English 57 countries
French 23 countries
Arabic 23 countries
Spanish 21 countries
Portuguese 7 countries
The above could be called major languages of the world because the area over which they are known and used by people is geographically very wide. For instance, English is used almost all over the globe in some measure. But they are by no means the languages spoken by large number of people. So we need another list of how many people speak them (see below):
Most Spoken Languages of the World
Chinese or Mandarin 873,000,000
(But today about 50 million people around the world are learning Mandarin because China is emerging as an important, or possibly the most important, economic power in the world)
Spanish 323,000,000
English 309,000,000
Arabic 246,000,000
Hindustani (Hindi+Urdu) 181,000,000
{Hindustani is spoken in northern states of India where it is called Hindi and in entire Pakistan where it is known as Urdu. Hindi is written in Devanagari script while Urdu is written in Persian script. In oral form, it is the language of films made in Mumbai (popularly known as Bollywood). If one knows sufficient amount of Hindustani he can manage his affairs in major parts of India and Pakistan.}
Portuguese 177,000,000
Bengali 171,000,000
Russian 145,000,000
Japanese 122,000,000
German 95,000,000
Chinese 77,175,000
French 65,000,000
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