10+ Most Common Languages Used in Asia (Updated 2024)

Asia is one such continent that has a lot of popular languages all over the world. It is one of the most populous continents in the world with 4.5 billion people. As Asia is one of the most diverse continents you may be interested in knowing about the languages used over there. Thus, here I will guide you on some of the common languages used in Asia along with its native speakers at present.

Quick Takeaways

• Following are the most common languages used in Asia-

1. Mandarin Chinese
2. Hindi
3. Indonesian
4. Arabic language
5. Russian
6. Punjabi
7. Korean
8. Vietnamese 
9. Bengali
10. Farsi
11. Japanese
12. Tagalog

However, you must read till the end so that you get a better understanding of what are the common languages used in Asia.

What are the most common languages used in Asia?

The following are the most common languages used in Asia-

1. Mandarin Chinese

This language is not only spoken in Asia but also is one of the hardest languages to learn. It is the overview language of China and Taiwan and also one of the four official languages in Singapore. Many people speak different dialects in this language which also have significant differences from the Mandarin language. There are around 50,000 characters but you will need to learn 2 to 3,000 of the characters to become fluent in the language.

This is a tonal language that has four different tones affecting the meaning of the words. It is one of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers. If you are able to learn this language it will help you to open your doors for many business opportunities.

• Native speakers: 940 million

2. Hindi

Hindi is the official language of India and is widely spoken in the northeastern part of India including the states of Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, etc. There are also communities present in countries like Nepal, Mauritius, Fiji, etc. Every letter of this language has its own sound and thus the pronunciation of the word is exactly the same as written. In addition to that, there are also many words that are used in English and are borrowed from the Hindi language. Some of the examples of such words are Yoga, Khali, etc. Still, it is considered the hardest language for an English speaker. There are a lot of grammatical elements that you need to focus on. One thing that you must remember is that nouns in Hindi are gendered.

• Native speakers: 344 million

3. Indonesian

Indonesian is one such language that has the most linguistically diverse country in the world. There are around 700 dialects that are used across the island. As it has a strong diversity it was adopted as the lingua Franca. More than 94% of Indonesians speak this language but only 20% of people conceited the primary language. If you live in Oceania or are thinking to travel in the country then learning this language may be very useful to you.

In fact, the United States considered this language to be a critically needed language for economic development. It means that currency United States does not have many people speaking this language.

• Native speakers: 33 million

4. Arabic language

There are more than 20 countries where Arabic is one of the official languages including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, etc. As it is spoken in a lot of countries there are many dialects in this language. For example, the modern standard Arabic language is understood mostly by Arabic speakers but it acts like a bridge language and is not usually spoken but most people on a daily basis.

The most used dialect of this language is the Egyptian dialect which is commonly understood by Arabic-speaking countries. It is also one of the most difficult languages to learn and uses a different alphabetic system than the romance languages. I’m interesting fact of this language is that it is written from right to left and follows a cursive script.

• Native speakers: 109.66 million

5. Russian

Relation is privately speaking in Eastern Europe across countries including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, etc. It is also spoken in countries including Ukraine and Georgia. Russia is one of the most spoken languages in the world. It is one such language that will bridge the gap between Europe and Asia. This is again the second most commonly used language on the internet. Of course, it is surprising that this language is in the list of common languages spoken in Asia.

But it is true that Russian is one of the languages which is used in Asia largely. This language is remembered in the indoor open family which makes it a distant relative of a lot of languages including Spanish, French, Hindustani, etc. One of the interesting facts about this language is that it has a smaller vocabulary than some of the other common Asian languages.

• Native speakers: 154 million

6. Punjabi

Punjabi is one of the 22 official languages of India and is also the third most common language in the country. It means that learning this language is very useful as the government will ensure its usage. It is again one of the most commonly spoken languages in Pakistan but does not get an official status over there. As it is widely spoken in India and surrounding countries Punjabi is the most spoken language even in the United Kingdom and Canada. It is one such language out of a few languages that are written in more than one particular script including Shahmukhi and Gurmukhi script.

• Native speakers: 113.20 million 

7. Korean

Gordon is the language that is officially spoken in North as well as South Korea. However, the language spoken in North Korea is somewhere different from South Korea. The words are pronounced and spelled differently sometimes between both countries. This language uses honorifics and varying levels of formality while talking to the people.

The kitchen script of this language is known as Hangul and was created by King Sejong to promote literacy. You will be getting 14 different consonants and 10 different vowels. If you are interested in learning this language then you may need to put some focus and hard work to learn the Hangul script. 

• Native speakers: 51.58 million

8. Vietnamese 

Vietnamese is a language that is almost similar to the Chinese language. In fact, earlier this language was used to be written in Chinese characters. This language has three different accents based on geographical locations including Northern, Central, and Southern. The northeastern accent is considered to be one of the most standard languages. This language uses the Latin script which will make it easy for you to learn.

However, it is a tonal language and has 6 different tones which is very challenging. The reason behind being challenging is that if you change the tone of the language, it may change the meaning of it.

• Native speakers: 85 million

9. Bengali

Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh and is one of the most common languages in Asia. It is most historically significant in South Asian languages and is also one of the official languages in Pakistan. It is the language in which India’s national anthem was originally written. In fact, at present, there are certain parts of neighboring India where Bengali is used instead of Hindi language.

When you compare other languages in Asia, Bengali is one such language that softer ambiance with simple punctuation. Of course, learning this language can be challenging in starting but you may learn it quickly due to the gender-neutral words. 

• Native speakers: 210 million

10. Farsi

Farsi is the same language as Persian and many confuse this language with the Arabic language. The main reason behind this confusion is that both languages have similar sounds. An interesting fact about this language is that Persian is one of the languages that have a lot of speakers in different countries including Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. It is one of the most used languages in Asia and is also the oldest surviving language.

The words in this language are also taken from the languages like French. If you are interested in learning this language you must remember that it will be a fun as well as challenging experience. Intercity you must try to first focus on listening and having the correct pronunciation of the words.

• Native speakers: 62 million

11. Japanese

Japanese is fun after most common languages used in Asia and is one of the most common languages to learn. An interesting fact about the Japanese language is that it is not considered the option language of Japan. The simple reason behind it is that Japan does not have any official language. However, Japanese originated in the Japanese language.

When you are learning this language you will be getting three different writing systems of the language including Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, etc. The Hiragana writing style includes mainly the Japanese words in the Japanese alphabet. Katakana is a language that involves words from other languages and Kanji uses traditional characters. 

• Native speakers: 128 million

12. Tagalog

Tagalog is a language which is similar to Hindi or Mandarin language. It is one such language that has taken the dialects from different regions. It is widely spoken in the regions of Manila and the Philippines. Tagalog has had a large number of native speakers due to which it is also known as the Standard Filipino language. Also, the Filipino communities are in different locations of the world which makes it the most widely used language in the world as well.

Also, this shows that learning the Tagalog language will give you a lot of benefits. One of the best ways to learn this language is by using books. You can look for top books to learn the Tagalog language. The best part of this language is that it uses the similar alphabets of the English language.

• Native speakers: 64 million

Conclusion

Asia is one such continent that has the highest population and a diverse number of languages. Due to the high diversity in the languages, many people are interested in knowing the top languages used there. The two most widely spoken languages in Asia are Mandarin Chinese and Hindi. India is one such country in Asia that has a lot of different languages and some of them are widely spoken in Asia. One such language is the Punjabi language. Along with that other languages like Arabic, Japanese, Tagalog, etc are also widely used in this country.

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