What is the second most spoken language? HI-COM
Tonnes of articles have covered the subject of the most spoken language in each country, but not so many go into more detail and talk about the second most spoken language in each country. According to reports, almost half the world is bilingual. Colonisation, borders and immigration have been some contributing factors to a second language being spoken in some countries. Unsurprisingly, English is the most spoken second language worldwide with it being spoken in 55 countries. French comes second (14 countries) and Russian third (13 countries).
Colonisation, borders and immigration have been some contributing factors to a second language being spoken in some countries
What languages are spoken in China?
Research shows that there are 297 languages spoken in China. With a population of over 1.3 billion stretching across such a huge land, it’s understandable as to why so many languages are spoken in the country. Cantonese (Yue) takes the trophy for the second most spoken language coming in after the official Chinese Mandarin language. Cantonese is mainly spoken in the south east region of China, with more than 60 million people speaking it.
In other words, it can be heard widely in Guangdong province, Hong Kong and Macau. The Chinese government has been pushing Mandarin to be spoken more in China, and most of those who can speak Cantonese are bilingual. A large part of the overseas Chinese community hail from Guangdong province and Hong Kong. Cantonese can be heard in parts of the UK, USA, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and Cambodia. The Wu language comes closely after Cantonese as the third most spoken language in China. It is heavily spoken in Jiangsu province, Zhejiang province and Shanghai.
What languages are spoken in America?
However, America’s population has increased to 327 million, with 239 million speaking English. The second most spoken language in the states unsurprisingly is Spanish with 41 million speakers, making up 13% of the population. The prominence of Spanish in America can be attributed to a number of factors, the biggest one being the USA’s geographical proximity to a number of Spanish speaking countries; Mexico, Columbia and Cuba to name a few. Immigration has been another contributing factor as to why other languages are spoken in the US. The US holds the world’s fifth largest Spanish speaking population behind Mexico, Columbia, Spain and Argentina. Immigration has played a part in mandarin being the third most spoken language in the States. The fourth most spoken language in the US is Tagalog, which is the national language of the Philippines.
What languages are spoken in Canada?
Canada also has a number of languages spoken in addition to English. French is the second most spoken language in Canada, which can be largely heard in the Quebec province. Mandarin, Cantonese and Punjabi round up the top 5 languages spoken in Canada.
Europe has a number of countries where a varied rage of languages are spoken. Northern and western Europeans are more renowned for being able to speak more than one language.
What languages are spoken in UK?
However, The UK has a population of 66 million, and 31% percent can speak more than one language. Surprisingly, Polish is the second most spoken language. Polish is believed to be spoken by 546,000 people; this could be explained by the arrival of polish people from 2004 onwards following changes to European Union regulations. The UK’s colonial history may explain why Punjabi and Urdu are the third and fourth most spoken languages in the UK. According to reports, 273,000 people speak Punjabi and 269,000 people speak Urdu.
What languages are spoken in Germany?
So, Germans have an impressive language track record with 67% of the population being multilingual. A staggering 27% of Germans can even speak three languages. The second most spoken language in Germany is English, with 57% of the nation being able to speak it.
What languages are spoken in France?
In France, the second most spoken language is Arabic. Research shows 2.2 million can speak Arabic out of the 66 million population. France borders with Germany, Italy and Spain and therefore its close proximity to other countries has also been an influencing factor as to why other languages are spoken there.
What languages are spoken in Australia?
However, English is still heavily spoken in Australia with 73 % of the 24 million population speaking it as a first language. Mandarin is the second most spoken language in Australia, with it being spoken by 2.5 % of the population. According to statistics, mandarin is spoken by than 596,703 people. In Australia, more than 20% of the population can speak a language outside of English. Arabic and Cantonese are the third and fourth most spoken languages in Australia.
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