For instance, Babbel points out that there are 1.3 billion Chinese native speakers on Earth. Meanwhile, around 485 million people speak Spanish as their first language. That’s far more than the (still impressive) 373 million native English speakers there are worldwide. The fourth most spoken language is Arabic (362 million native speakers), and in fifth place is Hindi (344 million speakers).
However, Berlitz notes that the total number of English speakers, including native ones, is over 1.4 billion, making it the most popular language worldwide. In the meantime, there are over 602 million people who speak Hindi and 548 million who speak Spanish, whether as their native tongue or a second language.
Learning a new language, like developing a new habit or skill, can be incredibly time and energy intensive. What matters the most, above everything else, is consistency. If you have the patience to focus on your studies every single day, you’ll see far more progress than if you do it only when you feel like it. Language learning apps like Duolingo reward their users for staying consistent.
The more immersed you are in the language and culture, the better your results will be. It really helps if you have the courage to talk to native speakers even if your skills are still underdeveloped. In the meantime, try to consume as much media and literature in the language as you can. Your growth should skyrocket! Though remember to take proper breaks: your mind needs rest for all of that new knowledge to settle down.