Language News & Trivia

Speaking More Than One Language Could Sharpen Your Brain

Time Magazine by Alexandra Sifferlin

Nov. 12, 2014

 

 

Babies Cry With an Accent, Study Finds
Newborns Cry With the Melody of Their Parent’s Language By LAUREN COX
ABC News Medical Unit
Nov. 5, 2009

 

 

Top 20 Languages by Population

Rank

Language

Speakers(millions)

1

Chinese

1,197

2

Spanish

406

3

English

335

4

Hindi

260

5

Arabic

223

6

Portuguese

202

7

Bengali

193

8

Russian

162

9

Japanese

122

10

Javanese

84.3

11

German

83.8

12

Lahnda

82.7

13

Telugu

74.0

14

Marathi

71.8

15

Tamil

68.8

16

French

68.5

17

Vietnamese

67.8

18

Korean

66.4

19

Urdu

63.4

20

Italian

61.1

A 2013 Census of the top 20 languages by population shows the importance of Mandarin and Spanish language abilities.

Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2013. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Seventeenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.