Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Belize
• Guyana
• Parts of West Africa

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Kreyol, Aiysyen, African Creole

Number Of People

• 7.4 million (Total)

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Botswana
• Malawi
• Namibia
• South Africa
• Swaziland
• Zambia

Number Of People

• 17 million (South Africa) 17.5 million (Total)

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Ethiopia
• Israel

Alternative Names

• Abyssinian, Amarigna, Amarinya, Amhara, Ethiopian

Number Of People

• 25.6 million (Ethiopia) 26 million (Total)

Interesting Language Related Facts

• Amharic has been influenced since the 14th century by Cushitic languages.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Algeria
• Bahrain
• Chad
• Djibouti
• Egypt
• Gaza
• Iraq
• Jordan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Libya
• Mauritania
• Morocco
• Oman
• Qatar
• Saudi Arabia
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Syria
• Tunisia
• United Arab Emirates
• Yemen

Alternative Names

• Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic

Alternative Names

• 291 million (Total)

Interesting Language Related Facts

• Arabic is the official language of 25 countries. It has also influenced many other languages such as Persian, Kurdish, Pashto, Turkish, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali, Swahili and Hausa.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Armenia
• Azerbaijan
• Georgia
• Iran

• Armjanski Yazyk, Ena, Ermeni Dili, Ermenice, Haieren, Somkhuri

• 3 Million (Armenia) 5.2 million (Total)

• Eastern Armenian, Erevan, Tbilisi , Karabagh, Shamakhi , Astrakhan, Dzhulfa , Agulis, Khvoy-Salmst , Urmia-Maragheh, Artvin, Karin, Mus , Van , Tigranakert, Kharberd , Shabin-Karahissar , Trabzon , Hamshen , Malatya , Kilikien, Syria, Arabkir, Ararat, Akn, Sebaste, Ewdokia , Smyrna , North Komedia, Constantinople , Rodosto, Crimea, Ashkharik.

• Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo European Language Family. It is considered to be one of the oldest languages in the world.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Indonesia
• Netherlands

• Bahasa Indonesian

• 22.8 (Indonesia) 23 million (Total)

• The Indonesian language is a form of Malay. It does differ from Malay in its pronunciation and vocabulary.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Mali
• Parts of West Africa

Alternative Names

• Bamanankan

Number Of People

• 14 million (Mali) 14.1 million (Total)

Major Dialects

• Standard Bambara, Somono, Segou, San, Beledugu, Ganadugu, Sikasso, Wasulunkakan

Interesting Language Related Facts

• About 80 % of the population of Mali speaks Bambara as the first or second language.

• About 80 % of the population of Mali speaks Bambara as the first or second language.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Bangladesh
• India

• Bangala, Bangla, Bangla-Bhasa

• 110 million (Bangladesh) 193 million (Total)

• Barik, Bhatiari, Chirmar, Kachari-Bengali, Lohari-Malpaharia, Musselmani, Rajshahi, Samaria, Saraki, Siripuria

• Bengali is the seventh most spoken language.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Bulgaria
• Greece
• Hungary
• Serbia
• Turkey

Alternative Names

• Modern Bulgarian, bălgarski ezik

Number Of People

• 7 million (Bulgaria) 8 million (Total)

Major Dialects

• Palityan

Interesting Language Related Facts

• The Bulgarian language first adopted the Cyrillic alphabet, it later spread throughout other Slovak languages.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Cambodia
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Alternative Names

• Khmer, Central Khmer

Number Of People

• 13 million (Cambodia) 14.2 million (Total)

Major Dialects

• Southern Khmer

Interesting Language Related Facts

• Cambodian is also known as the Khmer language and now services as the official language of Cambodia.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• China
• Hong Kong

• Yue

• 52 Million (China) 62 million (Total)

• Cantonese developed from the Middle Chinese language and is now the main language of Canton also known as South China.

• Bobai, Cangwu, Gaolei, Guangzhou, Guinan, Ping, Qinlian, Siyi, Tengxian, Yangjiang, Zhong-shan

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Hong Kong
• Malaysia
• Many Parts of Southeast Asia
• Singapore
• Taiwan

Number Of People

• Norther Chinese, Standard Chinese, Beifang, Guanhua, Gouy, Hanyu, Huayu, Mandarin, Zhongguohua, Zhongwen

Alternative Names

• 840 million (China) 1 billion (Total)

Major Dialects

• Taibei Mandarin, Huabei Guanhua, Jinghuai Guanhua, Xibei Guanhua, Xinan Guuanhua

Interesting Language Related Facts

• This language has been the national language of China since the 14th century, and is one of the six languages of the United Nations.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Croatia

• Hrvatski

• 4.2 million (Croatia) 6.5 million (Total)

• Kaykavski, Chakavski, Shtokavski

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Denmark
• Germany
• Greenland
• Iceland

Alternative Names

• Dansk, Rigsdansk

Major Dialects

• Bornholmsk, Jutlandic, Island Danish, Jutish, Norwegian, Swedish

Interesting Language Related Facts

• The Danish language had its most recent letter “Å” added to its alphabet in 1948 and replaced the use of “aa” in the language.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Estonia
• Finland

Alternative Names

• Eesti

Number Of People

• 1 million (Estonia) 1.1 million (Total)

Major Dialects

• Tallinn, Tartu, Mulgi

Interesting Language Related Facts

• While both culturally and physically close to Russia, the Estonian language has very little in common with the other Slavic languages.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Ghana

Number Of People

• 443000 (Total)

Major Dialects

• Akan

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Finland
• Russian Federation

Number Of People

• 5.1 million (Finland) 5.7 million (Total)

Major Dialects

• Southwestern Finnish, Häme, South Pohjanmaa, Central Pohjanmaa, Northern Pohjanmaa, peräpohja, Savo, Southeastern Finnish

Interesting Language Related Facts

• The Finnish language borrows words from the German, Slavic, and Baltic languages.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Canada

Number Of People

• 7 million (Total) 2.7 million (Quebec)

Major Dialects

• French Acadian, Franco-Ontarien

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Central Africa
• Parts of West Africa

Number Of People

• 10,000 to 40,000 (Total)

Interesting Language Related Facts

• The phrase African French was sometimes used to differentiate the African speakers of the French language from the Parisian and Quebecois speakers.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Ghana

Alternative Names

• Gan, Gᾶ, Accra, Acra, Amina, Gain, Gamei

Number Of People

• 750000 (Ghana) 750000 (Total)

Interesting Language Related Facts

• This language shares a close relationship with the Ewe language due to its close proximity to Ghana.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Czech
• Denmark
• Germany
• Italy
• Luxembourg
• Switzerland

Alternative Names

• Plautdietsch, Tedesco

Number Of People

• 77.8 million (Germany) 130 million (Total)

Major Dialects

• Bavarian, Schwäbian, Alemannisch, Eastern Franconian, Hessisch, Palatinian, Rheinfränkisch, Westfälisch, Saxonian, Thuringian, Brandenburgisch, Low Saxon

Interesting Language Related Facts

• German has two main dialects being Lower and Upper German, Upper German remains as the Standard German and is usually associated with a higher social status.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• India
• Pakistan
• Singapore

Alternative Names

• Gujrathi, Gujerati, Gujerathi

Number Of People

• 45.7 million (India) 46 million (Total)

Major Dialects

• Standard Gujarati, Surati, Kathiaware, Gamadia, Kakari, Kathiyawadi, Kharwa, Parsi, Tarimuki

Interesting Language Related Facts

• Gujarati has been influenced from a variety of languages. The northern Gujarati dialect derived heavily from Arabic and Persian and the southern Gujarati dialects came from Hindi, English and Portuguese.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Dominican Republic
• Haiti
• Parts of the United States

Alternative Names

• Fablas, Plateau

Number Of People

• 7 million (Total)

Major Dialects

• Creole, Haitian, Kreyol, Western Caribbean Creole

Interesting Language Related Facts

• Haitian Creole is a French based creole. French is the other official language of Haiti.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Israel

• 4.8 million (Israel) 5 million (Total)

• Standard Hebrew, Oriental Hebrew

• The Hebrew language like the Arabic language is Semitic even thought Hebrew is written differently, its grammar is similar to Arabic.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• China
• Laos
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Alternative Names

• Maio

Number Of People

• 7.7 million (Total)

Major Dialects

• Green Hmong, White Hmong, Hmong Daw, Hmong Njua, Horned Miao, Northern Guiyang Miao, Large Flowery Miao, Luopohe Miao, Northern Huishui, Northern Mashan Miao

Interesting Language Related Facts

• Hmong has two distinct dialects being White Hmong and Green Hmong. Based on what dialect is spoken it will determine what color clothing is worn, either white or green respectively.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Canada
• Denmark
• Iceland

Alternative Names

• Íslenska

Number Of People

• 300000 (Iceland) 313000 (Total)

Interesting Language Related Facts

• The Icelandic language is considered part of Iceland’s national identity, with significant effort put in to keeping the language the same.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Indonesia
• Netherlands

Alternative Names

• Bahasa Indonesian

Number Of People

• 22.8 (Indonesia) 23 million (Total)

Interesting Language Related Facts

• The Indonesian language is a form of Malay. It does differ from Malay in its pronunciation and vocabulary.

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Dominica
• Jamaica

Alternative Names

• Jamaican Creole English, Patwa, Quashie

• 2.6 million (Total)

Country(ies)/Region Spoken In:

• Guatemala

Alternative Names

• Quiché, Chiquel

Number Of People

• 2.3 million (Total)