Besides baby talk, which language did you speak first? That's your native language. Here are the world's most widely spoken languages and the number of people who are native speakers:

1. Mandarin (mostly in China)
    863 million

2. Hindi (India)
    357 million

3. Spanish
    352 million

4. English
    335 million

5. Bengali (India, Bangladesh)
    200 million

Reprinted with permission of The World Almanac for Kids 1999, (c)1998 PRIMEDIA Reference Inc. All rights reserved.

Daily News from TIME for Kids

November 6, 1998 World Report