Daily Almanac for
May 13, 2008
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Most Widely Spoken Languages
in the World

LanguageApprox. number
of speakers
 1. Chinese (Mandarin)1,075,000,000
 2. English514,000,000
 3. Hindustani1496,000,000
 4. Spanish425,000,000
 5. Russian275,000,000
 6. Arabic256,000,000
 7. Bengali215,000,000
 8. Portuguese194,000,000
 9. Malay-Indonesian176,000,000
10. French129,000,000
Source: Ethnologue, 13th Edition, and other sources.
1. Encompasses multiple dialects, including Hindi and Urdu.

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