Ten Most Spoken Languages

When your students are deciding what language to specialize in, this infographic may come in handy, and may hold some surprises. This infographic shows the ten most spoken languages in the world, and where they are spoken. However, students shouldn’t just factor in the most spoken language all over the world when they choose a […]

When your students are deciding what language to specialize in, this infographic may come in handy, and may hold some surprises. This infographic shows the ten most spoken languages in the world, and where they are spoken. However, students shouldn’t just factor in the most spoken language all over the world when they choose a language, they should also factor in where they will be speaking the language? Will it just be here in the US, or are they going to travel. And don’t forget to remind them, they can always learn a new language as their dreams change.

First of all, it was interesting to discover that English is not the most spoken language. It is easy to assume that every educated person in the world has learned English, but English fell to number three, after Chinese and Spanish. With the Chinese increasing in their power across the world, this would be a good language to learn if your students plan to go into international business, if they were willing to put in a great amount of effort. Also with so many Spanish immigrants coming into the United States, this would be a great language if your students planned to work with the general public.

It is also interesting to speak with students from other countries and find out what languages they learn. I visited a peer in Germany when I was in high school, and was amazed to find out that these students were learning their third, and even fourth language, when I hadn’t even mastered a second. Challenge your students to become bilingual, to be esteemed by their peers in their future endeavors, and if they plan to travel, to be a more acceptable tourist.

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4 thoughts on “Ten Most Spoken Languages”

  1. Yes, this is an especially insightful infographic. It communicates a surprising bit of information very effectively. I will be using this one in a presentation about visualization at the Imagine the a future of Learning conference this week.

  2. Ryann – fascinating research. I too expected English to come out top of the list.
    Do you see any challenge to English though when it comes to some of the more technical fields that your students may want to enter, such as science & technology, aviation, maritime and so on?

  3. This is very insightful. I always thought that English was the most spoken language! I’ll be doing a lot of travelling so this information is very helpful. Now to enroll in a short course in Chinese and Spanish! Haha

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