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by davoomac on April 26th, 2006

davoomac

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What is the most widely spoken language in the world?

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Answers. 7 helpful answers below.

  • by loveshoes on November 1st, 2007

    loveshoes

    Chinese Mandarin

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  • by Alatea on April 27th, 2006

    Alatea

    The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) lists the following as the top languages by population:
    (number of native speakers in parentheses)

    Chinese* (937,132,000)
    Spanish (332,000,000)
    English (322,000,000)
    Bengali (189,000,000)
    Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000)
    Arabic* (174,950,000)
    Portuguese (170,000,000)
    Russian (170,000,000)
    Japanese (125,000,000)
    German (98,000,000)
    French* (79,572,000

    The following list is from Dr. Bernard Comrie’s article for the Encarta Encyclopedia (1998):
    (number of native speakers in parentheses)

    Mandarin Chinese (836 million)
    Hindi (333 million)
    Spanish (332 million)
    English (322 million)
    Bengali (189 million)
    Arabic (186 million)
    Russian (170 million)
    Portuguese (170 million)
    Japanese (125 million)
    German (98 million)
    French (72 million)

    http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm

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  • by Galeanda on November 1st, 2007

    Galeanda

    It's Mandarin Chinese with 1,051 million speakers in China, Malaysia, Taiwan.

    Second place is English with 510 million speakers from USA, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand.

    Third is Hindi with 490 million people from North and Central India.

    Fourth is Spanish with 425 million, in the the Americas, Spain and other places.

    Fifth is Arabic with 255 million in Arabic countries.

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  • by rawr.760 on November 1st, 2007

    rawr.760

    I heard it was Japanese, then Spanish, and English... but idk if that's correct, sorries.

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  • by Challenger on November 1st, 2007

    Challenger

    English??

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  • by bluegenel on November 1st, 2007

    bluegenel

    Sarcasmish...:)

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  • by Jeffrey8629 on January 22nd, 2010

    Jeffrey8629

    Of course this is English! The question didn't ask what language is spoken by the most individuals, but rather most widely spoken. You can go to ANY place on earth and find someone who speaks some level of English in rather short order. English is what Esperanto tried to be, the global language. Those of us who are native English speakers are very fortunate, those who learn it as a second (or third, etc) language do so for the obvious benefits.

    How about this question: What language is learned as a second one by the most individuals? That would be interesting, and you know my guess!

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