List of languages by number of native speakers#Nationalencyklopedin

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{{For|first- and second-language speakers|List of languages by total number of speakers}}

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This is a list of languages by number of native speakers.

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All such rankings of human languages ranked by their number of native speakers should be used with caution, because it is not possible to devise a coherent set of linguistic criteria for distinguishing languages in a dialect continuum.{{cite web

|url = https://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/evaluating-language-statistics-the-ethnologue-and-beyond-en_0.pdf

|title = Evaluating language statistics: the Ethnologue and beyond

|date = 31 March 2006 |access-date = 17 November 2018

|publisher = UNESCO Institute of Statistics

|last1 = Paolillo |given1 = John C. |last2 = Das |given2 = Anupam

|pages = 3–5

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170110155051/https://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/evaluating-language-statistics-the-ethnologue-and-beyond-en_0.pdf

|archive-date = 2017-01-10

|url-status = live

}} For example, a language is often defined as a set of mutually intelligible varieties, but independent national standard languages may be considered separate languages even though they are largely mutually intelligible, as in the case of Danish and Norwegian.{{cite book

| last1 = Chambers | given1 = J.K. | author-link1 = Jack Chambers (linguist)

| last2 = Trudgill | given2 = Peter | author-link2 = Peter Trudgill

| title = Dialectology

| publisher = Cambridge University Press | edition = 2nd | year = 1998

| isbn = 978-0-521-59646-6

}} Conversely, many commonly accepted languages, including German, Italian, and English, encompass varieties that are not mutually intelligible. While Arabic is sometimes considered a single language centred on Modern Standard Arabic, other authors consider its mutually unintelligible varieties separate languages.{{cite book

| given1 = Alan S. | last1 = Kaye | given2 = Judith | last2 = Rosenhouse

| chapter = Arabic Dialects and Maltese | pages = 263–311

| title = The Semitic Languages

| editor-given = Robert | editor-last = Hetzron

| publisher = Routledge | year = 1997 | isbn = 978-0-415-05767-7

}} Similarly, Chinese is sometimes viewed as a single language because of a shared culture and common literary language.{{cite book

| given = Jerry | surname = Norman | author-link = Jerry Norman (sinologist)

| title = Chinese

| publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1988 | isbn = 978-0-521-29653-3

| page = 2

}} It is also common to describe various Chinese dialect groups, such as Mandarin, Wu, and Yue, as languages, even though each of these groups contains many mutually unintelligible varieties.{{cite book

| surname = Norman | given = Jerry | author-link = Jerry Norman (sinologist)

| chapter = The Chinese dialects: phonology | pages = [https://archive.org/details/sinotibetanlangu00thur/page/n94 72]–83

| editor-given1 = Graham | editor-surname1 = Thurgood | editor-link1 = Graham Thurgood

| editor-given2 = Randy J. | editor-surname2 = LaPolla | editor-link2 = Randy LaPolla

| title = The Sino-Tibetan languages | url = https://archive.org/details/sinotibetanlangu00thur | url-access = limited | publisher = Routledge | year = 2003

| isbn = 978-0-7007-1129-1

}}

There are also difficulties in obtaining reliable counts of speakers, which vary over time because of population change and language shift. In some areas, there is no reliable census data, the data is not current, or the census may not record languages spoken, or record them ambiguously. Sometimes speaker populations are exaggerated for political reasons, or speakers of minority languages may be underreported in favour of a national language.{{cite book

| title = The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language

| url = https://archive.org/details/cambridgeencycl000crys

| url-access = registration

| given = David | surname = Crystal | author-link = David Crystal

| publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1988

| isbn = 978-0-521-26438-9

| pages = [https://archive.org/details/cambridgeencycl000crys/page/286 286–287]

}}