The 7 Most Common Languages for Translation

As the globalized world feels smaller than ever, the demand for translators has skyrocketed.

However, not every language is equally sought after. There are some languages which people cannot get enough of. While others are sadly forgotten.

In fact, many of the same languages come up again and again. Check out the most common languages for translation below. Let’s go!

1. Mandarin Chinese 

Mandarin Chinese is the world’s most common language. It is also one of the most highly demanded in translation services.

There are over 1.2 billion Mandarin speakers. Consider that China is expected to become the world’s biggest economy by 2020. Of course, companies want to be able to reach out to this audience in their own language.

And yet, Mandarin Chinese isn’t only spoken in the People’s Republic of China. There are populations in Singapore, Taiwan and other parts of the world as well. 

 

2. Spanish

Spanish may have started in Spain. But, the language has become increasingly prominent in the Americas, including in the US. This has seen Spanish become sought after for translation services. 

Approximately half a million of the world’s people are native speakers. The future looks bright as well as the language is growing at a rapid rate. 

3. English

Of course, English remains the lingua franca. It has been called the “most influential language” as the second-language of many nations around the world. 

English is also the business language of the world, which makes it especially important for companies engaging in international commerce.

4. Arabic

The influential language of Arabic is predominately spoken in the Arab world. Check out the services of this translation company for Arabic.

There are over 300 million native speakers of Arabic. This is number is expected to continue to grow with the increasing populations of many Arabic-speaker nations.

Thus, any company that wants to do business in the Middle East needs Arabic translation services. 

5. Hindi and Urdu

The languages Urdu and Hindi are actually different languages.

But, they have a common history, grammar, and numerous words. Therefore, they are deeply connected! Hindi and Urdu are widely spoken across the neighbors India and Pakistan.

Yet, if you want to reach out to the peoples of these nations, you’ll need translation services beyond these two. There are hundreds of different languages spoken in this region of the world. 

 

6. Bengali

After Hindi, Bengali is another commonly spoken language in India, as well as Bangladesh. There are around 240 million speakers of Bengali.

In this globalized world, Bengali speakers represent a significant number of people who may be targeted by companies. This makes it an increasingly popular language for translation services.

7. Portuguese

While Portuguese is only spoken by around 10 million Portuguese people, the language is natively spoken by more than 200 million speakers.

As well as the African nations of Angola and Mozambique, the vast majority of them are in Brazilian Portuguese speakers.

As the 9th biggest economy in the world, Brazil could see Portuguese become an increasingly common language for translation.

Most Common Languages for Translation

In a globalized world, people who speak different languages need to be able to communicate with each other. Therefore, the demand for the most common languages to be translated is expected to continue to rise.

If you enjoyed reading this blog post, check out the rest of our website.