List of languages by total number of speakers

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For number by native speakers, see List of languages by number of native speakers.

These are lists of languages by the number of first and second language speakers. However, particularly because of large uncertainties in estimating the number of secondary speakers, all such lists should be used with caution. In particular, the lists below should be seen as tentative.


Contents

Ethnologue, Kryss Talaat's estimate and other current estimates [edit]

Top 25 most-spoken languages by total number of speakers according to Ethnologue, Kryss Talaat's educational and information site in 2010 and Other current estimates.

Language Ethnologue[1] Kryss Talaat's estimate[2] Other current estimates
1. Standard Chinese 1026 mill. (848 mill. L1 + 175 mill. L2) [3] 1151 million 1365 million [4]
2. English 765 mill. (335 mill. L1 + 430 mill. L2) [5] 1000 million 1500 mill. (375 mill. L1 + 375 mill. L2 + 750 mill. FL) [6]
3. Spanish 466 mill. (406 mill. L1 + 60 mill. L2) [7] 500 million 500 million [8][9]
4. Hindi 380 mill. (260 mill. L1 + 120 mill. L2) [10] 490 million
5. Standard Arabic 353.5 mill. (L2) [11] 255 million 422 million [12]
6. Russian 272 mill. (162 mill. L1 + 110 mill. L2) [13] 277 million
7. Bengali 250 mill. (193 mill. L1 + 57 mill. L2) [14] 215 million
8. Portuguese 217 mill. (202 mill. L1 + 15 mill. L2) [15] 240 million 240 million [16]
9. Malaysian/Indonesian 163 mill. (23 mill. L1 + 140 mill. L2) [17] 175 million 268 million [18]
10. Japanese 123 mill. (122 mill. L1 + 1 mill. L2) [19] 132 million
11. French 118.5 mill. (68.5 mill. L1 + 50 mill. L2) [20] 200 million 220 million [21]
12. German 111.8 mill. (83.8 mill. L1 + 28 mill. L2) [22] 166 million 169 million [23]
13. Urdu 104 mill. (63.4 mill. L1 + 36.6 mill. L2) [24] 104 million
14. Javanese 84.3 mill. (L1) [25] 85 million
15. Telugu 79 mill. (74 mill. L1 + 5 mill. L2) [26] 74 million
16. Wu 77.2 mill. (L1) [27] 90 million 90 million [4]
17. Tamil 76.8 mill. (68.8 mill. L1 + 8 mill. L2) [28] 78 million
18. Marathi 74.8 mill. (71.8 mill. L1 + 3 mill. L2) [29] 72 million
19. Italian 73.4 mill. (61.2 mill. L1 + 11.2 mill. L2) [30] 75 million
20. Turkish 73.2 mill. (70.0 mill .L1 + 3.2 mill. L2) [31] 73 million
21. Vietnamese 67.8 mill. (L1) [32] 86 million
22. Korean 66.4 mill. (L1) [33] 78 million
23. Western Punjabi 62.6 mill. (L1) [34] 103 million
24. Cantonese 62.2 mill. (L1) [35] 55 million 70 million [4]
25. Persian 56.6 million (L1) [36] 110 million


George H. J. Weber's estimate (1997) [edit]

In an article published in December 1997, Weber posted estimates of primary and secondary speakers (this only includes the main land). Adding these, it is possible to obtain estimates for total speakers. However, since only graphs and not numerical figures are listed, readers are referred to his article.[37]

George H. J. Weber's report on the number of total speakers of the top languages.[38]

Language Native speakers Secondary speakers Total
1. Mandarin Chinese 1,100 million 20 mill. 1,120 mill.
2. English 330 mill. 150 mill. 480 mill.
3. Spanish 300 mill. 20 mill. 320 mill.
4. Russian 160 mill. 125 mill. 285 mill.
5. French 75 mill. 190 mill. 265 mill.
6. Hindi/Urdu 250 mill. 250 mill.
7. Arabic 200 mill. 21 mill. 221 mill.
8. Portuguese 160 mill. 28 mill. 188 mill.
9. Bengali 185 mill. 185 mill.
10. Japanese 125 mill. 8 mill. 133 mill.
11. Punjabi 130 mill. 130 mill.
12. Sindhi 130 mill. 130 mill.
13. German 100 mill. 9 mill. 109 mill.

Criticisms of Weber's List [edit]

As mentioned in the previous section, Weber's list fails to mention Indonesian/Malay, which other sources list as a top 10 language.[18] Additionally, Weber's list uses data collected between the early 1980s and mid 1990s. Weber states that his list does not need to be updated because "[t]he number of speakers of all the top ten languages have gone up in the last quarter century but relative to each other, the situation among the top ten remains unchanged." [37] Weber does not provide any evidence to support this claim. With the rise in access to the internet, whose content is led by English and Russian,[39] and because increased exposure to languages increases one's ability to use that language even if the exposure is virtual, [40] it is possible that the number of second language speakers of English and Russian has increased faster than that of other top languages.

Wikipedia languages list [edit]

Wikipedia list of 285 languages for which official Wikipedias have been created under the auspices of the Wikimedia Foundation. Content in other languages is being developed at the Wikimedia Incubator; Languages which meet certain criteria can get their own wikis. See List of Wikipedias for full table about number of articles in each language.

Estimates by language [edit]

English estimates (total number of speakers) [edit]

Totaling about 1.5 billion or 1.8 billion speakers.[41][42] English is the primary language of the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various Caribbean and Pacific island nations; it is also an official language of Pakistan, India, the Philippines, and many sub-Saharan African countries. It is the most widely spoken language in the world, and the most widely taught foreign language.[43][44]

Indonesian/Malay estimates (total number of speakers) [edit]

Totaling about 268 million speakers,[18] Indonesian/Malay is unusual, as it is sometimes listed as having a relatively small number of native speakers. However, it is the sole official language of Indonesia, which has a population of 237 million people. In Indonesia, schooling is compulsory and is in the Indonesian language (Indonesia has a 92% literacy rate), and the percentage of Indonesians who speak the Indonesian language is close to 100%. It is also the official language of Malaysia, with a population of over 27 million. Counting the populations of Indonesia, Malaysia, plus speakers in Brunei, the Philippines, Singapore, and southern Thailand gives an estimate of 268 million people, making it one of the top ten most widely spoken languages in the world in terms of total number of speakers. Some sources rate it as the sixth most widely spoken language in the world.[18] However, despite this, it is often inexplicably absent from many lists of the world's most widely-spoken languages, such as George H. J. Weber's list.

Chinese estimating problem [edit]

Basically most of statistics count generally the native speakers of Chinese dialects. However, especially with Chinese investments in developing countries, including many African countries, who learn languages start to learn Chinese instead of e.g. French,[45] also the same is starting in developed countries, with Chinese increasing in popularity as a second or third language.[46]

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

  1. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/statistics/size
  2. ^ Katsiavriades, Qureshi, Kryss, Talaat. "The 30 Most Spoken Languages of the World". Retrieved 20 October 2012. 
  3. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=cmn
  4. ^ a b c searcharticles.net. The Amazing World of Chinese Translation (Jessica Thomson)
  5. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=eng
  6. ^ britishcouncil.org
  7. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=spa
  8. ^ Instituto Cervantes: dublin.cervantes.es, chicago.cervantes.es
  9. ^ V Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española (J. L. Rodríguez Zapatero). Spanish
  10. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=hin
  11. ^ 206,000,000 L1 speakers of all Arabic varieties + 246,000,000 L2 speakers of all Arabic varieties - 100,500,000 have not adequate education in Standard Arabic: http://www.ethnologue.com/language/arb
  12. ^ [1]
  13. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=rus
  14. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ben
  15. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=por
  16. ^ tvi24.iol.pt
  17. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ind
  18. ^ a b c d "How many people speak Indonesian?". Indonesian-online.com. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 
  19. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=jpn
  20. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=fra
  21. ^ francophonie.org (page 6)
  22. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=deu
  23. ^ 89 million natively speakers Nationalencyklopedin, 2010 + 80 million secondary speakers (National Geographic Collegiate Atlas of the World. Willard, Ohio: R.R Donnelley & Sons Company. April 2006. pp. 257–299. ISBN Regular:0-7922-3662-9, 978-0-7922-3662-7. Deluxe: 0-7922-7976-X, 978-0-7922-7976-1).
  24. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/urd
  25. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/jav
  26. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/tel
  27. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/wuu
  28. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/tam
  29. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/mar
  30. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/ita
  31. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/tur
  32. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/vie
  33. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/kor
  34. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/pnb
  35. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/yue
  36. ^ http://www.ethnologue.com/language/fas
  37. ^ a b "The World's 10 most influential Languages". Andaman.org. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 
  38. ^ http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm
  39. ^ "Usage of content languages for websites". Web technology surveys. Retrieved 2013-05-07. 
  40. ^ "Internet Resources and Second Language Acquisition: An Evaluation of Virtual Immersion". Onlinelibrary.wiley.com. 2008-12-31. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 
  41. ^ "Future of English". The British Council. Retrieved 2011-08-24.  (page 10)
  42. ^ "World-Wide English". eHistLing. Universität Basel. Archived from the original on 2009-11-22. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 
  43. ^ "English language". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 
  44. ^ "Number Of English Speaking People". Number Of. 2009-12-09. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 
  45. ^ Brautigam, Deborah (2012-07-01). "China in Africa: The Real Story: Learning Chinese in Zambia". Chinaafricarealstory.com. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 
  46. ^ "Chinese Rising in Language Popularity". Nypress.com. 2011-03-23. Retrieved 2012-10-20. 

Sources [edit]

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