Language is like a bond that connects us together, and the 20 most widely spoken languages in the world act as a glue between different cultures and people.
As social beings, social interaction is pretty much the key to our survival. Our language enables us to do just that. That being said, there are countless languages out there. It’s impossible for someone to learn every single one, so if we can pick up on the most popular we’ll have more access to the world around us. Thankfully, we are able to acquire our primary language without much effort since we pick it up as we get older. Learning other languages can help us drastically increase our ability to establish networks across the globe, give us more professional opportunities, increase our interpersonal skills, and also provide more travel opportunities. There’s nothing to lose by investing time in learning new languages. If you’re considering one, try one of the 20 most widely spoken languages in the world from this list.
In this article, we tried to list the world’s most widely spoken languages ranked by the number of primary speakers. In order to create this list, we took a look at the statistics published by Ethnologue. However, there are many other things that should be considered before committing to a certain language. A few questions that might come up: How many countries speak this language? How economically developed are those countries? How difficult is it to learn the language for a native English speaker? Why do I want to learn this language? Before you commit to learning a language from this list, knowing the answer to those is important. We tried to answer some of those for you. If you’re looking for an easy language to master, check out our list of the 5 Easiest Second Languages to Learn for English Speakers.
Every individual is driven by their own personal goals. Some might want to learn a new language for the mere sake of learning, while others may want to advance their careers and work in other countries. As far as raw data goes, our list is based on that, but you yourself will obviously have to choose the right one for you. Without further ado, let’s take a look at the 20 most widely spoken languages in the world.