The Most Widely Spoken Languages in the World
English speakers have a great advantage when it comes to overseas moves – wherever you move to, the chances are you shouldn’t have too much difficulty in making yourself understood. However, it isn’t our planet’s most widely spoken language.
The Moving Partnership offer free online moving quotes for Europe, America and destinations across the world. Here we look at the languages which have the most native speakers, and which are often spoken in more than one country.
Chinese
This has the largest number of native speakers, but it depends on how you define it. Mandarin Chinese is the most widely spoken in the world, with around 990 million speakers. However, talk about Chinese as a whole, then the figure rises to around 1.3 billion.
This is because Mandarin Chinese is just one of a number of dialects, which also include Cantonese, Wu and Hakka.
If you are considering house removals to Shanghai, Beijing or any other Chinese destination, then it’s worth learning at least some Mandarin. The country has been more open to Western influences in recent years, but many Chinese people still don’t speak a word of English.
Spanish
In addition to Spain itself, it is also the primary language in several South and Central American countries, including Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay.
In total, there are estimated to be more than 480 million Spanish speakers across the world. Mexico accounts for more than 110 million of them, ahead of Colombia and Argentina (around 40 million each) and Spain itself (around 38 million). The primary reason for this is that Spain colonised large parts of the continent, starting with Christopher Columbus in 1492.
English
This is third in the table of most spoken languages, with around 390 million native speakers.
It’s the official language of not just Canada, North America, Australia and New Zealand but also many of the Caribbean islands and parts of Africa (including Nigeria and Kenya, for example). Again, colonisation was one reason for its initial spread, and the sheer economic power of the USA has ensured its continued increased use.
In many countries it’s a second language as well – including many European nations, such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, even though they aren’t considered part of the English-speaking world. Learning English is compulsory up to a certain age in most European countries.
Portuguese
This has more than 250 million native speakers. Again, it owes its spread to the influence of explorers and colonisation. Obviously, if you are considering international removals to the Algarve or elsewhere in Portugal, it is an obvious choice, but the language is also spoken in many African and American countries, including Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and – most notably – Brazil.
Languages Which Probably Aren’t Worth Learning
There are a number of languages which have a dying number of native speakers – so, even if you moved there, you might have trouble getting anyone to understand you if you had gone to the trouble of learning it. These include Ongota, which is used by just 10 people (all tribal elders) in Southwest Ethiopia, and Chung, a language also used by 10 people in Cambodia. In many cases, these dying languages will be replaced by that of a nearest neighbour.
Free Online Moving Quotes from The Moving Partnership
Whether you decide to learn the language or not is down to you, but as a courtesy, as well as helping you integrate, it’s usually well worth the effort and the locals will appreciate it.
At The Moving Partnership, we can’t learn the language for you, but we can get you there.
We help move people to all parts of the globe – including Europe, and destinations further afield, such as China and other parts of Asia, the USA and Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
If you would like a free online moving quote, just click on this link, to get the process under way.