The appearance of speech has become a major milestone in the development of mankind. It is communication through language constructs that has become the main factor in people's survival, because the speech passed on the socio-historical experience to younger generations.
Another major function of speech is a means of communication between people and nations. Today in the world there are more than 7 thousand languages, and among all this diversity we will represent the most common languages in the world, in which millions of people communicate.
History of language formation
Before considering and describing the most widely spoken language in the world, we note a few historical points.
Firstly, all linguistic studies of the emergence and formation of languages still remain at the level of hypotheses, so the object and subject of research are so far removed in time.
Secondly, the language was formed on the basis of the sign language of people in the process of work and joint activity.
And thirdly, there are two theories, one of which believes that all languages on Earth have come from the same root, while the other theory maintains that several languages have sprung up in different corners of the globe.
And now directly the rating of the most popular languages of the world
Persian (∼110 million people)
Persian (Farsi) is used in 29 countries, mainly the Middle East. But in Iran, 57 million people communicate on it.
This is one of the oldest languages in the world in which masterpieces of world literature, scientific works of ancient scientists are created. The writings of Avicenna and Nizami, Nizami and Saadi are written on it.
Over time, Persisms harmoniously fit into many other languages that originated in the east. Modern Farsi splits into three related groups, and is officially recognized in most countries of the Near and Middle East.
Interesting fact
- This is one of the languages that is practically unchanged. A native speaker of the Persian language can easily read a text a thousand years ago and fully understand its meaning, while an Englishman or Russian is unlikely to be able to do this with texts in their native language.
Portuguese (∼240 million people)
Due to historical events associated with the great geographical discoveries, this amazing language has spread throughout many countries of the world.
At the present stage of development of the world community, more than 240 million people communicate on it, and for 204 million inhabitants of the planet it is native.
Note that this is the official language of Brazil, and is increasingly gaining popularity due to the rapid development of this country in the Latin American region.
Interesting fact
- Although Portugal is located in the Northern Hemisphere, Portuguese is the most popular language in the southern hemisphere of our beautiful planet.
Russian (∼300 million people)
So historically, in multinational Russia, the most common language is Russian. During the development of new territories, the peoples who retained their national languages perceived Russian for communication.
Among the Slavic languages, the Indo-European branch is considered the most common, and is widely used in post-Soviet countries. Today, the number of Russian speakers is close to 300 million, due to the fact that it has become very popular in China and other Asian countries. It is also interesting that among the readers of thebiggest.ru site the proportion of visitors from the territory of the PRC is constantly growing.
Russian is one of the six languages required for communication at the UN. But the most significant thing is that the Russian language is written imperishable literary works that have replenished the world treasury of literature.
Did you know that ...
- In Russian, words bee and bull are rooted. In the past, in the literature, the bee wrote as “Bchela. " The word came from the dialect verb "to gossip, " that it was buzzing, buzzing. From the same verb words such as “bull "and «insect
Bengali (∼250 million people)
One of the most beautiful languages of the Indo-Aryan branch is official in the Republic of Bangladesh, as well as in other states of Southeast Asia. Bengal is official not only in the Republic of Bangladesh and is widely used in three Indian states and on the Nicobar Islands. It is the second most widely spoken language in India.
Today, 250 million inhabitants of the planet communicate in Bengali, and takes its roots in the X-XI centuries, when it began to form on the basis of local dialects influenced by Arabic-Persian vocabulary.
Like most languages of the East, it has many dialects, the appearance of which is due to a large territory of distribution and national characteristics.
French (∼280 million people)
Perhaps, not only in Europe but also in the world you will not hear more melodic and gentle speech than the French language, the number of speakers of which is 280 million people.
Apart from France, where it is native to 80 million French, it is widely used in Canada, Belgium, and, interestingly, familiar to African countries, since many of them were French colonies.
By study, it takes an honorable second place after English, and, of course, acts as a worker in UN committees.
Arabic (∼320 million people)
Already by name, everyone understands that Arabic is most common in the countries of the east, and 320 million people communicate in it.
It is one of the oldest in the world, and is used in 60 countries. It is inextricably linked with the Muslim religion, and the main book of Islam, the Quran, is written on it.
It also refers to the most difficult to learn, and writing is different in that words and sentences are written from right to left.
Spanish (∼450 million people)
This beautiful and emotional language is the second most prevalent, because it has so historically developed that 560 million people speak Spanish, and for 450 million it is native.
It has a long history of development, and finally formed at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Due to the large territorial spread, because it is the language of 4 continents, it has many territorial dialects.
It is worth noting that this is one of the easiest to study, because the indigenous people of Latin America so easily took it during the conquest of conquistadors.
The Spanish language had a huge impact on the Spanish language, because for a long time the Pyrenees were under the rule of the Arabs.
Chinese (∼1500 million people)
Due to the fact that the Chinese are the largest nation on earth, the Chinese language is the most spoken, and is considered native to 1.5 billion inhabitants of the planet earth.
This is a synthesis of various mutually intelligible dialects common in China, Taiwan, Singapore and Tibet. Due to the variety of dialects, as well as complex word forms, learning Chinese is a very time-consuming and lengthy process.
Along with others, it is used for communication at the UN, but in Russia more than 72 thousand people communicate on it.
English (∼1500 million people)
Due to the fact that the United Nations has adopted this language as the international language of communication, and the official language of communication of almost all international organizations, English is the most popular language in the world.
Today, there are about 1.5 billion people who know English, and for 217 million people it is official to communicate. It is in English that 90% of the information is stored in the world, and besides, it is the most studied. Linguists thought that somewhere in the middle of the XXI century, every second inhabitant of the planet will speak English.
We have an excellent article about the largest nations of the world, perhaps it will also be interesting to you.
Did you know that:
- There are more English speakers in China than in the United States.
Interesting Facts
In conclusion, we present some interesting points from the history of the formation and development of languages.
- For example, Hindi and Urdu, in fact, one language, simply, being official in two countries, it is called differently, in India - Hindi, and the population of Pakistan calls it Urdu. In addition, it has two different alphabets.
- But Basque is the most difficult language on Earth. It is so difficult to study that during the Second World War it was used for encryption.
- Scientists estimate that it will take a person about 12 years to learn the language of the ancient Sanskrit manuscripts already used.
- Well, the last fact from the history of Russia. Until the fourteenth century, indecent words within the Russian state were called "ridiculous verbs."
So our list of the most popular languages spoken by the people of the planet is completed. But we note that in addition to human speech, there are also ethnic languages and dialects, animal language, artificial, but when creating websites on the Internet they use special computer languages. But nothing compares to the sounds of the native language, whether at home or on a long trip.
A great gift has been given to man - the ability to speak and hear, and, despite the many conflicts and confrontations in the world, mankind, even if speaking different languages, can agree ...
Article author: Valery Skiba