The Americas and Asia have the most English speakers, with the U.S. and India leading globally, followed by Europe (UK, Ireland), Africa (Nigeria, South Africa), and Oceania (Australia, NZ). While the Americas (US/Canada) have huge native populations, Asia has massive second-language speakers in India, the Philippines, etc., making both continents major English-speaking regions.
English is spread out throughout the Americas, making it hard to tabulate exactly, but it is likely somewhere around 350 million. The majority of those native English speakers live in the United States — about 297.4 million of them. Another 30 million native English speakers reside in Canada.
These countries are sometimes referred to as the “big seven”, and are: the UK, USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Mexico has 69 official languages, including Spanish and 68 indigenous languages (like Nahuatl and Maya), making it incredibly linguistically diverse, though South Sudan is also listed with 69 living languages in some counts, showing many countries have rich linguistic diversity. While Mexico is famous for this, the number refers to recognized languages, with hundreds of variations and dialects existing within them.
There's no single "hardest" language, but Mandarin Chinese is consistently ranked #1 for English speakers due to its tonal nature (four tones change word meanings) and complex logographic writing system requiring thousands of characters. Other top contenders often cited include Arabic (right-to-left script, complex sounds, grammar) and Japanese (multiple writing systems like Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, plus honorifics). The difficulty depends heavily on your native language, with languages like Tibetan, Estonian, and Polish also challenging learners with unique grammar or cases.
Powell Alexander Janulus (born 1939) is a Canadian polyglot who lives in White Rock, British Columbia, and entered the Guinness World Records in 1985 for fluency in 42 languages.
Frisian is the closest language to English
The closest language to English is Frisian. This Germanic language is spoken by about 400,000 people in an area historically known as Frisia—now within the modern regions of Netherlands and Germany.
20 Most Fluent English Speaking Countries In The World
Taking the crown for the most linguistically diverse country is Papua New Guinea. This island nation boasts a staggering 840 languages spoken by its population of approximately 9.4 million.
The English language has never stood still. Every generation leaves its mark, from Shakespeare's coinages to social media slang. Language is ever-changing, and nowhere is that clearer than in the evolution of the English language.
English originated in England and is the dominant language of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, and various island nations in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Many people prefer English-speaking countries because language skills help make the transition easier. These countries also offer welcoming communities, strong economies, and high living standards. Countries like Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom are popular choices for expats.
The Netherlands
Dutch people often speak English fluently, influenced by strong educational systems and widespread media consumption in English.
English is the number one international language (lingua franca), boasting around 1.5 billion total speakers, making it dominant in global business, technology, and tourism, even though Mandarin Chinese has more native speakers. While Mandarin is the largest by native speakers, English's vast number of second-language users cements its role as the primary global communication tool, followed by Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, and Spanish in overall speaker numbers.
Many, many Italians speak at least some English, especially in the larger cities and places frequented by tourists so you probably won't have a problem communicating. However, you will have a much more enjoyable time if you can speak even a little Italian.
1. Chinese — 1.3 Billion Native Speakers. Numbers vary widely — Ethnologue puts the number of native speakers at 1.3 billion native speakers, roughly 900 million of whom speak Mandarin — but there's no doubt it's the most spoken language in the world.
Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language which was spoken in England around the year 1000. It is a West Germanic language, and is therefore similar to Frisian and Old Saxon. It is also quite similar to Old Norse (and, by extension, to modern Icelandic).
Scots, a "sister language" so similar to English some consider it a dialect. Frisian, a close "cousin" to the English language that's still spoken today. Dutch, the closest major language to English. German, a related language that's distant enough to present language learning challenges.
She's said in interviews that she's tried to learn Spanish and French a few times but never did. There are videos of her saying a few words in at least Spanish, French , Japanese, German, Welsh, Gaelic, etc. during concerts or interviews but it's just memorized words.
Nineteen-year-old Mahmood Akram from India has amazed the world by mastering 400 languages while simultaneously pursuing multiple university degrees. His linguistic journey began early under the guidance of his father, a linguistics expert, and by the age of six, he had already surpassed his mentor's knowledge.
Ziad Youssef Fazah (Arabic: زياد فصاح; born 10 June 1954) is a Liberian-born Lebanese alleged hyperpolyglot. Fazah has claimed to speak 59 languages and maintains that he has proved this in several public appearances in which he supposedly communicated with native speakers of a large number of foreign languages.