As the world becomes more closely connected economically and socially, the ability to communicate and understand each other has never been more important than it is today. Whether you are traveling, doing business or studying, then learning another language is a must. The article presents a list of ten most important languages \u200b\u200bthat will definitely come in handy in life.

Experts advise to start mastering the language that you like or absolutely need, since the most important link in mastering a new means of communication is motivation, forcing a person to study tirelessly. If you still find it difficult to make a choice, then you can refer to this list.

Languages \u200b\u200bare chosen according to their global importance (prevalence, influence in politics and economics), ease of learning and usefulness for a particular person (for example, when traveling or getting a job).

10. Portuguese

Compared to Spanish, Portuguese has a distinct, distinct history, including Latin and Celtic influences. This language is more difficult to learn than Spanish. More than 230 million Portuguese speakers consider it their native medium of communication. In fact, it is the official language in ten countries. It is spoken in places as remote as Angola in Africa and Timor Leste in the Pacific.

9. Russian

With over 250,000,000 native speakers, Russian is geographically the most widely spoken. Using the Cyrillic alphabet may seem a little intimidating at first, but once you get familiar with it, you will realize that it serves as a good basis for understanding Slavic languages \u200b\u200bsuch as Ukrainian, Serbian and Bulgarian. In addition to its importance in the business world, this international communication tool boasts the largest collection of scientific and technical literature in the world, making it extremely practical for those hungry for knowledge.

8. Japanese

Japanese is important to understand. When you travel in Japan, you may be surprised to find that several road signs are written in English, and most of the population does not speak English at all. More than 120 million people speak Japanese, and some consider it to be the most difficult language in the world. It has three confusing writing systems, levels of formality, and a structural grammar that many might find perplexing. However, those who study it find it quite funny.

7. Hindi

Along with English, Hindi is the official language of the Indian government. It is a truly rich language that has expanded its vocabulary from Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Turkish and English. Although most people associate it with India, it is also Fiji's official medium of communication, as well as a regional language in Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Mauritius.

6. Arabic

Arabic is the official language in 26 countries and has approximately 422 million native and non-native speakers. It has become extremely important in the energy and security sectors, especially in cities in the Middle East such as Dubai, UAE, Doha and Qatar. However, it contains different dialects (for example, there are large differences between Egyptian Arabic and Moroccan Arabic) and has a complex writing style.

5. German

There are many good reasons to learn German, primarily because it is the spoken language in the EU. Business communication is carried out in German, since Germany is the economic center of Europe. While the younger generation of people in Eastern Europe are more likely to learn English, those who grew up under the Iron Curtain were more likely to learn German. Although it has more complex grammar than English, it is more logical.

4. French

After World War II, French became European. It was badly needed for business and tourism. Today there are 110 million speakers. In addition, 190 million people speak it as a second language.

Americans who want to speak French with native speakers should visit Quebec and New Brunswick. Residents of these Canadian provinces use it as their primary means of communication.

3. Spanish

About 470 million people speak it as their first language, in addition to 100 million people speak it as their second language. It is the official means of communication for 20 countries. First of all, it is common in South America and the Caribbean. Of course, it is also a much needed language for Americans, who are learning it due to the growing number of Latinos in Florida, Texas and the Southwest. It should be noted that it is very easy to learn.

2. Chinese

China is set to overtake the United States with its largest economy. Thus, the most widespread communication tool in the world (about 955 million speakers) has gained great importance. It is an extremely difficult language at first: changing the tone can change the meaning of the sentence. The grammar system is relatively simple, although writing Chinese letters is notoriously difficult.

1. English

More than 400 million people speak English as their first language, and another 1.1 billion speak it as a foreign language. Simply put, it is impossible to travel or do business internationally without knowing this medium of communication.

A good career is unthinkable without knowledge of English. In fact, commercial pilots are required to speak it, and most diplomatic positions also require it. Difficult spelling rules and specific grammar can be a serious problem, but if you've mastered it, then that's just fine.


There is no methodology that allows you to learn a foreign language easily and quickly. But do not despair - there would be a desire. We've put together professional tips for you to help you make learning a foreign language much more effective.

1. Use effective techniques



Only 4% of pupils in schools begin to speak fluently after 3 years of studying the language. The remaining 96% of students stop at a certain stage because of ineffective teaching methods, as well as because their expectations are not met.

2. Measure your expectations against reality



Most people need 600 hours or more of intensive study to become fluent in the simplest languages \u200b\u200b(French, Spanish) and almost 1200 hours for the more complex languages \u200b\u200b(Chinese, Russian).

3. Don't expect quick results



For someone who spends one hour a week in class, it will take over 10 years to start talking fluently. This is why people are often disappointed. Anyone can learn a new language, they just forget about how long it took him to learn even his own language.

4. Full immersion



It only takes one thing to learn a new language ... the so-called immersion. After all, when every person learned his native language in childhood, he studied it continuously, every minute, for several years. What does immersion mean? Immersion means that a person is constantly learning and using a new language. During the immersion, the language is learned about 40 hours a week, instead of just 1 hour. In this case, you can shorten the training period from 10 years to 4 months.

5. Learn 300 key words



First of all, you need to start learning the correct words. For example, in English colloquial speech, just 300 words account for more than 65% of a person's daily conversations. In fact, there are many words that people do not know in their own language (and will never use them).



After 300 people have memorized 300 foreign words, you can start reading newspapers or blogs in the target language. Even if the student does not understand anything, he will begin to recognize some words and gradually will subconsciously determine the meanings of other words. The values \u200b\u200bof the unknowns need to be specified using the dictionary. It will be tedious at first, but in the end it will be possible to get away from the dictionary as well.

7. Set a goal


Exercising every day is very tiring, and almost everyone is thinking about giving up. But if you set a specific goal - work abroad, communication, starting a family - it will be much easier to show perseverance.

8. Use the power of the Internet



Today, languages \u200b\u200bare much easier to learn because of the Internet. You can immerse yourself in the local culture from a distance. You can read local news and gossip blogs. This kind of total immersion is actually the key to successful language learning.

9. Talk to yourself



It's time to start talking. But first you should try to talk to yourself. A person needs to imagine that he met someone or that he is being interviewed. This should be done regularly throughout the day.

10. Watch the video



Talking to yourself, naturally, will not be enough. You need to start listening to other people. Once again, the internet is an amazing invention for language learning. Youtube provides an excellent opportunity to listen to native speakers and start understanding spoken language. As before, those who do not understand anything need not be upset. It is worth trying to find videos with subtitles. Also, do not disdain the dictionary when meeting with an unfamiliar word.

11. Don't forget about writing



The only thing that has not yet been studied is the letter. You need to start writing down certain things. For example, try writing your bio. This is a great way to strengthen your vocabulary.

12. Read news in foreign language



You need to read the news on your smartphone screen on the way to work or to the store. At the same time, mentally you need to mentally pronounce the situation in a new language. Also (in no case should you throw it away) we continue to write a biography and watch the news. Naturally, in a new language.

13. The more foreign language, the better



In fact, the main goal should be to exclude Russian from everyday life as much as possible. It would be nice to set a goal like "in a year I will watch all the news in a new language."



Perhaps the key to advanced language learning is through the use of the internet. It has very good specialized programs. For example, the Duoling app can lay a solid foundation for a new language.



Now is the time to chat with native speakers. Skype, email or familiar foreigners are all good possibilities. If they don’t know a word of Russian, this is ideal.

So ... The main thing to remember when starting to learn a foreign language is to constantly use it in all aspects (speak, listen, write, read). If you are ready to step out of your comfort zone and constantly learn, surrounding yourself with a foreign language literally everywhere, you will quickly become fluent in a new language.

Did you know that 1/7 of the world's population speaks the most popular language in the world? And it's not English at all! There are more than 7,000 languages \u200b\u200bin the world, but 10 of them are the most popular. Is there Russian in this top ten? The answer is under the cut ...

# 10 French - 150 million native speakers

French is spoken in 53 countries of the world, the main of which is France. About 150 million native speakers worldwide. French is the official language of many international organizations: the European Union, the International Olympic Committee, the United Nations, etc.

No. 9. Indonesian - 200 million native speakers

Indonesian is spoken in 16 countries, including Indonesia, and is a working language in East Timor. Indonesia is an island state with more than 13 thousand islands.

Indonesian took shape in the 20th century on the basis of Malay and is the most common dialect of the Malay language.

No. 8. Portuguese - 240 million native speakers

Portuguese is spoken in 12 countries around the world. Portuguese is the official language of Brazil.

In the 12th century, Portugal became independent from Spain and spread its possessions around the world thanks to navigators. Having founded colonies in Brazil, Angola, Macau, Mozambique, Venezuela and other countries, the Portuguese made their language one of the most widely spoken languages \u200b\u200bin the world. Portuguese is one of the official languages \u200b\u200bof the European Union and other international organizations.

No. 7. Bengali - 250 million native speakers

Bengali is spoken in Bangladesh and some states in India. For Bangladesh, Bengali is the official language, and for India it is the second most popular language.

No. 6. Russian - 260 million native speakers

Russian is spoken in 17 countries of the world. Russian is the official language of Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Widely distributed in Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia. To a lesser extent in the countries that were part of the Soviet Union.

Russian is one of the six official languages \u200b\u200bof the UN, the most spoken language in Europe and the most spoken Slavic language in the world.

No. 5. Arabic - 267 million native speakers

Arabic is spoken in 58 countries around the world. The largest number of Arabic speakers is concentrated in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt.

The Arabic language is also spreading around the world thanks to the main book of Muslims - the Koran. Arabic became the sixth official UN language in 1974.

No. 4. Spanish - 427 million native speakers

Spanish is spoken in 31 countries around the world. The Spanish language originated in Spain in the Middle Ages and spread throughout the world during the Great Geographical Discoveries. Spanish is the official language of international organizations: the UN, the European Union, the Union of South American Nations, etc.

Number 3. Hindi - 490 million native speakers

Hindi is spoken in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Many predict that Hindi will soon become the most native speaker in the world, and overtake China, but when or if this will happen remains unknown.

# 2. English - 600 million native speakers

English is the most spoken language in the world in terms of the number of countries it covers - 106 countries. English is the official and primary language in the UK. Countries such as India, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and the Philippines use English as their official language, but they also have their own official languages.

# 1. Chinese - 1.3 billion native speakers

Chinese is the official language of the PRC, Taiwan and Singapore. Globally, it is spoken by over 1.3 billion people and therefore it ranks first in the list of the most spoken languages \u200b\u200bin the world.

Chinese is considered to be the most difficult language in the world. Chinese is one of the six official languages \u200b\u200bof the United Nations.

For full-fledged communication, a modern person often needs to know a foreign language, or even more than one, especially if business interests or a hobby require it, in which it is necessary to make foreign contacts. This is a costly business for many, and not only financially, but also intellectually.

In order to get the desired result, correct and strong motivation is required. Don't jump straight into the language your friend or colleague is studying. Choose the one that exactly you like or just need for specific purposes. Your task is to make it so that you work on yourself and learn day by day, receiving satisfaction from your own achievements. Having a hard time deciding what exactly you need?

Probably, your choice will be determined by our selection of 10 popular languages \u200b\u200bof the world.

The main selection criteria are popularization, influence on the economic and political arena, ease of study and the effects of an individual order (travel, study, work, etc.).

1. undoubtedly in the first place. In terms of its popularity, it has overtaken all others, the world method of communication in trade, in which people of many countries express themselves when it is necessary to establish communication (even if English is essentially foreign to the interlocutors). About a third of people on the planet, one way or another, understand the speech of the country of foggy Albion. Basically, all entrepreneurs, scientists and diplomats conduct negotiations at international meetings in this language. In many European countries, applicants for a good job must know English. If you have a goal, learning to speak English is not so easy.

2. - the second most popular language in the world, this assessment is especially true in relation to the Americans. In North America (especially in the southern part of the continent) there are quite a lot of Spanish-speaking residents, so for more comfortable communication it is simply necessary. For travel lovers, a trip to Latin America or Spain will also be much more interesting if you understand the conversations of local residents. In addition, Spanish is one of the working languages \u200b\u200bof the United Nations. 700 million people speak Spanish. Want to read in the original by Cervantes, Borges and other great authors - it's easy!

3.. In recent years, China has been actively claiming the title of the new superpower. This is facilitated by both a powerful cultural layer with a long history, and a developed economy, plus an incredible number of inhabitants (1.3 billion). Working language of the UN. He has a huge number of dialects, so if you find it difficult to choose, pay attention to the official language - Mandarin, which is also understood by most of the country's citizens. Learning to speak will be relatively easy if you master the nuances of tone. In Chinese this is very important because the meaning of what is said depends on the pitch. Grammar shouldn't be too difficult either. The really serious problem is the hieroglyphs, with which even many people in China are not fully comfortable.

4. also occupies the leading lines in the top of the popularity of the world. In Eurasia, it is used by 250 million people (for pensioners in Eastern Europe, it is also commonplace). The working language of the UN, a large number of scientific and technical materials were published in it. Behind the Russian language is a significant cultural line of such literary titans as Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Russia is one of the world's leading energy and economic powers. Learning Russian is not easy from a grammatical point of view, but the consistency of verbal constructions makes things easier.

5. Arabic. The language of the Koran, in the world about 400 million people speak Arabic. Recently, in international dialogues on security or energy, Arabic has gained a lot of weight. Arabic translators are snapped up in the labor market today and receive decent wages for their work. True, it is not known whether this situation will retain its stability in the future. Like all of the above, Arabic is a UN working language. In its intricacy, Arabic script can compete with Japanese and Chinese; it is very difficult to learn all the intricacies of writing and grammar. The number of dialects that bear little resemblance to one another also significantly complicates matters.

6. Among the 10 most in-demand languages, it is slightly inferior to English, because appeared on the historical European arena somewhat earlier. There are 130 million native speakers of this language in the world, half of them are residents of France, and the other part are from the Maghreb and West Africa. In Brussels, the center of the EU community, French is spoken. In North America, French can be heard in Quebec and several regions in the south. Of course, it has somewhat lost its former authority, which it had half a century ago, but there are also pluses - ease of study, some similarity with English.

7. Portuguese, one might say, is now quite a popular language, because his homeland Brazil, as a result of the pace of development, claims to be the world raw material and economic empire. 200 million people in the world speak Portuguese. If we mention the difficulty of learning, then there will be more difficulties than with its related Spanish, but no more than with the language of Dumas or Shakespeare. Cervantes called it "sweet tongue". Portuguese language Day is celebrated every year in all Portuguese-speaking countries. By the way, it also often contains words that are similar in spelling to Russian, but differ in meaning.

8. Japanese. The Land of the Rising Sun still firmly holds the leading positions in the global economic arena. 130 million people on the planet are native Japanese speakers. This is one of the toughest nuts in linguistics. A very complex grammar, many forms of which vary depending on the social status and gender of the interlocutors. Sometimes it comes to the ridiculous when foreigners-men during the period of studying the language intensively communicate with the fair sex from Japan. As a result, it may turn out that they begin to speak "like a woman."

nine. . Turkey has spread its influence widely in the Middle East. For about 100 million people, Turkish is their native language. He got into our rating because it is quite easy to learn, there are practically no exceptions in the grammar rules. It has many different dialects, but Istanbul is used as a literary basis. In order to fully understand Turkish speech, you will also have to learn some stable phrases related to the religious and cultural traditions of this country.

ten. . One of the European languages \u200b\u200bthat is popular among those interested in the history of the last century. Germany has a large economic weight in the Eurozone, so German is often indispensable in business. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of young people in the country know English. The total population of the country is decreasing, and it is likely that German influence in the business sphere will continue to wane. It resembles English in terms of complexity, but the grammatical structure is more difficult.

There are a number of languages \u200b\u200bthat could not replenish the list as the most demanded language in the world, but in terms of their importance and popularity they can compete with the most famous ones:

Korean. There are 70 million people in the world who speak it, but limited growth opportunities hinder the strengthening of positions in importance. It can be as difficult to learn as Chinese or Japanese.

Italian and Polish - although they are quite common European languages, have not gained much importance on a global scale.

Hindi could claim its place in the ranking, because it is the official language of India. Only the majority of the country's population speaks English or speaks one of the local dialects.

Farsi, also called Persian, is indispensable for everyone who, due to business or other interests, specializes in the countries of the Near and Middle East. It may also please those who love the beauty and melody of sound structures. It is not difficult to learn, and already in the early stages you will be able to put your knowledge into practice by participating in conversations in Persian.

Whatever choice you make in the end, the main thing is that the result should bring benefit, satisfaction and pride in your own strength.


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