Languages
Explore the world’s languages with Languages Central. Click on a language name to visit its dedicated page, where you’ll find in-depth information, learning resources, and lesson booking options with our expert teachers.
How to use this page: Browse the full list alphabetically, or use your browser’s search function (Ctrl+F / Cmd+F) to find a specific language. Click any linked language name to visit its dedicated page. Links will be added progressively as pages are developed.
| # Speakers | Language | Language Family | Native Speakers (approx.) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 126 | Afar | Afro-Asiatic | 1,500,000 |
| 77 | Afrikaans | Indo-European | 7,200,000 |
| 89 | Albanian | Indo-European | 7,500,000 |
| 48 | Amharic | Afro-Asiatic | 32,000,000 |
| 87 | Armenian | Indo-European | 6,700,000 |
| 115 | Aymara | Aymaran | 2,000,000 |
| 61 | Azerbaijani | Turkic | 10,000,000 |
| 82 | Azerbaijani (South) | Turkic | 15,000,000 |
| 103 | Bambara | Niger-Congo | 14,000,000 |
| 139 | Basque | Language isolate | 700,000 |
| 64 | Belarusian | Indo-European | 5,100,000 |
| 5 | Bengali | Indo-European | 234,000,000 |
| 40 | Bhojpuri | Indo-European | 51,000,000 |
| 95 | Bosnian | Indo-European | 3,000,000 |
| 142 | Breton | Indo-European | 210,000 |
| 69 | Bulgarian | Indo-European | 9,000,000 |
| 37 | Burmese | Sino-Tibetan | 33,000,000 |
| 66 | Catalan | Indo-European | 4,100,000 |
| 108 | Cebuano | Austronesian | 21,000,000 |
| 59 | Chhattisgarhi | Indo-European | 18,000,000 |
| — | Cornish | Indo-European | 700 |
| 143 | Corsican | Indo-European | 150,000 |
| 67 | Croatian | Indo-European | 5,600,000 |
| 62 | Czech | Indo-European | 10,000,000 |
| 70 | Danish | Indo-European | 6,000,000 |
| 129 | Dinka | Nilo-Saharan | 1,400,000 |
| 51 | Dutch | Indo-European | 24,000,000 |
| — | Dzongkha | Sino-Tibetan | 160,000 |
| 18 | Egyptian Arabic | Afro-Asiatic | 65,000,000 |
| 3 | English | Indo-European | 373,000,000 |
| — | Esperanto | Constructed | 2,000,000 |
| 92 | Estonian | Uralic | 1,100,000 |
| — | Faroese | Indo-European | 72,000 |
| 71 | Finnish | Uralic | 5,400,000 |
| 16 | French | Indo-European | 67,000,000 |
| — | Frisian | Indo-European | 470,000 |
| 148 | Friulian | Indo-European | 420,000 |
| 49 | Fula | Niger-Congo | 25,000,000 |
| 140 | Galician | Indo-European | 2,400,000 |
| 42 | Gan Chinese | Sino-Tibetan | 22,000,000 |
| 86 | Georgian | Kartvelian | 3,700,000 |
| 20 | German | Indo-European | 78,000,000 |
| 60 | Greek | Indo-European | 13,000,000 |
| — | Greenlandic | Eskimo-Aleut | 47,000 |
| 117 | Guaraní | Tupian | 4,600,000 |
| 27 | Gujarati | Indo-European | 46,000,000 |
| 118 | Haitian Creole | French Creole | 9,600,000 |
| 38 | Hakka Chinese | Sino-Tibetan | 30,000,000 |
| 25 | Hausa | Afro-Asiatic | 47,000,000 |
| — | Hawaiian | Austronesian | 24,000 |
| 73 | Hebrew | Afro-Asiatic | 5,300,000 |
| 110 | Hiligaynon | Austronesian | 9,000,000 |
| 4 | Hindi | Indo-European | 344,000,000 |
| 63 | Hungarian | Uralic | 13,000,000 |
| — | Icelandic | Indo-European | 314,000 |
| 56 | Igbo | Niger-Congo | 27,000,000 |
| 109 | Ilocano | Austronesian | 8,000,000 |
| 23 | Indonesian | Austronesian | 43,000,000 |
| — | Irish | Indo-European | 80,000 |
| 24 | Italian | Indo-European | 65,000,000 |
| 119 | Jamaican Creole | English Creole | 3,200,000 |
| 8 | Japanese | Japonic | 125,000,000 |
| 22 | Javanese | Austronesian | 82,000,000 |
| 43 | Jin Chinese | Sino-Tibetan | 45,000,000 |
| 31 | Kannada | Dravidian | 44,000,000 |
| 80 | Kazakh | Turkic | 13,000,000 |
| 111 | Khmer | Austroasiatic | 16,000,000 |
| 102 | Kongo | Niger-Congo | 5,600,000 |
| 15 | Korean | Koreanic | 77,000,000 |
| 52 | Kurdish | Indo-European | 20,000,000 |
| 84 | Kyrgyz | Turkic | 4,500,000 |
| 112 | Lao | Kra-Dai | 3,400,000 |
| — | Latin | Indo-European | 0 (classical) |
| 91 | Latvian | Indo-European | 1,300,000 |
| 100 | Lingala | Niger-Congo | 7,000,000 |
| 90 | Lithuanian | Indo-European | 2,800,000 |
| 101 | Luba-Katanga | Niger-Congo | 6,500,000 |
| 106 | Luganda | Niger-Congo | 5,600,000 |
| 150 | Luxembourgish | Indo-European | 600,000 |
| 94 | Macedonian | Indo-European | 1,600,000 |
| 45 | Maithili | Indo-European | 13,000,000 |
| 107 | Malagasy | Austronesian | 18,000,000 |
| 35 | Malay | Austronesian | 20,000,000 |
| 33 | Malayalam | Dravidian | 37,000,000 |
| 137 | Maltese | Afro-Asiatic | 520,000 |
| 1 | Mandarin Chinese | Sino-Tibetan | 920,000,000 |
| — | Manx | Indo-European | 1,800 |
| — | Maori | Austronesian | 60,000 |
| 13 | Marathi | Indo-European | 73,000,000 |
| 130 | Masai | Nilo-Saharan | 1,200,000 |
| 88 | Mongolian | Mongolic | 5,200,000 |
| 116 | Nahuatl | Uto-Aztecan | 1,700,000 |
| 136 | Ndebele | Niger-Congo | 1,100,000 |
| 146 | Neapolitan | Indo-European | 5,700,000 |
| 58 | Nepali | Indo-European | 17,000,000 |
| 72 | Norwegian | Indo-European | 5,300,000 |
| 128 | Nuer | Nilo-Saharan | 940,000 |
| 141 | Occitan | Indo-European | 200,000 |
| 36 | Odia | Indo-European | 33,000,000 |
| 125 | Oromo | Afro-Asiatic | 37,000,000 |
| 30 | Pashto | Indo-European | 40,000,000 |
| 28 | Persian (Farsi) | Indo-European | 57,000,000 |
| 29 | Polish | Indo-European | 45,000,000 |
| 6 | Portuguese | Indo-European | 232,000,000 |
| 26 | Punjabi (Eastern) | Indo-European | 52,000,000 |
| 114 | Quechua | Quechuan | 8,900,000 |
| 50 | Romanian | Indo-European | 24,000,000 |
| 149 | Romansh | Indo-European | 44,000 |
| 98 | Rundi | Niger-Congo | 9,000,000 |
| 7 | Russian | Indo-European | 154,000,000 |
| 99 | Rwanda | Niger-Congo | 9,800,000 |
| — | Samoan | Austronesian | 470,000 |
| 144 | Sardinian | Indo-European | 500,000 |
| — | Scottish Gaelic | Indo-European | 60,000 |
| 53 | Serbian | Indo-European | 12,000,000 |
| 54 | Serbo-Croatian | Indo-European | 20,000,000 |
| 96 | Shona | Niger-Congo | 10,000,000 |
| 145 | Sicilian | Indo-European | 4,700,000 |
| 127 | Sidamo | Afro-Asiatic | 3,000,000 |
| 47 | Sindhi | Indo-European | 30,000,000 |
| 57 | Sinhalese | Indo-European | 17,000,000 |
| 68 | Slovak | Indo-European | 5,200,000 |
| 93 | Slovenian | Indo-European | 2,500,000 |
| 78 | Somali | Afro-Asiatic | 16,000,000 |
| 132 | Sotho | Niger-Congo | 5,600,000 |
| 2 | Spanish | Indo-European | 475,000,000 |
| 19 | Standard Arabic | Afro-Asiatic | 60,000,000 |
| 34 | Sundanese | Austronesian | 34,000,000 |
| 74 | Swahili | Niger-Congo | 16,000,000 |
| 134 | Swati | Niger-Congo | 1,300,000 |
| 65 | Swedish | Indo-European | 10,000,000 |
| 41 | Tagalog (Filipino) | Austronesian | 28,000,000 |
| 85 | Tajik | Indo-European | 8,000,000 |
| 17 | Tamil | Dravidian | 70,000,000 |
| 14 | Telugu | Dravidian | 82,000,000 |
| 55 | Thai | Kra-Dai | 20,000,000 |
| 113 | Tibetan | Sino-Tibetan | 1,200,000 |
| 97 | Tigre | Afro-Asiatic | 1,100,000 |
| 79 | Tigrinya | Afro-Asiatic | 7,000,000 |
| 120 | Tok Pisin | English Creole | 120,000 |
| 133 | Tsonga | Niger-Congo | 2,300,000 |
| 131 | Tswana | Niger-Congo | 4,500,000 |
| 124 | Tujia | Sino-Tibetan | 2,000,000 |
| 11 | Turkish | Turkic | 76,000,000 |
| 83 | Turkmen | Turkic | 7,000,000 |
| 105 | Twi | Niger-Congo | 9,000,000 |
| 39 | Ukrainian | Indo-European | 33,000,000 |
| 21 | Urdu | Indo-European | 70,000,000 |
| 81 | Uyghur | Turkic | 10,000,000 |
| 122 | Uyghur | Turkic | 10,000,000 |
| 46 | Uzbek | Turkic | 29,000,000 |
| 135 | Venda | Niger-Congo | 1,300,000 |
| 147 | Venetian | Indo-European | 2,000,000 |
| 10 | Vietnamese | Austroasiatic | 77,000,000 |
| 138 | Welsh | Indo-European | 883,000 |
| 104 | Wolof | Niger-Congo | 5,500,000 |
| 12 | Wu Chinese | Sino-Tibetan | 74,000,000 |
| 76 | Xhosa | Niger-Congo | 8,200,000 |
| 32 | Xiang Chinese | Sino-Tibetan | 36,000,000 |
| 123 | Yi | Sino-Tibetan | 2,000,000 |
| 44 | Yoruba | Niger-Congo | 28,000,000 |
| 9 | Yue Chinese (Cantonese) | Sino-Tibetan | 84,000,000 |
| 121 | Zhuang | Kra-Dai | 14,000,000 |
| 75 | Zulu | Niger-Congo | 12,000,000 |
About Our Languages Pages
Each language page on Languages Central provides a comprehensive overview including: language family and history, number of speakers worldwide, countries where it is spoken, the writing system and alphabet, grammar highlights, and links to book lessons with our expert teachers.
Languages marked with — in the rank column are additional languages of cultural, historical, or regional significance that we have included beyond the 150 most spoken world languages. These include minority, heritage, and constructed languages.