Imagine you had all the time in the world, what language would you like to learn and why?

Below is a list of the top 10 world languages worth learning if you ever plan on travelling the globe.

Mandarin (over 1 billion speakers at different levels of fluency)

Sino-Tibetan, Chinese family

Mandarin is one of the top spoken languages in the world and in the Chinese languages. It is often called Chinese by non-speakers, but Mandarin is actually one of many Chinese languages which include Cantonese and Xiang. If you have travelled to other parts of Asia you see a few similarities with the written characters. You would even be able to learn Japanese or other Asian languages, since intensively learning the structure of a second language can give you a reference point for learning others.

Useful phrases: “nǐ hǎo” (hello), “nǐ jiào shén ma míng zì?” (What’s your name?)

Spanish (over 400 million speakers at different levels of fluency)

Indo-European, Romance family

Spanish is closely related to Portuguese, it is however widely used around the world. The alphabet is very similar to that of the English language but with some extra vowels and consonants. Once you start learning Spanish you will be able to pick up the other latine-based languages such as French and Italian. And it will even help you learn Russian and German, since they too have Indo-European roots

Useful phrases: “Hola” (hello), “Cómo está?” (What’s your name?), “Adiós” (goodbye).

English (over 328 million speakers at different levels of fluency)

Indo-European, Germanic family

English is the official language of 53 countries, including Ireland, Canada, South Africa, Jamaica, and New Zealand. It is by far one of the most useful when you want to travel. You would be able to find speakers at different levels.

Useful phrase: “Hi, How are you?”, “Do you know how to get to (Oxford Circus)?”

Arabic (over 232 million people)

Afro-Asiatic, Semitic family

If you speak either Spanish or English, you probably speak more Arabic than you think you do. After Latin and English, Arabic is probably the biggest contributor of words to the Spanish language, and a large portion of English-Spanish cognates (words that the two language share) that don’t come from Latin come from Arabic.

Useful phrase: “mā ismak/ik?” (What’s your name?)

Bengali (over 180 million people)

Indo-European, Indic

This language is spoken in the eastern South Asia, Bengal. This area covers Bangladesh, India and parts of the Indian states of Tripura and Assam. There are large communities of speakers in English speaking countries such as the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and even some Asian countries like Singapore and Malaysia.

Useful phrase: “tor nam ki?” (What’s your name?)

Portuguese (over 178 million people)

Indo-European, Romance family

This language has a few similarities with Spanish and would be useful when travelling to Spain, Brazil, Cape Verde and of course Portugal. Portugal has a rich culture, its sun-kissed beaches like Cascais and Sagres offer a peaceful escape. Portugal’s wide dune-covered beaches, protected by coves and long sandy islands on the coastlines of Portugal attract many. It is worth learning and visiting.

Useful phrase: “Como se chama?” (What’s your name?),

Russian (over 143 million people)

Indo-European, Slavic family

Useful phrase: “Kak teb’a zovut?” (What’s your name?), “Men’a zovut ‘Superman’” (My name is Superman)

Japanese (over 121 million people)

Japonic family

It’s writing style has 3forms, hiragana (ひらがな), Katakana (カタカナ) and the last is Kanji (漢字) which uses the same character as Chinese. A fun language to learn with the grammar structure completely reversed to the English language e.g. Japanese: Subject+ object+ Verb/ English Subject+ verb + object

Useful phrase: “o-namae wa?” (What’s your name?), watashi wa ‘dezaina’ desu (I am a Designer), “’kon-bi-ni’ wa doko desu-ka?” (Where is the convenience store?)

German (over 90 million people)

Indo-European, Germanic family

A good language to learn is you find it difficult spelling. Once you grasp the pronunciation between English and German you’ll quickly be aware of how to spell when writing due to its sounds.

Useful phrase: “?” (What’s your name?), Ich heiße ‘Ade’ (My name is ‘Ade’)

French (over 68 million native speakers)

Indo-European, Romance family

Said to be one of the romantic languages in the world. If you love cycling or watch competitions like the Tour de France, or Grande Boucle, you’ll want to learn some French words relating to that topic.

Useful phrase: “Comment est-ce que vous vous appelez ?” (What’s your name?), Je m’appelle ‘Ade’. (My name is ‘Ade’)

Korean (over 65 million native speakers)

Language isolate family which means the language is specific to this country and has no connection to any other language. There are however similarities with the Korean and Japanese language when it comes to grammar ways of talking to people of different hierarchy e.g. Job, family etc.

Useful phrase: “dangsinui ireumeun mueosip nikka?” (What’s your name?), je ireum-eun ‘Ade’ imnida (My name is ‘Ade’)

Swahili (over 40 million speakers)

Niger-Congo, Bantu family

Useful phrase: “Jina lako ni nani??” (What’s your name?), “Jina langu ni ‘Ruby’”(My name is ‘Ruby)

Above are the top 10 world languages worth learning if you ever plan on travelling the globe.

Imagine you had all the time in the world.

What language would you like to learn and why?

Let’s get a conversation going below…