World Report: December 7, 2001 Vol.7 No.10
- This Issue:
- Table of Contents
- Cover Story
- Cover Story - Spanish Version
- Mini-Lesson
- Comprehension Quiz
- Teacher's Guide and Worksheets
Top 5 Languages of the World
Can you say hello in another language? In Bengali, it's "nomoskar"; in Hindi, it's "namaste." And in Mandarin Chinese, the world's most widely spoken language, it is "ni hao." There are more than 6,000 languages spoken around the world. Here are the most common ones and the estimated number of people who speak them as their first language.
1. Mandarin Chinese: 885 million
2. Spanish: 332 million
3. English: 322 million
4. Bengali: 189 million
5. Hindi: 182 million
Source: TIME Almanac 2001