Here is a different take on the most spoken languages around the world. This is a list of 10 most influential languages in the world at present not only because they are spoken by most people around the world but also the people speaking these languages, carry a signature of the growing economic system they represent.
Enlisted top 10 languages, of the nearly 6909 languages in the world, have a major impact on global economy. This top ten list therefore does not consist of languages spoken by most people, but of languages that are significant because they have a lingua franca status(adopted as a common language) or have a major influence on global trade and economy.
English
This was expected, was not it? Approximately 380 million people speak English as their mother tongue and over a billion people speak English as a second language or master this language well. It is not only most widely spoken language but also globally accepted as International means of communication.
French
Although, it lost a lot of ground to English in the course of the last century, French is still the second most influential language in the world. It is an official language in 25 countries and after English the most popular adopted language for many international groups and organizations.
Spanish
Spanish has around 400 million native speakers, is the lingua franca in 21 countries and is spoken by a further 60 million people worldwide as a second language.
Arabic
Arabic holds the fourth position because it is the language of Islam. It is difficult to determine how many people speak the language precisely because there are many different dialects. It is spoken as the primary languages in about twenty countries. However, the language is also spoken by many as a second language. It is estimated that against 300 million people, Arabic is the mother tongue.
Mandarin Chinese
The number of Mandarin speakers is running at a billion. Although, the language is only spoken in Southeast Asia, it is gaining importance as a result of the growing Chinese economy.
Russian
Russian has about 155 million native speakers and another 110 million people who speak it as a second language. This is because many countries once belonged to the former Soviet Union. However, in many former Soviet countries, people are hesitant to speak Russian because they no longer want to be reminded of the Soviet Union period.
Portuguese
About 230 million people around the world speak Portuguese, of whom 210 million speak it as their native language. With Brazil as the emerging world economy, this language has gained a spot in the 10 most influential languages in the world.
German
With about 120 million speakers, German is among the top ten because it has been the lingua franca of scientific and industrial community for a long time. Though, English has largely taken over the status of International Language in science, but German still exerts influence because Germany is one of the strongest global economies.
Japanese
Spoken by 120 million people, most of whom live within the Japanese national borders. However, Japan is one of the world’s largest economic powers and as a result it is an important language in trade and business.
Hindustani (Hindi / Urdu)
These languages are very closely related and only differ in their script. Urdu is the official language of Pakistan and is written using the Arabic script, while Hindi, the official language of India, is written in Devanagari script. Although the languages are not very significantly spoken outside the Indian subcontinent, there are more than 200 million native speakers and hundreds of millions of people who speak it as a second language.
This is the list of 10 most influential languages in the world from the economic perspective and about how much they influence the global economy and not just about how many people speak a particular language. Learning a second language has become extremely important for individuals relating to International Business or trade so as to easily understand and flourish in the Economic System.