April 27,2023
By Sonakshi Kandhari
There are approximately 7,000 languages in the world. Hence, it is not surprising that in most countries multiple languages are spoken instead of one. Of these countries, if you want to know which are the world's most multilingual countries, then read along and get inspired to learn another language or two. Multilinguists are known to be problem solvers and creative thinkers.
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238 languages are spoken in Brazil. Portuguese is its official language, but what many people are unaware of is that Brazilian Portuguese is different from European Portuguese.
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277 languages are spoken in the country of Cameroon. The country has English and French as its official languages, which are prevalent even in its education system.
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301 languages are spoken in Mexico. Spanish is the official language, and Mexico is the world’s largest Spanish-speaking country. Even the tribal languages of the Aztecs, Mayans and other tribes are prevalent here till date.
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With a large population comes a variety of languages, and hence, 307 languages are spoken in China. Chinese is the world’s oldest written language, dating back over 3,000 years. The official dialect of China is Mandarin, although there are several other dialects.
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Known for its biodiversity, English is its official language. But what’s truly fascinating about this country is its Aboriginal languages. There are an estimated 200–300 indigenous languages spoken by a small population of 50,000 people. Many of these languages are already extinct.
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This country does not have an official language, although many states call English their official language. After English and Spanish, Tagalog is one of the most widely spoken languages, with about 1.6 million speakers.
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With its 28 states and 8 union territories, 456 languages are spoken in this country. Hindi, English, Marathi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil and Gujarati are a few of the most common languages spoken in this country. As per the 1961 census, there were 1,652 languages used in the country, of which many dwindled away.
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527 languages are spoken here. Since it was a British colony, English has been its official language. But English is spoken by only 1% of the population in the North-East sector, and it's a second language for 60 million Nigerians. Pidgin is the most common language, but the majority of the population speaks their native languages.
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719 languages are spoken in this country, and Bahasa Indonesia is the official language of the Republic of Indonesia. It is the 9th most-used language in the world, and in Indonesia, it is used even in education, administration and the media.
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840 languages are spoken in this island country, and each language has an approximate figure of 7,000 speakers, which is equal to 12% of the total population. These languages are a reflection of its colonial history. Tok Pisin is a widely used language, and given the geography of the place, there is also a trading language called Hiri Motu.
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