Languages

Afrikaans is natively spoken by about 8.3 million people, primarily in South Africa and Namibia, with smaller communities in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and...

Albanian is natively spoken by approximately 4.9 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo, with significant communities in North...

Ancient Greek was spoken by people in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean from around the 9th century BCE to the 6th century CE. It is the language...

Modern Aramaic languages, such as Suret (Assyrian), are spoken by around 500,000 people, primarily in small communities across...

Assamese, the official language of Assam in India, is spoken by around 15 million people. Closely related to Bengali, it is written in the Bengali...

Azerbaijani is natively spoken by about 22 million people, primarily in Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran, with smaller communities in Russia, Turkey...

Belarusian is natively spoken by about 3.6 million people, primarily in Belarus, with smaller communities in Russia, Poland, and Ukraine. It is a significant aspect of...

Bhojpuri is a prominent Indo-European language with around 33 million native speakers in India, Nepal, and Mauritius. Written in the Devanagari script...

Bulgarian is natively spoken by about 4.9 million people, primarily in Bulgaria, with smaller communities in Serbia, Greece, and among the Bulgarian diaspora...

Cantonese is natively spoken by about 90 million people, primarily in Guangdong province and Hong Kong, as well as among the Chinese diaspora in...

Cebuano, or Bisaya (colloquially), part of the Austronesian family, is spoken by about 20 million people in the Philippines, primarily in the Central Visayas and Mindanao regions...

Coptic, a liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, descends from Ancient Egyptian. Though no longer spoken as a native language...

Czech is natively spoken by about 8.6 million people, primarily in the Czech Republic, with smaller communities in Slovakia and the Czech diaspora...

Dhivehi, the official language of the Maldives, is spoken by over 500,000 people. Its unique Thaana script, written right-to-left, reflects cultural influences...

Dzongkha is natively spoken by around 171,000 people and is the official language of Bhutan. Belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family...

Faroese is spoken by approximately 70,000 people, mainly in the Faroe Islands. A North Germanic language closely related to Icelandic, Faroese uses the Latin alphabet...

French is natively spoken by approximately 105 million people worldwide, primarily in France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, and parts of...

Galician is natively spoken by approximately 2.4 million people, primarily in Spain's Galicia region. It is an Indo-European language that...

German is natively spoken by about 90 million people, primarily in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and parts of Belgium, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg. It is a...

Greenlandic, also known as Kalaallisut, is spoken by about 55,000 people in Greenland and Denmark. An agglutinative language, it forms complex...

Gujarati is natively spoken by approximately 64 million people, primarily in the Indian state of Gujarat and among the Gujarati diaspora in countries...

Hawaiian is natively spoken by about 2,000 people, primarily in Hawaii, where it is an official language alongside English. It is integral to Native Hawaiian cultural...

Hiligaynon, also called Ilonggo, is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, primarily in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines and...

Hmong is spoken by approximately 2.7 million people across Southeast Asia, the U.S., and other countries. Its tonal system, with seven tones, plays a...

Hungarian is natively spoken by about 9.3 million people, primarily in Hungary and among Hungarian communities in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, and Ukraine...

Igbo, our reference, is natively spoken by approximately 38 million people, predominantly in Nigeria, where it is one of the country’s major languages...

Inuktitut is spoken by approximately 38,000 people, primarily Inuit communities in Canada. Written in syllabics, an abugida derived from Cree, Inuktitut is central...

Italian is natively spoken by approximately 56 million people, primarily in Italy, Switzerland, and San Marino, with significant communities in the...

Javanese is spoken by approximately 68 million people, primarily in Indonesia, where it is a significant regional language. Using both Latin and Javanese scripts...

Kazakh is natively spoken by about 13 million people, primarily in Kazakhstan, where it is the official language, and in neighboring countries with...

Korean is natively spoken by around 77 million people, primarily in South Korea and North Korea, with significant communities in China, the...

Kyrgyz is natively spoken by about 4.5 million people, primarily in Kyrgyzstan, where it is the official language, and in neighboring countries with...

Latin was spoken by the ancient Romans and used as a lingua franca throughout the Roman Empire. It is the predecessor of the Romance languages and has...

Lithuanian is natively spoken by about 2.5 million people, primarily in Lithuania, where it is the official language. It is integral to Lithuanian cultural...

Macedonian is natively spoken by about 1.4 million people, primarily in North Macedonia, where it is the official language, and among...

Malay-Indonesian is natively spoken by about 53 million people, primarily in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore. It is integral to Malay...

Maltese is natively spoken by about 500,000 people, primarily in Malta, where it is the official language. It is integral to Maltese cultural identity, known...

Marathi is spoken by around 96 million people, primarily in the Indian state of Maharashtra, where it is an official language. Part of the Indo-European...

Māori is natively spoken by about 67,000 people, primarily in New Zealand, where it is an official language. It is integral to Māori cultural identity, known...

Navajo is spoken by about 170,000 people, primarily among the Navajo Nation in the southwestern United States. Belonging to the Na-Dené...

Norwegian is natively spoken by about 5.2 million people, primarily in Norway, where it has two official written forms: Bokmål and Nynorsk. It is integral to Norwegian...

Odia, spoken by approximately 46 million people, is primarily used in the Indian state of Odisha, where it is an official language. As part of the...

Old Church Slavonic, developed in the 9th century by Saints Cyril and Methodius, was the first Slavic literary language. It was used for translating the Bible...

Pashto is natively spoken by about 50 million people, primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is integral to Pashtun...

Polish is natively spoken by about 35 million people, primarily in Poland, where it is the official language. It is integral to Polish cultural identity, known for its...

Punjabi is natively spoken by about 152 million people, primarily in the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan, where it is an official language. It is...

Romanian is natively spoken by about 17 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova, where it is the official language. It is integral to Romanian cultural...

Russian is natively spoken by about 143 million people, primarily in Russia, where it is the official language, and among Russian-speaking communities in former...

Sanskrit is a classical Indo-European language written in the Devanagari script. With fusional grammar featuring eight cases and three genders...

Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin, and Serbian (otherwise known as one language: Serbo-Croatian) are natively spoken by about 13 million people...

Shanghainese, a variety of Wu Chinese, is spoken by around 14 million people, primarily in Shanghai and the surrounding Yangtze River Delta region...

Sinhala is natively spoken by about 1.6 million people, primarily in Sri Lanka, where it is an official language. It is integral to Sinhalese cultural...

Slovene is natively spoken by about 2 million people, primarily in Slovenia, where it is the official language. It is integral to Slovenian cultural identity, known for...

Spanish is natively spoken by approximately 487 million people worldwide, primarily in Spain and Latin America, with growing communities in...

Swahili is natively spoken by about 10 million people, primarily in East Africa, where it is a lingua franca. It is integral to Swahili cultural identity...

Swedish is natively spoken by about 10 million people, primarily in Sweden, where it is the official language, and among Swedish-speaking communities in...

Tagalog (Filipino) is natively spoken by about 44 million people, primarily in the Philippines, where it is one of the official languages. It is one aspect...

Tamazight, also known as Amazigh, is spoken by approximately 28 million people across North Africa, including Morocco, Algeria, and Mali, where it holds...

Telugu is spoken by about 103 million people, primarily in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is an official language. As...

Tibetan, spoken by about 1.2 million people, is used primarily in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. Belonging to the Sino-Tibetan family, it...

Tongan, a Polynesian language spoken by approximately 187,000 people, is the official language of Tonga. As part of the Austronesian family...

Turkish is natively spoken by about 76 million people primarily in Turkey, where it is the official language, and among Turkish communities in Europe and...

Ukrainian is natively spoken by about 24 million people, primarily in Ukraine, where it is the official language, and among Ukrainian communities in...

Uzbek is natively spoken by about 34 million people, primarily in Uzbekistan, where it is the official language, and among Uzbek communities in...

Welsh is natively spoken by about 650,000 people, primarily in Wales (UK), where it is an official language alongside English. It is integral to Welsh cultural...

Xhosa is natively spoken by about 9.7 million people, primarily in South Africa, where it is one of the official languages. It is integral to Xhosa cultural identity...

Yoruba is natively spoken by about 41 million people, primarily in Nigeria, where it is one of the official languages, and among Yoruba communities in Benin...

Akan is spoken by around 17 million people, mainly in Ghana and Ivory Coast. It is a tonal language of the Niger-Congo family with an agglutinative...

Amharic is natively spoken by approximately 37 million people, primarily in Ethiopia, where it serves as the official language. Rooted in the Afro-Asiatic...

Arabic (Standard), also known as Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), is natively spoken by 364 million people across the world, including countries in the Middle East...

Armenian is natively spoken by about 2.6 million people, primarily in Armenia and the Armenian diaspora in Russia, the United States, France, and...

Aymara is spoken by about 2.6 million people, mainly in Bolivia, Peru, and northern Chile, where it holds official status in Bolivia and Peru...

Basque is natively spoken by about 800,000 people in the Basque Country, a region spanning parts of northern Spain and southwestern France. It is unique...

Bengali is natively spoken by approximately 280 million people, primarily in Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, making it one...

Breton is spoken by around 210,000 people, primarily in Brittany, France. A Celtic language related to Welsh and Cornish, Breton has faced...

Burmese is natively spoken by about 33 million people, primarily in Myanmar (Burma). It is the official language and a crucial part of Burmese cultural...

Catalan is natively spoken by about 8.1 million people, primarily in Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands in Spain, as well as in parts of...

Cherokee, a member of the Iroquoian language family, is spoken by about 2,000 people, primarily among the Cherokee Nation in the United States. Its unique syllabary...

Cree is spoken by approximately 90,000 people in Canada. Written using both Latin and Cree syllabics, it is agglutinative with free word order...

Danish is natively spoken by about 5.5 million people primarily in Denmark, with smaller communities in Greenland, the Faroe Islands, and among...

Dutch is natively spoken by about 24 million people, primarily in the Netherlands and Belgium, with smaller communities in Suriname, the Caribbean, and the...

Estonian is natively spoken by about 950,000 people, primarily in Estonia. It is a central part of Estonian cultural identity, known for its rich tradition in folk...

Finnish is natively spoken by about 5.1 million people, primarily in Finland, with smaller communities in Sweden and the Finnish diaspora. It is a crucial part of...

Frisian languages, spoken by approximately 480,000 people, are primarily used in the Netherlands and parts of Germany. As part of...

Georgian is natively spoken by about 2.6 million people, primarily in Georgia and among the Georgian diaspora. It is integral to Georgian cultural...

Greek (Modern) is natively spoken by about 11 million people, primarily in Greece and Cyprus, with communities worldwide due to the historical...

Guaraní is natively spoken by around 3 million people, primarily in Paraguay, where it is an official language alongside Spanish. As one of the most spoken...

Haitian Creole is natively spoken by about 11.5 million people, primarily in Haiti and among Haitian communities in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean...

Hebrew is natively spoken by about 6 million people, primarily in Israel and among Jewish communities worldwide. It is central to Jewish cultural...

Hindi is natively spoken by about 570 million people, primarily in India, where it is one of the official languages alongside English. It is integral to Indian...

Hokkien, a variety of Chinese spoken by approximately 47 million people, is widely used across China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and other Southeast...

Icelandic is natively spoken by about 366,000 people, primarily in Iceland. It is integral to Icelandic cultural identity, known for its preservation of Old...

Ilocano is spoken by about 7.6 million people, primarily in northern Luzon in the Philippines, where it serves as a lingua...

Irish (Gaeilge) is natively spoken by about 217,000 people, primarily in Ireland, where it is an official language alongside English. It is integral to Irish...

Japanese is natively spoken by about 125 million people, primarily in Japan, where it is the national language. It is integral to Japanese cultural identity, known for...

Kannada is spoken by about 50 million people, mainly in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, where it is an official language. As part of the Dravidian...

Khmer is natively spoken by about 16 million people, primarily in Cambodia, where it is the official language. It is integral to Khmer cultural identity...

Kurdish is spoken by approximately 33 million people across Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Iran. As part of the Indo-European family, Kurdish is written in different scripts...

Lao is natively spoken by about 21 million people, primarily in Laos, where it is the official language, and among Lao communities in Thailand and the...

Latvian is natively spoken by about 1.1 million people, primarily in Latvia, where it is the official language. It is integral to Latvian cultural identity, known...

Luxembourgish is natively spoken by about 350,000 people, primarily in Luxembourg, where it is one of the official languages alongside French and German. It...

Malagasy is spoken by approximately 29 million people, primarily in Madagascar, where it is the official language, and in communities in the French overseas...

Malayalam is natively spoken by about 45.6 million people, primarily in the Indian state of Kerala and among Malayali communities in the Middle East...

Mandarin is natively spoken by 925 million people, primarily in China, Taiwan, and Singapore. It is a key part of the cultural and national identity of the...

Mongolian is natively spoken by about 5.5 million people, primarily in Mongolia, where it is the official language, and among Mongolian communities in...

Modern Nahuatl is spoken by approximately 1.5 million people in Mexico, particularly in the Huasteca region. A member of the Uto-Aztecan...

Nepali is natively spoken by about 13.7 million people, primarily in Nepal, where it is the official language, and among Nepali communities in India and Bhutan...

Occitan, in its Languedocien dialect, is spoken by about 531,000 people across southern France and the Aran Valley of Spain. Once a major...

Ojibwe, or Anishinaabemowin, is spoken by around 36,000 people in the United States and Canada. It has multiple dialects and...

Papiamento is spoken by around 240,000 people, primarily in the ABC Islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), with...

Persian is natively spoken by about 73 million people, primarily in Afghanistan, where it is one of the official languages, as well as Iran and Tajikistan. It is...

Portuguese is natively spoken by about 228 million people, primarily in Portugal and Brazil, with significant communities in Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde...

Quechuan languages are spoken by around 8 million people, primarily in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, where it is an official language in several regions...

Romansh is spoken by approximately 40,000 people, primarily in Switzerland, where it is recognized as a national language. A member of the...

Samoan, spoken by around 260,000 people, is used in Samoa and American Samoa as well as some communities in Tokelau and New Zealand. As...

Scottish Gaelic is spoken by about 60,000 people, primarily in Scotland, with smaller communities in Nova Scotia and Canada, where the language's heritage...

Sesotho, also known as Southern Sotho, is spoken by about 6 million people, primarily in Lesotho where it is the national and majority language...

Shona, a major Bantu language of the Niger-Congo family, is spoken by approximately 13 million people in Zimbabwe and Mozambique, where it is an official language...

Slovak is natively spoken by about 4.5 million people, primarily in Slovakia, where it is the official language. It is integral to Slovak cultural identity, known for...

Somali, a Cushitic language of the Afro-Asiatic family, is spoken by around 27 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti, where it serves as an official language...

Sundanese is spoken by about 42 million people, primarily in the western part of Java in Indonesia. It can be written in both the traditional Sundanese...

Swazi, also known as siSwati, is spoken by about 1.7 million people, mainly in Eswatini and South Africa, where it holds official status. A Bantu...

Sámi languages are used by around 36,000 people across Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. As part of the Uralic language family, it is written using the Latin alphabet...

Tahitian is spoken by around 68,000 people in French Polynesia, where it is recognized alongside French. An analytic language with a verb–subject–object order, Tahitian uses the Latin alphabet and has a small consonant inventory.

Tamil is natively spoken by about 87 million people, primarily in Tamil Nadu (India), Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore, where it has official status. It is integral to Tamil...

Thai is natively spoken by about 38 million people, primarily in Thailand, where it is the official language. It is integral to Thai cultural identity, known for its...

Tok Pisin, an English-based Creole, is natively spoken by around 130,000 people and millions more as a second language in Papua New Guinea...

Tswana, also called Setswana, is spoken by about 7 million people, primarily in Botswana, where it is the national language, and in...

Turkmen is natively spoken by about 4.6 million people, primarily in Turkmenistan, where it is the official language, and among Turkmen communities...

Urdu is natively spoken by about 89 million people, primarily in Pakistan and India, where it is one of the official languages. It is integral to Urdu cultural identity...

Vietnamese is natively spoken by about 85 million people, primarily in Vietnam, where it is the official language. It is integral to Vietnamese cultural identity...

Wolof, a Niger-Congo language spoken by approximately 8.5 million people, is a major lingua franca in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania. It is primarily written in...

Yiddish is natively spoken by about 500,000 people worldwide, primarily among Ashkenazi Jewish communities in the United States, Israel, and Europe...

Zulu is natively spoken by about 14 million people, primarily in South Africa and neighboring countries, where it is one of the official languages. It is...