We could say that, one way or another, the limits of communication in the world we live in are set by how many foreign languages we know. When it comes to crossing cultural and linguistic borders, for optimal results it is best to turn to translation agencies with teams of professional translators.
From “Babel” onwards
Opinions are divided on the origin of the world’s languages. Some scholars believe that the main language groups did not appear suddenly but evolved from a single “mother tongue”. Others hold that several ancient languages developed independently, going through several stages, from a few inarticulate sounds to a complex structure. According to recent research, after analyzing more than 500 languages, Dr. Quentin Atkinson of the University of Auckland found convincing evidence that they may descend from an ancient dialect spoken by our Stone Age ancestors. The study suggests not only that the place of origin of language is the African continent, but also that speech evolved at least 100,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought.
A rough statistic
Today more than 7,000 languages are recorded worldwide, according to Ethnologue (17th edition). The most widely spoken as a mother tongue are listed below (figures as given in that edition).
Chinese (Mandarin)
It is the most widely spoken language on the globe, with about 1.2 billion people using it. This is hardly surprising, given that most of the Chinese population (the largest in the world) speaks Mandarin. Mandarin is also spoken in Singapore, Indonesia, Macau, the Philippines and in strong Chinese communities in the USA, Australia, Peru, Canada, Mauritius and Russia.
Spanish
Spanish is in second place. It is spoken in 44 countries. More than 405 million people around the world speak it, 329 million of them as their mother tongue.
English
Next, with 328 million native speakers, is English. Besides the USA, English is a secondary official language in 54 other countries, including the Bahamas, Barbados, Fiji, Kenya, Namibia and Sierra Leone.
Hindi
Next in the ranking is Hindi, spoken by more than 260 million people. It is the official language of India but is also spoken in communities in Southern Africa and Nepal.
Arabic
Arabic is the mother tongue of 221 million people. It is currently an official language in Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Chad, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Eritrea, Jordan, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Western Sahara, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen.
Bengali
Bengali, the official language of Bangladesh, is the mother tongue of 181 million people. Bengali is also spoken by communities in Canada, India, Malawi, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the USA.
Portuguese
Portuguese is the native language of 178 million people. It is official in nine countries, including Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea.
Russian
Russian is spoken in 33 countries by 144 million people. It is the official language of the Russian Federation.
Japanese
Japanese is the mother tongue of 122 million people.
German
German is spoken by 90.3 million people. It is the mother tongue of most of the population in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
*With about 23.4 million native speakers, Romanian ranks 40th among the most widely spoken languages in the world.
In a future article we will present some curiosities about languages around the globe – see About language across the globe.