7 Countries With The Most Languages Spoken

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Countries which have the most languages spoken.

In this world, there are more than 200 countries with their own unique and indigenous language. Sometimes, there are some tribes or primitive groups exist in a country and they have their own culture and regional language that is very different with the official language or national language in that country. Therefore, a lot of people in this world are literally able to speak in more than one language and also there are so many languages exist in a country, it isn’t only from how many tribes are there in a country, but also the effect of globalized era. Globalization has made the relation among people from all over the world easier, they can share their culture each other, language for instance. That’s why there will be so many languages spoken in a country which is open-minded and open sighted. Among more than 200 countries in the world, there are some countries which have the most languages spoken. Here they are.

1. Papua New Guinea.

There are about 839 kind of languages spoken in Papua New Guinea. These languages are mostly spoken by the tribes and the native people over there. By having the most languages spoken, Papua New Guinea become the place which has the most varieties of language in the world. The official languages in Papua New Guinea are Tok Pisin, English, Hiri Motu, and papua new guinea’s sign language. Tok pisin is an English-Creole language that is used as national language over there, while papua new guinea’s sign language has become the 4th official language since May 2015 and it is used by disability (in this case is people who aren’t able to speak or to hear).

2.Indonesia 

More than 700 languages are spoken in this archipelago country. Those languages mostly belong to Austronesia language and some Papuan language. The national language that is used in this country is Bahasa Indonesia which related to Malay language. Although Bahasa Indonesia is used in all aspects such as media, education, administration, and all formal things, but mostly Indonesian still use their own regional-language as their mother language. Some regional languages in Indonesia are Javanese, Sundanese, Betawi, Batak, Bugis, Papuan language, Balinese, etc. by speaking more than one language in their country, it means that Indonesian are also able to speak at least 2 languages or multilingual.

3.Nigeria

There are more than 526 languages which are used in Nigeria. But, unfortunately, 9 of them are almost extinct or rare to be used. The official languages that are used in that country are Nigerian and English to unify variety of culture and languages in that country. But, the communication in English is much more famous in the cities than in the village. Another languages that are also used over there such as Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Ibibio, Edo, Fulfulde, Kanuri, and many more. The variety of languages in Nigeria represented Africa in a whole because it contains 3 big languages in group of African languages, they are Afroasiatic, Nilo-Sahara, and Niger-Congo. Nigeria also has another language that isn’t classified yet such as Cen Tuum.

4. India

There are about 454 used languages in India. Those languages belongs to some language groups such as Indo-Arya, Dravida, Austroasiatic, Sino-Tibet, and others. Indian Constitution didn’t give status of national language to any languages that are used over there. India use bilingual approach for official language in India’s Government with use Hindi that is written in Devanagari letters, and also using English. That’s why English is also used in this country beside another Indian languages.

5. United States.

Although the most common spoken language in US is English, but US also used so many languages since many years ago. There are tribes or native people who still exist in Northern America or Pacific region, they still uphold their native language.

This variety of language was brought to US by colonialists from Europe, Asia, and another countries in the world so that formed variety of language that are used by people in America. Nowadays, there are about 422 languages spoken in the US and 216 of them is the native languages from American tribes or ethnic groups, while another 206 languages came from the immigrant.

6. People’s Republic of China

In China, 300 varieties of language are used by so many ethnic groups over there. The most used language in China is Hanyu or Han that is divided into 7 dialect groups. The most learnt language in this country such as Chinese, Mongol, Tibet, Uyghur, and Zhuang. The standard Chinese which is used by people over there is Putonghua that still belongs to Mandarin language and it is considered as national language. But, another region which has autonomous system like Hong Kong, Macau, or Tibet, they have their own national language.

7. Mexico 

Mexico has approximately 289 languages spoken with the majority spoke Spanish fluently. Although so many languages spoken over there, some of native Mexican is monolingual or only able to use their mother language or their native language and also most Mexican are only able to speak Spanish. The government of Mexico had determined Spanish to be implemented in formal aspects or things. Although it is implemented in formal things, but the status of Spanish isn’t as official language or national language of Mexico. Spanish is mentioned as one of the languages spoken in Mexico beside another indigenous languages.

Those are 7 countries which have the most languages spoken in the world. The existence of many tribes, ethnic groups, and culture will make the variety or diversity in a country, for example “language”, diversity showed that there is a relation and unity among different regions because these regions is located in one country and they still admitted their national language and respect to other culture. It didn’t astonish me if there are so many languages spoken in a country as long as a country accepts the globalization wisely, having open-minded and open-sighted to the world. But, did you know which country has the least languages spoken?
The answer is North Korea, this country only has 1 language spoken, it is their native language (Korean Language) or North Korean language. This happens because this country literally isolated itself from another culture, from globalization, etc. That’s why the used language over there is only their national language, North Korean.