Ciao! Bonjour! Szia! So many languages, so many greetings. Did you know that there are nearly 6,000 languages worldwide? Some languages have only a handful of native speakers (such as Tobian, spoken by about 30 people in Palau), but others have grown into truly global languages, with tens, sometimes hundreds, of millions of speakers. Over 40% of the world's population grows up with one of the 10 most widely spoken languages. Wondering which ones they are? Come see them.
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The bottom of our world languages top 10. Punjabi is the native language of 119 million people in Pakistan and the northern Indian state of Punjab. There are many dialects and depending on the region, different scripts are used to write Punjabi.
Hello = ਸਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ
Of course, the national language of Japan, but also one of the 3 official languages of the island of Angaur (which is part of - hey again - Palau). Characteristic of Japanese are the many degrees of politeness and hierarchy you can express with it. Japanese has 128 million native speakers.
Hello = こんにちは
The language of Russia and the large Russian diaspora has some 154 million native speakers. Moreover, Russian functions as a lingua franca in almost all former Soviet countries. It is often even taught there as a second mother tongue, although this is not always welcomed for political reasons (certainly in the Baltic states).
Hello = Здравствуй
Portugal's colonial past has ensured that Portuguese is spoken not only in Europe Portuguese but especially in South America (Brazil), Africa (Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde) and Asia (Macau). There are 221 million native speakers, only 11 million of whom live in Portugal. The various "flavors" of Portuguese differ considerably from one another.
Hello = Olá
A language with a rich - including literary - history that developed from classical Sanskrit. It is the native language of about 228 million people in Bangladesh and eastern India. In India, it is the most widely spoken language after Hindi (our No. 4).
Hello = হ্যালো
Arabic has a wide geographic distribution. It is the official language of many countries in North Africa, the Middle East and the Gulf region. It is also a minority language in many countries, mainly as a result of emigration. More than 319 million people have Arabic as their mother tongue. A special feature of Arabic is that it is written from right to left - except for the digits in numbers.
Hello = مرحبا
Most people in northern India speak Hindi. It is the country's largest official language. Like Japanese, Hindi is rich in hierarchical nuances, a direct reflection of India's ancient caste society. Partly because of colonial history, large Hindi-speaking communities have emerged outside India. In total, some 341 million people have Hindi as their mother tongue.
Hello = नमस्ते
Stable in third place in the world's top 10 languages, it has become an indispensable lingua franca in many parts of the world. But English also ranks high as a mother tongue: 379 million people in countries across the globe - from the U.S. to South Africa, from Great Britain to New Zealand - receive it with their mother tongue.
Hello = Hello
Like Portuguese, Spanish has developed into one of the major world languages thanks to the voyages of discovery and subsequent colonialism. The 460 million native speakers live overwhelmingly in Latin America (in Mexico, Chile, Argentina, etc.), but there are also many Spanish speakers in the southern US, especially in Texas. The regional differences are great.
Hello = Hola
Often Mandarin is simply called Chinese, but actually that is wrong: Chinese is an umbrella term for at least 14, distinctly different, languages. In turn, Mandarin is also an umbrella term for several varieties. For written Mandarin, a "traditional" and a "simplified" character set can be used (the latter, by the way, is still very complicated). With 918 million native speakers, Mandarin is the undisputed No. 1 in this world language top 10.
Hello = 你好
Many facts perhaps, but hopefully you enjoyed reading this article. Of course, for translating your text from or into any of these 10 world languages (or - almost - any other language), professional translation agency Scriptware Translations is always at your service. Feel free to contact us. See you! Hejdå! Doviđenja!
