10 Most Spoken Languages in the World

Languages are the mainstream of communication among human beings. These languages that are spoken everyday which omits barriers between two or more people. These have made understanding of feelings, what messages a person has to convey to another more easier.

Languages are not only a form of communication but an art in its own way. There are different versions of each language and one language can be spoken in different styles. Most of these languages carry a scripture which is the oldest forms of writings which also gives a broad view of how the language has evolved over the years.There are many languages that exist which are unknown to us. Here are 10 most spoken languages.

Mandarin

Mandarin is often called Chinese by non-speakers, but it is in fact only one of many Chinese languages, which include Cantonese and Xiang, in the Sino-Tibetan language family. Mandarin is the largest of the Chinese languages, and is the official language of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan. It has over 845 million speakers.
It is also one of four official languages of Singapore (the others being English, Malay and Tamil). In addition, large scale immigration from both mainland China and Taiwan have brought large populations of Mandarin speakers to the United States and Europe. Mandarin has two writing systems; Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese.

Spanish

Spanish is a member of the West Iberian branch of the Romance languages, closely related to Portuguese. Spanish is one of the most widely distributed languages in the world; it is the official language of over 20 countries, and is the official language of nearly every state in Latin America, excepting Brazil, Belize, etc.

Additionally, large populations of native speakers have immigrated to the United States, and Spanish is now one of the most common languages in the American southwest. It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations with over 329 million speakers.

English

English is a member of the West Germanic language family. It originally sprouted from the Anglo-Saxon language (Old English) and borrowed heavily from Latin and French due to the Norman conquest of England. Though it developed in the British Isles, the largest population of English speaker's lives in the United States, with about 309 million speakers.

English is the official language of 53 countries, including Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Jamaica, and New Zealand, and is the commonly spoken language of the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. It also has large speaking populations in several African and is a "subsidiary official language" in India. The number of speakers has been raised to 328 million.

Hindi-Urdu

Hindi-Urdu is a member of the Indo-Aryan family, alongside Bengali. It is a pluricentric language and has two official forms, Standard Hindi and Standard Urdu, although the two forms are nearly indistinguishable from each other. Hindi is the official language of India, whilst Urdu is the official language of Pakistan.

Urdu and Hindi are also spoken in parts of Europe and North America with heavy Indian and Pakistani immigrant populations. It is written in both the Hindi alphabet and the Arabic alphabet (for Urdu due to Islamic influence). The speakers who communicate with this language are 242 million.

Arabic

Arabic is a member of the Semitic language family, which includes Hebrew Neo-Aramaic languages such as Syriac and Neo-Chaldean. Arabic is most often identified with the Middle East and North Africa, and is the official language of 26 countries. It is spoken by about 221 speakers in the world.

It sits alongside Hebrew as the official language of Israel, and has large populations of speakers in both Europe and North America. Additional, its classical variant is the language of the Quran. Arabic is written in the Arabic script.

Bengali

Bengali is a member of the Indo-Aryan language family, alongside languages such as Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu. Most of its speakers live in the country of Bangladesh, where it is the official language. Speakers also live in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam.

Speakers also live in Europe, the United States, and even Saudi Arabia. Bengali has a rich literary tradition and is a focal point of Bengali nationalism. Bengali is written in the Bengali script, which is related to the Sanskrit and Hindi scripts. More than 181 million speakers communicate through this language

Portuguese

The Portuguese language is a member of the Italo-Western branch of the Romance language family. Like the other Romance languages, it is a descendant of Latin. It is the official language of both Portugal and Brazil, where most native speakers live. This has 178 million speakers all over the world.

In addition, it is the official language of Angola, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe, and is a mandatory subject of study in schools in Uruguay and Argentina. It is currently the fourth most learned language in the world, with 30 million learners

Russian

The Russian language is a member of the East Slavic family of languages, a family which also includes the Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Rusyn languages. Most of Russian's 144 million speakers live in Russia, where it is the official language. Other countries with large Russian-speaking populations include Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan.

Russian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. These languages are also spoken in other countries as most of them migrate for various purposes.

Japanese

The Japanese language is a member of the Japonic language family (which also includes the Ryukyuan language spoken on the island of Okinawa). Most Japanese native speakers live in Japan and its territories, but native Japanese speakers also live in Korea, the United States and Europe.

Japanese is the official language of Japan, and it also enjoys official status in Palau. There are about 132 million speakers in Japan and few countries who communicate with this fluently.

German

German is a member of the West Germanic language family, alongside English. German is primarily spoken, as its name suggests, in Germany, where it is the official language. However, it is also the official language of Austria, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg, and is one of three official languages of Belgium (alongside Dutch and French) and one of four official languages of Switzerland (alongside French, Italian, and Romansch).

This is also the official language of Italian province of Bolzano-Bozen. In addition, it is recognized as a minority language in several countries, including Poland, Denmark, Hungary and the Czech Republic. There are over 90 million speakers who have made German their language of communication.