The 10 most spoken languages in the world in 2022

Spoken by 1.348 billion people in the world, this Indo-European language is among the most spoken language in the world. English has more than 370 million non-native speakers. The most spoken language internationally, learning English can make communication with people from different countries easier. English is a global language and language skill is an asset to individuals. Fun fact, English is also called the language of the sky as pilots must have proficiency in the language.

In the list of the top spoken languages in the Indian subcontinent, Hindi is the third on the list of ten most spoken languages in the world. The language has 600 million speakers. It falls under the Indo-Aryan language family and uses the Devanagari script for writing. Hindi is one of the 23 official languages in India. It is also spoken in regions of Pakistan, Nepal, Fiji, Guyana and Mauritius.

With 543 million speakers around the world, Spanish is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world. It is spoken in twenty-two countries and is considered to be the most popular language in the world. Spanish belongs to the Romance language family. It is also one out of the six official languages of the United Nations. Spanish is a common language for communication in the EU and the Organization of the American states.

Arabic is spoken by 274 million around the world. It originates from northwestern Arabia and is the official language in 25 countries. The language stands out from other languages as it is read and written from the right to the left. The word construction is based on root words. The standard version called the MSA is utilised for formal use in media, law and written text.

Among the top spoken languages in the world, Bengali has 268 million people speaking this Indo-Aryan language. Bengali originates in Bengal, a region part of India and Bangladesh. The language has its script called Bangla. An interesting fact about Bengali is that the words are gender-neutral.

The official language for Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Kyrgyzstan, Russian is spoken by 258 million people in the world. Russian belongs to the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic family language. The language has three genders for nouns, namely, male, female and neuter. The Russian language uses a Cyrillic script. It has 33 letters with 10 vowels, 20 consonants, one semivowel and two unvoiced modifiers.

This romantic language has a presence on almost all the continents. An official language in 9 different countries, Portuguese is among the fastest-growing language in Europe after English. The longest Portuguese word is anticonstitucionalíssimamente, which has 29 letters. An amusing fact about the language is that only 5% of Portuguese speakers are from Portugal. There are 258 million speakers of the language around the world.

The tenth most spoken language in the world, Urdu has gained a reputation for its beautiful and poetic literary works. Urdu is the official language in Pakistan and India with 230 million speakers. The language has major influences from Arabic, Persian and Hindi. Urdu was also called Laskhari, Hindvi, Hindustani and Lahori. The language has 36 letters and Amir Khusrau is believed to be the first writer in Urdu.

Knowing different languages is always helpful. It opens an array of opportunities to travel and work across the world. Languages are interlinked with cultures. Learning a new language also opens you up to new cultures and understanding them. In the modern world, proficiency in more than one language is advantageous. Be it in a professional environment or a learning experience, learning a new language will expand knowledge and broaden your opportunities.