Do you know this..Most Commonly Spoken Languages ?

Top 10 languages spoken in the world...

10. French

Number of speakers: 129 million

Often called the most romantic language in the world, French is spoken in tons of countries, including Belgium, Canada, Rwanda, Cameroon, and Haiti. Oh, and France too. We're actually very lucky that French is so popular, because without it, we might have been stuck with Dutch Toast, Dutch Fries, and Dutch kissing (ew! ).

To say "hello" in French, say "Bonjour" (bone-JOOR).

9. Malay-Indonesian

Number of speakers: 159 million

Malay-Indonesian is spoken - surprise - in Malaysia and Indonesia. Actually, we kinda fudged the numbers on this one because there are many dialects of Malay, The most popular of which is Indonesian. But they're all pretty much based on the same root language, which makes it the ninth most-spoken in the world. Indonesia is a fascinating place; a nation made up of over 13,000 islands it is the sixth most populated country in the world. Malaysia borders on two of the larger parts of Indonesia (including the island of Borneo), and is mostly known for its capital city of Kuala Lumpur.

To say "hello" in Indonesian, say "Selamat pagi" (se-LA-maht PA-gee).

8. Portuguese

Number of speakers: 191 million

Think of Portuguese as the little language that could. In the 12th Century, Portugal won its independence from Spain and expanded all over the world with the he lp of its famous explorers like Vasco da Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator. (Good thing Henry became a navigator . . . could you imagine if a guy named "Prince Henry the Navigator" became a florist?) Because Portugal got in so early on the exploring game, the language established itself all over the world, especially in Brazil (where it's the national language), Macau, Angola, Venezuela, and Mozambique.

To say "hello" in Portuguese, say "Bom dia" (bohn DEE-ah).

7. Bengali

Number of speakers: 211 million

In Bangladesh, a country of 120+ million people, just about everybody speaks Bengali. And because Bangladesh is virtually surrounded by India (where the population is growing so fast, just breathing the air can get you pregnant), the number of Bengali speakers in the world is much higher than most people would expect.

To say "hello" in Bengali, say "Ei Je" (EYE-jay).

6. Arabic

Number of speakers: 246 million

Arabic, one of the world's oldest languages, is spoken in the Middle East, with speakers found in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt. Furthermore, because Arabic is the language of the Koran, millions of Moslems in other countries speak Arabic as well. So many people have a working knowledge of Arabic, in fact, that in 1974 it was made the sixth official language of the United Nations.

To say "hello" in Arabic, say "Al salaam a'alaykum" (Ahl sah-LAHM ah ah-LAY-koom).

5. Russian

Number of speakers: 277 million

Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin, and Yakov Smirnoff are among the millions of Russian speakers out there. Sure, we used to think of them as our Commie enemies. Now we think of them as our Commie friends. One of the six languages in the UN, Russian is spoken not only in the Mother Country, but also in Belarus, Kazakhst an, and the U.S. (to name just a few places).

To say "hello" in Russian, say "Zdravstvuite" (ZDRAST-vet-yah).

4. Spanish

Number of speakers: 392 million

Aside from all of those kids who take it in high school, Spanish is spoken in just about every South American and Central American country, not to mention Spain, Cuba, and the U.S. There is a particular interest in Spanish in the U.S., as many English words are borrowed from the language, including: tornado, bonanza, patio, quesadilla, enchilada, and taco grande supreme.

To say "hello" in Spanish, say "Hola" (OH-la).

3. Hindustani [ We're here ]

Number of speakers: 497 million

Hindustani is the primary language of India's crowded population, and it encompasses a huge number of dialects (of which the most commonly spoken is Hindi). While many predict that the population of India will soon surpass that of China, the prominence of English in India prevents Hindustani from surpassing the most popular language in the world. If you're interested in learning a little Hindi, there's a very easy way: rent an Indian movie. The film industry in India is the most prolific in the world, making thousands of action/romance/musicals every year.

To say "hello" in Hindustani, say "Namaste" (Nah-MAH-stay).

2. English

Number of speakers: 508 million

While English doesn't have the most speakers, it is the official language of more countries than any other language. Its speakers hail from all around the world, including the U.S., Australia, England, Zimbabwe, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Canada. We'd tell you more about English, but you probably feel pretty comfortable with the language already. Let's just move on to the most popular language in the world.

T

I knew Chinese was spoken the most, but I didn't know some of those other languages were spoken a lot as well! (you learn something everyday)

I really like all languages since they derive from one common language (such as Sanskrit and Latin). I know how to speak 4 languages, and I'm learning Spanish- which would make 5 if I fully knew it. The four languages that I actually do know are English, Hindi, Bengali, and Oriya. =)

This seems like a genuine question but I'm gobsmacked that a college student doesn't know the first thing about Australia. No offense, you're obviously smart but seriously lacking in worldly wisdom! Still, I respect anyone with travel aspirations. Africa has the best wildlife in the world. Lions, giraffes, chimps, ostriches, rhinos, elephants to name but a few. It has beautiful scenery. In most southern African countries English is widely spoken. The Kruger Park in South Africa is something else. Australian wildlife is very unique. The scenery is nothing like as varied as north America but it's also unique, like nowhere on earth. It's mostly desert and tropical savanna, with some karri forest on the west coast and rain forest on the east coast. Tasmania is something of a marvel - the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen. New Zealand is pretty spectacular as well. Australia isn't so much Americanized, it just resembles America a lot. Most towns have long avenues lined with retail outlets, hardwear stores and big signs. The suburbs are grid like, sprawled out and filled with wooden bungalows and breeze-block homes. Lots of people drive big white SUVS, and country music is very popular.

Actually your stats on the portuguese language are wrong.

There are actually 8 countries and 4 territories who speak portuguese:

- Portugal, 10 million

- Brazil, 190 million

- Cape Verde, 500.000

- Guinea-Bissau, 1.5 million

- Angola, 17 million

- St.Tome and Principe, 150.000

- Mozambique, 22 million

- Macau, 500.000

- East-Timor, 1.2 million

Add that up to the approximately 500.000 portuguese speakers in the former portuguese colonies in India (Daman, Diu and Goa), plus the approximately 50+million immigrants from all the portuguese speaking countries that live abroad, and you get:

- 290+ million portuguese speaking persons, which makes the portuguese language number 5 in the World.

*Edit*

I'm from Portugal and I speak, read and write portuguese, english, french, italian, spanish, german and russian.

Of course, the first thing that came to mind was English...but then again, China has the highest population,therefore having the top spot of most spoken language.

PS. Pity Japanese was not featured, though.

BTW, I know fluent English & Spanish (...and a bit of basic sign language; I was able to communicate with a deaf shopper when she lost her keys; all that studying paid off that day!)

Also studied a little of Japanese,French and Italian.

*gave star*

Why did they leave out American? I am Bengali, can speak Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, English, French, Bengali.

2. English 508,000,000

3. Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu) 497,000,000

7. Bengali 211,000,000 (lil bit only)

favorite language is my mother tongue malayalam.

i know to speak malayalam,english,hindi,tamil,bengali & kannada(lil bit),Japanese too

hey....i jus know abt. d top 3 languages which commonly people use

but thanx 4 telling abt. d other languages its real good 2 know abt. dis.

and yes don't worry i m giving u a STAR*

well if fav. language is definately i m an Indian and Hindi is my mother tounge so, dats wat my fav. language is........

and i m able 2 speak following languages....

1) Hindi

2) English

3) Budielkhandi

4) Panjabi

5) Urdu

i can understand sum other languages 2 but i can't speak them.

Wow,this is interesting I must say.From where did you get this info from?

My fav language is French,I would love to learn it someday.It's so i don't know.."musical" lol.

& I only know how to speak English & Arabic :)

i know language number 1 a little bit, second speaker of language number 2, i know abit of language number 6, and i am a native speaker of language number 9..=)

Ok.

I speak english

Je parles Francais

y tambien hablo Espanol

Merci pour l'information!