min Nan [45] (Amoy, Hokkien, Taiwanese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 46.8 million (1988–2001) | — | |
| Gujarati [46] | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 46.6 million (2001) | — | |
| Bhojpuri [47] | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 39.8 million (2001) (underestimated; many speakers counted under Hindi) |
— | |
| Polish [48] | Indo-European, Slavic | 39.0 million (1986) | ||
| Kannada [49] | Dravidian | 37.7 million (2001) | 46.7 million | |
| Ukrainian [50] | Indo-European, Slavic | 36.0 million (2001) | — | |
| Xiang [51] (Hunanese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 36.0 million (1984) | — | |
| Italian [52] | Indo-European, Romance | — | 61.1 million (no date) | Figure includes "bilinguals" who do not use standard Italian as their main language, who may account for nearly half the population in Italy |
| Sundanese [53] | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 34 million (2000 census) | — | |
| Malayalam [54] | Dravidian | 34 million (2001) | — | |
| Maithili [55] | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 32.8 million (2000) (the arithmetic is faulty) |
— | |
| Oriya [56] | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 32.1 million (2001) | — | 2001 Indian Census: 33,017,446.[57] |
| Burmese [58] | Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman | 32 million (2000) | 42 million | 50–56 million total speakers, including 18 to 23 million as second language (Myanmar Language Commission) |
| Hakka [59] | Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 30.1 million (1984) | — |
10 to 30 million native speakers
| Language | Family | Native[2] | Total[2] | Other estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Punjabi [60] (the boundary between this and Lahnda is spurious) |
Indo-European, Indo-Aryan |
29.5 million (2001) | ||
| Pashto [61] | Indo-European, Iranian | 26.9 million (1993–2008) | — | |
| Thai | Tai–Kadai, Tai | 26 million (2000) 20M Central (Siamese) + 6M Northern |
60 million (2001) | Divergent definitions of what constitutes "Thai". |
| Hausa | Afro-Asiatic, Chadic | 25 million (1991) | 40 million | |
| Tagalog (Filipino) |
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 24 million (2000) (as Tagalog) 25 million (2007) (as Filipino) |
— | Perhaps 90% of the population of 85 million can speak Tagalog.[citation needed] |
| Romanian | Indo-European, Romance | 23 million (2002) | — | The Latin Union reports 28 million speakers for Romanian, out of whom 24 million are native speakers of the language[62] |
| Dutch | Indo-European, Germanic | 22 million (2007) 27M incl. 5M Afrikaans |
(+ 10 million Afrikaans) | 25 million[24][63] |
| Gan | Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 21 million (1984) | — | 48 million[64][Cannot verify] |
| Sindhi | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 21 million (2001) | — | (significant L2 speakers?)[citation needed] |
| Uzbek | Turkic, Uyghur | 20 million (1995) | — | Population has grown substantially since 1995, but figures are exaggerated to hide Persian/Tajik population. |
| Azerbaijani | Turkic, Oghuz | 20 million (2001–2006) 22 million including Qashqai |
28 million | Data from Iran highly uncertain. CIA: 26 million native (2010).[65] |
| Rajasthani | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 20 million (2000–2003) | — | Dominant variety is Malvi |
| Lao–Isan | Tai–Kadai, Tai | 19 million (1983–1991) | 20 million | |
| Yoruba | Niger–Congo, Volta–Niger | 19 million (1993) | 21 million | |
| Igbo | Niger–Congo, Volta–Niger | 18 million (1999) | — | 18–25 million[66] |
| Northern Berber | Afro-Asiatic, Berber | 15–22 million (Total of Central Atlas Tamazight, Riff, Shilha, Kabyle, Shawiya, others.) | — | |
| Amharic | Afro-Asiatic, Semitic | 17.5 million (1994) | 22 million | [need updated fig.] Significant L2 speakers. |
| Oromo | Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic | 17 million (1994) | — | 30 million ethnic Oromo. Significant L2 speakers. |
| Chhattisgarhi | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 17.5 million (2002) | — | Frequently counted as "Hindi" |
| Assamese | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 16.8 million (2000) | — | Many L2 speakers[citation needed] |
| Kurdish | Indo-European, Iranian | 16 million (1980–2004) | — | ∼ 35 million ethnic Kurds ca. 2010, not all of whom speak Kurdish |
| Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian) |
Indo-European, Slavic | 16 million | — | |
| Sinhalese | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 16 million (2007) | 18 million | |
| Cebuano | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 15.8 million (2000) | — | Significant L2 speakers |
| Rangpuri | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | ∼ 15 million (2007) | — | |
| Malagasy | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 15 million (2006) | — | |
| Khmer | Austroasiatic, Mon–Khmer | 15 million (2006) | 16 million | |
| Sotho–Tswana | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 15 million (2006) | — | Tswana, Southern Sotho, and the various lects lumped under 'Northern Sotho' are mutually intelligible |
| Nepali | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 14 million (2001) | — | As the national language of Nepal, the number total speakers is closer to 32 million. |
| Rwanda-Rundi | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 14 million (1986–1998) | Given the populations of Rwanda and Burundi, the 2010 figure is likely 23 million native. | |
| Somali | Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic | 14 million (2006) | — | |
| Madurese | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 14 million (2000) | ||
| Haryanvi | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 13 million (1992) | Frequently counted as "Hindi" | |
| Fula (Fulani, Fulfulde, Pulaar) |
Niger–Congo, Senegambian | 13 million (1991–2007) (all varieties) |
— | Significant L2 speakers |
| Bavarian | Indo-European, Germanic | 13 million (2005) | — | Listed figure of 13.26 spuriously precise |
| Magahi | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 13 million (2002) | Bihari, and so sometimes counted as "Hindi" | |
| Greek | Indo-European, Greek | 13 million (2002) | — | |
| Chittagonian | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 13 million (2006) | sometimes considered a dialect of Bengali, but not mutually intelligible | |
| Deccan | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 12.8 million (2000) | Perhaps the same as the Dakhini "dialect" of Urdu | |
| Hungarian | Uralic, Ugric | 12.5 million (2001) | — | |
| Shona | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 10.8 million (2000) (Shona proper) |
11.6 million | 15 million native (2000) including Ndau, Manyika, etc. |
| Min Bei | Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 10.3 million (1984) | — | |
| Zulu | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 10.3 million (2006) | 26 million | |
| Sylheti | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 10 million | Similar to Bengali. Ethnologue figure of 10.3 million spuriously precise. |
7.6 to 10 million native speakers
| Language | Family | Native[2] | Total | Other estimates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Czech | Indo-European, Slavic | 9.5 million (2001) | — | 15 million Czech-Slovak |
| Kanauji | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 9.5 million (2001) | — | Generally considered Hindi |
| Bulgarian | Indo-European, Slavic | 9.1 million (1986) | — | |
| Min Dong (Fuzhou) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 8.6 million (2000) | — | |
| Lombard | Indo-European, Romance | 9.1 million (2000) | — | |
| Uyghur | Turkic, Uyghur | 8.9 million (2000) | — | |
| Chewa (Nyanja) |
Niger–Congo, Bantu | 8.7 million (2001) | — | |
| Belarusian | Indo-European, Slavic | 8.6 million (2001) | — | |
| Kazakh | Turkic, Kypchak | 8.3 million (1979) | — | |
| Swedish | Indo-European, Germanic | 8.3 million (1998) | — | |
| Akan (Twi, Fante) |
Niger–Congo, Kwa | 8.3 million | 9.3 million | 10 million native (∼ 20 million total)[67] |
| Makuwa (Lomwe) |
Niger–Congo, Bantu | 8.0 million (2006) (incl. Lomwe/West Makua) |
— | |
| Tatar-Bashkir | Turkic, Kypchak | 7.9 million (2002) | — | |
| Bagheli | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | 7.9 million (2004) | — | Generally considered Hindi |
| Xhosa | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 7.8 million (2006) | — | |
| Haitian Creole | French creole | 7.7 million (2001) | — | |
| Konkani | Indo-European, Indo-Aryan | ca. 7.6 million (2001) | — |
See also
- List of most widely spoken languages (by number of countries)
- List of sign languages by number of native signers
- Lists of endangered languages (for languages with the fewest numbers of speakers)
- Lists of languages
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Nationalencyklopedin "Världens 100 största språk 2007" The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007
In parentheses are the 2010 estimates for the top languages. - ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Ethnologue". SIL Haley.
- ^ Mandarin at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Spanish at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Instituto Cervantes and British Council (2012)
- ^ krysstal.com, 5th International Congress on Spanish Language (la-moncloa.es),uis.edu, Antonio Molina, director of the Instituto Cervantes in 2006 (terranoticias.es,elmundo.es, fundeu.es), Luis María Anson of the Real Academia Española (elcultural.es),International Congress about Spanish, 2008, Mario Melgar of the México University (lllf.uam.es), Enrique Díaz de Liaño Argüelles, director of Celer Solutions multilingual translation network ([1]), Feu Rosa - Spanish in Mercosur (congresosdelalengua.es), elpais.com, eumed.net, [2], babel-linguistics.com.
- ^ English at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ "Future of English". The British Council. Retrieved 2011-08-24. (page 10)
- ^ Hindi at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ "A guide to Urdu - why learn Urdu?". Languages: Other. BBC. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ Arabic at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Procházka, S. (2006), "Arabic", Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (2nd ed.)
- ^ Portuguese at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ "IOL Diário - Somos 240 milhões de falantes". Diario.iol.pt. 2008-07-16. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
- ^ Bengali at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Russian at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ a b Contributor: flamiejamie (2008-06-26). "Top 10 Most Spoken Languages In The World". Listverse. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
- ^ Japanese at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Javanese at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Pereltsvaig, Asya (2012). Languages of the World: An Introduction. Cambridge University Press. p. 145. ISBN 1107002788, 9781107002784 Check
|isbn=value (help). - ^ Brown, Keith; Sarah Ogilvie (2008). Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World. Elsevier. p. 560. ISBN 0080877745, 9780080877747 Check
|isbn=value (help). - ^ Lyovin, Anatole (1997). An Introduction to the Languages of the World. Oxford University Press. p. 247. ISBN 0195081161, 9780195081169 Check
|isbn=value (help). - ^ German at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ a b c "Europeans and Languages". European Commission. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
- ^ Lahnda at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Wu Chinese at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ "Wu definition - Dictionaries - MSN Encarta". Uk.encarta.msn.com. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
- ^ Telugu at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ a b "Census of India - Statement 4". Censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
- ^ Marathi at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Tamil at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ French at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?ref_id=ip1332
- ^ http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/dossiers/francophonie/francophones-monde.shtml
- ^ Posted by 데이빛 / Mithridates (2008-10-15). "French in 9th place with 200 million French speakers in the world / 200 millions de francophones dans le monde". Page F30. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
- ^ "200 million French speakers in the world - La France en Australie". Ambafrance-au.org. Retrieved 2010-03-16.
- ^ Vietnamese at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Korean at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Urdu at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Yue Chinese at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ "Cantonese language". Encarta Dictionary. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
- ^ List of languages by number of native speakers at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Persian at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Turkish at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Min Nan at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Gujarati at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Bhojpuri at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Polish at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Kannada at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Ukrainian at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Xiang Chinese at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Italian at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Sundanese at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Malayalam at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Maithili at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Oriya at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm
- ^ Burmese at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Hakka at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Eastern Punjabi at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Pashto at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ Latin Union - The odyssey of languages: ro, es, fr, it, pt
- ^ "Het Nederlandse taalgebied" (in Dutch). Taalpeil. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 2007-02-18.
- ^ http://ling.cass.cn/fangyan/dituji/LANGUAGE%20ATLAS%20OF%20CHINA.html
- ^ 18.5M Iran, 7.5M Azerbaijan
- ^ Austin, Peter (2008). One thousand languages: living, endangered, and lost. University of California Press. p. 68. ISBN 0-520-25560-7.
- ^ http://www.plc.sas.upenn.edu/languages/twi.html
External links
- Ethnologue's most recent list of languages arranged by number of speakers
- List of top 100 languages in 13th edition of Ethnologue (1996)
- Different lists of the most spoken languages (the Ethnologue list is from a previous, not the 2005, edition).
- Ethnologue - SIL's Ethnologue, widely referenced source for the world's languages
- Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People (Archived 2009-10-31) - Encarta list, based on data from Ethnologue, but some figures (e.g. for Arabic) widely vary from it
- Top 30 languages of the world
- 30 most widely spoken world languages
- Interactive world map of language distribution
- Map of World Languages. Download of MP3 audio files in 1600 language combinations.
