Just as it is difficult to give an exact number of the worlds languages, it is. The full ranking of the worlds most multilingual countries is below. Africans are making french a truly global language. December 10, 2010 page 3 of 27 the colorado academic standards for world languages are based on these four assumptions. Download of mp3 audio files in 1600 language combinations. Additional details regarding both endangerment and the state of development of languages will be available on the statistics tabs on the world, country and language pages. List of literary works by number of translations wikipedia.
Dec 26, 2019 here you will find some really interesting facts about languages. The history of the world s languages is largely a story of loss and decline. List of countries, capitals, currencies, and languages in english. Are you curious to know what all human languages have in common and in what ways they differ. Some of the most widespread austronesian languages include javanese, tagalog, and malay.
Total shows the overall number of languages spoken as a first language in the country. Unesco survey of world languages launched unesco uis. It does matter how major languages stand and evolve in relation to each other. The uis, in collaboration with unescos communication and information sector, has just launched the survey of world languages to collect a wide range of data on the number of languages spoken in countries and information about each languages users and use. Multilingualism, the use of two or more languages by an individual or a community is described as a powerful fact of life around the world edwards 1994. Jul 09, 2018 in terms of the number of languages, it is the second largest language family in the world and represents 20% of the tongues spoken in the world today.
The worlds languages in crisis michael krauss university. A world language is characterized not only by the total number of speakers native and second language speakers but also by geographical distribution and its use in international organizations and diplomatic relations. The object of inquiry in linguistics is human language, in particular the extent and limits of diversity in the worlds languages. Among these are a number of major literary languages such as akkadian, ugaritic, ancient hebrew, ancient aramaic, ancient egyptian and the ancient greek dialects. Number of languages in the world a knowledge archive. Number of languages per family also follow zipfian distribution. However, english is the spoken by 379 millionodd native english speakers, or one of the 753 million people who speak it as a second language. Buy the print book check if you have access via personal or institutional login. Languages spoken in each country of the world the table below lists the official language of each country as well as other languages spoken. There are roughly 6,500 spoken languages in the world today.
Of course, the number of families may change as scholarship improves, but there is little reason to. When a language ceases to be learned by young children, its days are clearly numbered, and we can predict with near certainty that it will not survive the death of the current native speakers. Languages from other parts of the world spoken by immigrant communities in the eu. In ethnologue we have one, highly valuable, yet not produced by an organization of academic. One world nations online lets care for this planet. The following table contains the top 100 languages by estimated number of native speakers in the 2007 edition of the swedish encyclopedia nationalencyklopedin. Before one can discuss language statistics and the number of speakers of the worlds languages, one must define what one means by the word language. Unescos endangered languages programme it is estimated that, if nothing is done, half of the over 6,000 plus languages spoken today will disappear by the end. However, about 2,000 of those languages have fewer than 1,000 speakers. Now in its third edition, it guides beginners through the rich diversity of the world s languages. The worlds languages in crisis michael krauss university of. About 94% of all languages are regularly spoken by just 6% of the population of the world. Languages spoken by more than 10 million people archived 20091031 encarta list, based on data from ethnologue, but some figures e.
Spoken languages in the world 7,000 different languages are estimated to be spoken around the world. Before they can start counting, they have to solve some other problems. Languages of the world department of computer science. Oct 18, 2018 french has moved up a place to become the worlds fifth most spoken language, thanks largely to the millions of africans who speak it each day. What could be more natural for the linguistics profession than a catalogue of the worlds languages. But, do we have an accurate count of the number of languages and users across the world. To display the results, unesco will produce a report and develop a new interactive world atlas of languages, to be released in 2019. Though chinese is the most spoken language in the world. These languages belong to between 40 and 50 distinct. Ranking the world s current top languages is not just an idle pastime. But the ten most spoken languages are used natively by close to 40% of the earths population.
List of countries, capitals, currencies, and languages in english countries, capitals. The number of speakers of english in china is larger than in. This is the second edition of a brave attempt to survey all the language families and some language isolates of the world. Almost half of the worlds population claim one of only ten languages as their mother tongue. French has moved up a place to become the worlds fifth most spoken language, thanks largely to the millions of. Languages are the bedrock of the worlds cultural heritage. As census methods in different countries vary to a considerable extent, and given that some countries do not record language in their censuses, any list of languages by native speakers, or total speakers, is effectively based on estimates. The number of languages in the world is about 7000 thousand languages, according to the report published by unesco. An increase in the number of endangered and extinct languages would. There are a few complications that make it hard to give a precise answer.
Not too many people know there are around 6800 languages in the world today. Listed herein order by number of native speakersare the worlds top 20 languages according to ethnologue, a global catalog of the 7000 languages currently. At around 8000 bc, linguists estimate that upwards of 20,000 languages may have been in existence. The history of the worlds languages is largely a story of loss and decline. It is to e that scholars and laypersons typically turn to answer such questions as, how many languages are spoken in the world. For there is testimony enough for a number of additional languages that are of importance in this early period. There are currently 7,111 known languages spoken by people around the world, according to ethnologue, widely considered to be the most extensive catalogue of the languages of the world.
How can language be used to trace different peoples and their past. Aug 25, 2015 listed herein order by number of native speakersare the worlds top 20 languages according to ethnologue, a global catalog of the 7000 languages currently in use worldwide. Most languages are constantly used by less than one thousand native speakers. And beyond that, the languages themselves are in flux. For these assumptions to be successful, the target language must be used most of the time. In terms of the number of languages, it is the second largest language family in the world and represents 20% of the tongues spoken in the world today. This is a list of literary works including novels, plays, series, collections of poems or short stories, and essays and other forms of literary nonfiction sorted by the number of languages they have been translated into. There are generally acknowledged to be between as few as 16 comrie 1987 and as many as 108 gordon 1995 such family groups of languages still spoken in the world. The ethnologues most recent list of languages by number of speakers. The correct interpretation and translation of these six languages, in both spoken and. Are certain languages similar because of common descent or language contact. List of languages by number of native speakers wikipedia.
Languages of the world and where they are spoken, a list of language names in english and french with iso 6392 alpha3 as well as some of the alpha2 language identification codes. Overall, the ethnologue now contains 10,918 language entries reporting on each of the languages in each of the 234 countries in which they are spoken as a firstlanguage. That number is constantly in flux, because were learning more about the worlds languages every day. The worlds languages, in 7 maps and charts washington post. Do you want to find out how language can be used to trace different peoples and their past. Today the number stands at 6,909 and is declining rapidly.
These are arabic, chinese, english, french, russian and spanish. Not all languages can be easily classified this way, and there are many isolated languages as well as languages of indeterminate status. Dec 26, 2019 you may be surprised, but it is a very difficult task for linguists 1 to give the correct answer to the question, how many languages are there in the world. However, in reality, these languages are no longer used, as the languages of the world are limited to a variety of languages. French is worlds fifth spoken language thanks to africans. With the disappearance of unwritten and undocumented languages, humanity would lose not only. The statistic shows the most spoken languages worldwide in 2019. Since founding alcantara communications, she has conducted policy research on languages issues for clients including the. By capturing as many official and nonofficial languages as possible through the survey, the project will scale up the existing version of the atlas of languages in danger. The endangered languages project is a collaborative online platform for sharing knowledge and resources for endangered languages. This total is then broken down into indigenous ind. A world language is one that is spoken internationally and learned and spoken by numerous people as a second language. While we all think of a language as being a variety of speech which one can use to express oneself verbally and be understood, identifying the boundaries of a language a crucial issue if. Ranking the worlds current top languages is not just an idle pastime.
Languages for the future which languages the uk needs most and why. By 2100, it is quite realistic to expect that half of these languages will be gone, their last speakers dead, their words perhaps recorded in a dusty archive. Hundreds of millions of people have learned them as a second or third language. Theyre living and dynamic, spoken by communities whose lives are shaped by our rapidly changing world. Some are extinct, while some are still in use with considerable speakers. Pdf an introduction to the languages of the world researchgate. Doctors of the world are really pleased to be able to share with you coronavirus covid19 advice for patients in 44 languages, which were produced in partnership with the british red cross. We produce projections of both the total number of people speaking a language other than english at home lote speakers and the number of speakers for individual languages with at least 500,000 speakers in 2009. The languages of the world all will delight in the extensive linguistic buffet presented in the languages of the world. This book is an introduction to the study of human language across the planet. While english continues to be the lingua franca for world trade and diplomacy, there is an. Number of written languages in the world a knowledge archive.
Join this global effort to conserve linguistic diversity. These languages belong to between 40 and 50 distinct families. It is extremely difficult to estimate how many written and unwritten languages there are in the world. The world is growing closer and this historical development is matched by largescale linguistic adjustments, the most dramatic of which being the explosive growth of the english language. It is concerned with the immense variety among the languages of the world, as well as the common traits that cut across the differences. There are 196 countries, but how many languages are there in the world in 2020. The worlds top 20 languagesand the words english has. The haggadic assumption that there are seventy nations and languages in the world is based upon the ethnological table given in gen. In the past 2 years, 5 languages have already been lost. Languages of the world what do all human languages have in common and in what ways are they different. Languages of the world gerhard jager university of tubingen, october 19, 2010. Languages are distributed around the world based on the countries in which you speak.
331 837 1001 507 1135 1528 1114 433 515 1203 90 975 697 609 1442 788 497 992 116 913 740 1378 1252 1110 1162 601 751 441 1105 1108 14 342 829 1352 1464 972 1216