The table provides information about six languages with the highest number of native speakers, as well as those who speak them as a second language, measured in millions.
Overall, Mandarin Chinese has the largest total number of speakers, while English stands out for having the highest number of not native speakers. In contrast, languages such as Arabic and Portuguese have relatively fewer second-language users.
Looking first at native speakers, Mandarin Chinese leads by a significant margin with 900 million people, Hindi and Spanish follow with 370 million and 350 million respectively. English ranks slightly lower with 339 million native speakers. Arabic and Portuguese have the smallest native-speaking populations at 206 million and 203 million.
However, the situation changes when considering second-language speakers English dominates this category, with 603 million additional speakers, far exceeding Mandarin Chinese, which has only 190 million. Hindi and Spanish have moderate numbers of second-language users, at 120 million and 70 million respectively, while Arabic and Portuguese have minimal figures.