The list of languages of the World is an important topic from the point of view of competitive examinations. Aspirants of government exams such as SSC, Bank, RRB etc. may encounter questions related to World languages or most spoken language of the world in the General Awareness section of these exams.
Candidates preparing for any competitive or government exams can check the following links for their preparation –
| Static GK | Daily Current Affairs | Government Exam Mock Tests |
| SSC General Awareness | Bank General Awareness | Idioms & Phrases |
This article will talk about the languages of the world. Candidates preparing for exams will get to know about world languages, most spoken languages of the world, 1st language of the world etc. The topic will help candidates ace the general awareness in the examination.
List of Languages in the World PDF:-Download PDF Here
Candidates preparing for the various government exams can refer to the detailed syllabus in the links given below:
World Languages
Do you know which is the 1st language of the world that is still surviving in modern society?
1st Language of the World is Tamil – It is the earliest discovered language spoken by around 120 million people in the world. After Tamil comes in the list Sanskrit, followed by Greek, Chinese, Hebrew and Arabic.Â
Languages are dynamic and the numbers are constantly in flux. There are about 6500 languages or maybe more in the world and many of which are not known to all as they are less widely spoken than other languages.
Research says, 40% of languages of the world are now endangered with less than 1,000 speakers remaining and only 23 languages make up for more than half the population of the world.
Well, do you know what are the most common languages or most spoken languages of the world?Â
Here is the list of 12 most spoken languages of the world and the number of speakers for each one of them all around the world.Â
| List of Most Spoken Languages of the World | |
| Languages | Number Of Speakers in the World |
| English | 1.268 billion speakers |
| Chinese Mandarin | 1.12 billion speakers |
| Hindi | 637 million speakers |
| Spanish | 537 million speakers |
| French | 276 million speakers |
| Arabic | Â 274 million speakers |
| Bengali | 265 million speakers |
| Russian | 258 million speakers |
| Portuguese | 252 million speakers |
| Indonesian | 199 million speakers |
| Urdu | 170 million speakers |
| German | 132 million speakers |
Reference – [Wikipedia –Â https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_number_of_speakers]
Aspirants of government exams can check other topics relevant from exam point of view:
| Unemployment In India | Famous Books and Authors |
| Millets In India | Letter Writing Format |
| Prepositions Rule | Governors in India |
| List of Country, Capital & Currency | Tenses Rules |
Now that you are aware of the 1st language of the world, common languages of the world, let us move ahead to the official languages of the world.
Check the list of Official Languages of India in the given link.
The table below lists more than 190 official languages of different countries of the world. Candidates will also be able to download the languages of the world PDF at the end of this article.Â
| Languages of the World | |
| Countries | Official Languages |
| Albania | Albanian |
| Ethiopia | Amharic |
| Algeria, Bahrain, Chad, Comoros, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen | Arabic |
| Sudan | Arabic, English |
| Armenia | Armenian |
| Azerbaijan | Azerbaijan |
| Bangladesh | Bengali |
| Vanuatu | Bislama |
| Myanmar (Burma) | Burmese |
| Andorra | Catalan |
| Malawi | Chichewa |
| China | Chinese, Mandarin |
| Czech Republic | Czech |
| Denmark | Danish |
| Afghanistan | Dari |
| Maldives | Dhivehi |
| Belgium, Suriname | Dutch |
| Bhutan | Dzongkha |
| Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cameroon, Canada, Fiji, The Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Kiribati, Lesotho, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Federated States of Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Sudan, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, United Kingdom, United States of America, Zambia | English |
| Singapore | English, Malay, Chinese, Tamil |
| Pakistan | English, Urdu |
| Estonia | Estonian |
| Finland | Finnish |
| Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Republic of the Congo, Côte-d’Ivoire, Djibouti, France, Gabon, Haiti, Mali, Monaco, Niger, Senegal, Switzerland, Togo | French |
| Netherlands | Frisian |
| Georgia | Georgian |
| Austria, Liechtenstein, Germany | German |
| Greece | Greek |
| Bolivia, Paraguay | Guaranà |
| India | Hindi, English |
| Hungary | Hungarian |
| Iceland | Icelandic |
| Indonesia | Indonesian |
| Ireland | Irish |
| Italy, Vatican City (Holy See) | Italian |
| Japan | Japanese |
| Kazakhstan | Kazakh |
| Cambodia | Khmer |
| The Democratic Republic of the Congo | Kikongo |
| Rwanda | Kinyarwanda, French, English |
| North Korea, South Korea | Korean |
| Kyrgyzstan | Kyrgyz |
| Laos | Lao |
| Latvia | Latvian |
| Lithuania | Lithuanian |
| Luxembourg | Luxembourgish |
| Macedonia | Macedonian |
| Madagascar | Malagasy |
| Malaysia, Brunei | Malay |
| Malta | Maltese |
| Moldova | Moldovan |
| Mongolia | Mongolia |
| Montenegro | Montenegrin |
| Zimbabwe | Ndebele, English, Shona |
| Nepal | Nepali |
| Norway | Norwegian |
| Palau | Palauan, English |
| Iran, Tajikistan | Persian |
| Poland | Polish |
| Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe | Portuguese |
| Peru | Quechua |
| Romania | Romanian |
| Russia, Belarus | Russian |
| Samoa | Samoan, English |
| San Marino | San Marino |
| Central African Republic | Sango |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Serbia | Serbian |
| Seychelles | Seychellois Creole |
| Sri Lanka | Sinhala, Tamil |
| Slovakia | Slovak |
| Slovenia | Slovene |
| Somalia | Somali |
| South Africa | Sotho |
| Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Philippines, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela | Spanish |
| Taiwan | Standard Chinese |
| Kenya, Tanzania | Swahili |
| Uganda | Swahili, English |
| Swaziland | Swati, English |
| Sweden | Swedish |
| East Timor (Timor-Leste) | Tetum |
| Thailand | Thai |
| Eritrea | Tigrinya |
| Guinea, Papua New Guinea | Tok Pisin |
| Botswana | Tswana |
| Bulgaria, Cyprus, Turkey | Turkish |
| Turkmenistan | Turkmen |
| Ukraine | Ukrainian |
| Uzbekistan | Uzbek |
| Vietnam | Vietnamese |
| Nigeria | Yoruba |
List of Languages in the World PDF:-Download PDF Here
Languages of the World – Sample Question For General Awareness
Before diving deep into the topic languages of the world, check out a few sample questions given below. Candidates willing to appear for various government exams might encounter such types of questions in the general awareness section.
Sample Questions on languages of the world
Q.1. Approximately how many languages are there in the world?
- 3000
- 6500
- 7100
- 5400
Answer (2) 6500
Q.2. Which is the common official language of Austria, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland?Â
- English
- Swedish
- German
- French
Answer (3) German
Q.3. What is the country with the greatest number of official languages?Â
- China
- USA
- South Africa
- India
Answer (4) India
Q.4. Which country has more English speakers than the United States?
- China
- UK
- Japan
- India
Answer (1) China
Q.5. How many countries do have an Official Language?
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 1
Answer (2) 5 countries do not have official languages.
Besides these MCQ type questions, the knowledge of world languages forms an important part of the descriptive section of the exam as an essay topic. Check previous year question papers with solution PDF to understand the type of questions asked in the general awareness section of government examinations.
Candidates preparing for the upcoming government exams must carefully go through the list of languages of the world to score well in the GA/GK section.
For any further questions or information regarding the competitive exams, check the following links:
