The Top 10 Most Spoken Languages in India
Last week we discovered that there is an astonishing wealth of languages spoken across India, ranging from widely spoken ones such as Hindi and English to the ones at threat of extinction, such as those of the Great Andamanese family.
This week, we would like to give you a more realistic look at the most commonly spoken languages throughout India. Exact figures for each language are in constant dispute; here are ten of those that you will likely hear most often on your Indian travels.
Akashiganga Water Falls, Assam via Wikipedia[/caption]
Tomb of Safdarjung, Delhi via Flickr
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Sun Temple at Konark, Odisha via Wikimedia[/caption]
Bengali
8% of the population of India speaks Bengali, making it the second most widely spoken language after Hindi with around 83 million speakers. Bengali has its roots in Indo Aryan Eastern civilization languages and will be found in the Eastern states of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, and Tripura. [caption id="attachment_4985" align="alignright" width="412"]
Gujarati
About 46 million speakers across India use the Dravidian language that is Gujarati, accounting for around 4% of the total population. If you want to hear Gujarati for yourself, you will need to visit: Gujarat, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu.Hindi
Hindi is by far the most widely spoken language you will find in India, as one of only two that have been given official status. This language, with its origins in Indo-Aryan Central languages, is spoken by around 366 million people across the country which equates to roughly 40% of the population. It can be heard in many states including Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. [caption id="attachment_4986" align="alignleft" width="275"]
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Kannada
Under 4% of the population of India speaks Kannada, equating to around 55 million people. As seems to be typical of many of India’s languages, Kannada has its roots in the Dravidian civilization. Kannada is spoken in the states of Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh.Malayalam
Just over 3% of India’s population speaks Malayalam, meaning around 33 million speakers use the language as their native tongue. Yet another language with Dravidian civilization roots, Malayalam can be found in the states of Kerala, Puducherry, and Lakshadweep.Learning a new language? Check out our free placement test to see how your level measures up!
Marathi
Like Telugu, Marathi is spoken by approximately 7% of the population, with estimates of around 72 million people speaking the language on a daily basis. Marathi is an Indo-Aryan Southern language and will be found in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.Odia
32 million people across India speak Odia, which is around 3% of the population. An Indo-Aryan Eastern language, Odia is mostly to be found in only one location in India, which is the eastern Indian state of Odisha on the Bay of Bengal. [caption id="attachment_4987" align="alignright" width="449"]