Top 10 Countries with the Most Languages Spoken in the World; Indonesia Included

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Language plays a central role in communication. At least 7,139 languages are spoken across the globe, according to Ethnologue, the US-based research center for language intelligence. 

Quoted from the World Economic Forum page, here is a list of countries with the most languages, ranked from the lowest to the highest, based on 2016 Ethnologue data:

10. Brazil

Brazil, with 240 languages, accounts for about three percent of the total languages in the world. Despite Portuguese being the official language, local languages still thrive.

9. Cameroon

Cameroon is not far behind Brazil with 281 local languages spoken. Among the most popular are Bafanji, Bafut, and Bamum (Shupamom).

8. Mexico

About 304 languages are spoken in Mexico. Apart from Spanish, there are regional languages that are still actively used for communication by the locals. Some of them are Nahuatl, Zapotec, and Yucatec Maya.

7. China

China is known to have around 307 languages. Not only Mandarin, locals still use other languages, such as Daur, Lu, Kalmyk-Oirat, and Central Tibetan. Mongolian, Uyghur, Northern Zhuang, and Xibe.

6. Australia

Australia has 318 languages spoken. The national language of this nation, as a member of the British Commonwealth, is English. However, local languages such as Upper Aranda, Tiwi, and Walmajarri are widely spoken.

5. United States of America

Not surprisingly, the United States is on the list with 355 spoken languages. There are tribal languages such as Navajo, Lakota, Dakota, and Keres.

4. India

India boasts 454 languages spoken. This country still actively uses traditional languages as a medium of daily communication, including Assamese, Bodo, Dogri, Bengali, Gujarati, and Hindi.

3. Nigeria

Besides Cameroon from the Dark Continent, Nigeria has 537 indigenous languages. Although English is the official language, this nation also speaks Edo, Adamawa Fulfulde, Efik, Hausa, Igbo, and Idoma.

2. Indonesia

Indonesia, in second place, has about 720 languages spread across the archipelago. The country's linguistic diversity is reflected in its motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika, which means unity in diversity. Some regional languages that are widely used are Javanese, Sundanese, Betawi, and Madurese.

1. Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea takes the lead with 841 traditional languages recorded by Ethnologue. The country, which borders eastern Indonesia, has a diverse linguistic landscape due to geographical and topographical conditions that have forced the emergence of various dialects.

WEFORUM.ORG | NIA HEPPY | MELYNDA DWI PUSPITA

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