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Start learning a new language today with a 7-day free trial
Turns out, it's different, depending on the language you're speaking. Some languages are r-e-a-l-l-y slow, while others are so fast, you feel like you're trying to keep up with a Formula 1 driver.
In this post, Iโm going to take you on a tour of the fastest spoken languages in the world. If youโve ever tried learning another language but felt lost trying to keep up with native speakers, this post is going to help.
That's because Iโll also show you how understanding language speed can actually help you become a better, more confident language learner. Let's get into it!
If you prefer watching videos to reading, click on the video version of this post at the top of the page. Otherwise, keep scrolling to discover: what are the fastest spoken languages?
Table of Contents
#10 Mandarin
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Mandarin Chinese is the most-spoken language in the world with over a billion speakers, and when you first listen, it might seem quite slow, but donโt be fooled.
Itโs like cramming a novel into a postcard!
And itโs all about how much information is in a single syllable. Turns out, we humans have a pretty amazing knack for getting our point across โ fast or slow!
But first, should we see how they do the measuring?
Researchers from Universities in Lyon and Hong Kong figured out how fast people speak by counting syllables per second โ thatโs how many syllables you can say in one second.
Some languages pack more syllables into less time, but get this.
Your brain has one goal: communicate efficiently, no matter the language!
In some languages, thatโs 5 words, in others, 25, but it all evens out in the end.
The average 20-year-old knows between 27000 and 52000 different words. Spoken out loud, most words last less than a second.
See, itโs not just about speed, and Mandarinโs a great example.
Mandarin averages 5.18 syllables per second, which is on the slower side, but it crams a tonne of meaning into each syllable.
See what I mean? Just one syllable packs a punch, especially with tones doing double-duty โ Mandarinโs tones change meanings instantly!
So itโs not about word count, itโs about the amount of information being packed in.
Of course, it also depends on how fast someoneโs speaking โ or not.
But Mandarin is proof that speed isnโt everything โ itโs what you can squeeze into each sound.
But donโt get too comfortable, weโre just getting started!
#9 Vietnamese
Thereโs this really fascinating theory that our brains perceive a difference between machine-gun rhythmed languages and Morse code rhythmed languages.
Yeah โ that is actually what they called it.
And Vietnamese definitely falls into the machine-gun category โ Itโs fast and relentless, especially with its 6 distinct tones.
And it clocks in at 5.28 syllables per second, although some people crank it up to 6!
I just love listening to Vietnamese conversations!
If youโve ever wandered around a street market in Ho Chi Minh City, youโll know what I mean.
Those sellers can fire off their chit-chat at breakneck speed.
But you havenโt seen impressive yet, my friend!
#8 English
Surprise! I wasnโt going to include English, but how could I not when we have the world's fastest English speaker (who you may recognise from the old FedEX ads)?
I just want to ask him how on earth he even does this โ if you have 5 seconds to spare?
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Did you catch that?
If youโre not a native English speaker, I promise this is not how we speak when youโre not looking! (Or is it?)
Truth is, English isnโt exactly known for its speed, but donโt underestimate it!
Try spending a week somewhere like New York โ you meet people who can switch gears like bad weather rolling in.
So whatโs going on? Does English deserve a spot near the top, or is it just pretending to be faster than it really is?
Letโs check the magic speedometer โ 6.19 syllables per second.
It looks like English makes the list fair and square. Itโs tricky, though โ English has a stress-timed rhythm โ that Morse-code style I mentioned?
And itโs the pauses that make it feel slower than it actually is.
And the guy in the video above? We clocked him at 14.65 syllables per second, which is insane, of course.
And if youโre here because youโre still learning English, for goodnessโ sake, please remember to breathe!
#7 Hindi
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Now weโre picking up speed!
What language makes you think of lively and chaotic markets with amazing colours everywhere you look?
Hindi hits 6.55 syllables per second and it sounds fast because maybe it needs to be?
Indiaโs streets are incredibly vibrant and itโs a fast-paced life!
If you arenโt sure what Hindi is, itโs one of the official languages of India, and more than 600 million people speak it in cities like Mumbai and Delhi.
If you decide to learn Hindi, one thing that works in your favour is it has lovely clear vowels and consonants โ thereโs only one way to say each vowel.
So you can zip through sentences without sacrificing meaning.
And Hindi is interesting, because each syllable takes roughly the same amount of time to pronounce.
By the way, the reading speed of a language isnโt necessarily going to match natural speaking speed โ that's a different thing altogether.
While we can talk quickly, our eyes need more time to scan and process words we read.
Your brainโs very busy taking in all the things โ font size, text contrast. And your eyes? Theyโre deciding if they can even see the words or not!
So reading takes longer to process. Which is great, if you ask me โ something more chilled you can do if youโre learning a language! And the core of my very own StoryLearning method.
#6 Turkish
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Turkish might not seem like an obvious choice for speed, especially if youโve never even watched a Turkish movie โ and you really should!
Itโs not even a very hard language to learn, but itโs tough to use, and thatโs because of how a conversation will go with a native speaker.
When you hang out with them enough, you realise Turks like to speak all at once, and when they do it at 6.87 syllables per second, you might get dizzy trying to keep up!
But hereโs the fun part: the action word of a Turkish sentence comes right at the end, so youโre left hanging until the last word!
Say youโre listening to a guy telling this story:
All youโre hearing is โshipโ and โcaptainโ and โstormโ, meanwhile heโs telling you a whole crew just got rescued!
See where Iโm going with this?
All that tension waiting for the punchline can make Turkish feel like youโre out of breath!
Turkish also likes to stack small words together to make big ones โ like German, but way more complicated.
Theyโre saying a whole sentence, and you think theyโre still on the first word!
Now throw this in the pot: Turks use a tonne of Turkish idioms and expressions that donโt follow strict logic, and people are always making up new ones.
Itโs a very creative language, and all this makes the language seem faster than it is.
My point being that you can totally get the hang of this if you want to.
If you learn the popular sayings and big words, the language will start to slow down in your head.
Thereโs no slowing down the next one, though.
#5 Portuguese
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Portuguese is like speaking to the beat of a song, and when I was living in Brazil, I really didnโt care that people spoke fast โ I just got so swept up in the beautiful sounds and rhythms โ samba, bossa nova, axรฉ.
I swear, you feel this beat in the language, and it actually helped me get fluent! Listen to me speaking Brazilian Portuguese if you don't believe me!
Portuguese is known for being very expressive and it speeds through at 6.88 syllables per second.
But thereโs Brazil, Portugal, Angola and all these other varieties. So who speaks the fastest? Is there a difference?
Well, Brazil has the reputation for seeming faster โ in Rio and Sรฃo Paulo, especially. But funny thing is, thatโs just a perception.
When they measured speaking speeds, it worked out to be more or less the same in Portugal and Brazil.
You see, in Portugal, native speakers are actually harder to follow because they cut off their vowels. So even though in Brazil itโs all rhythm, Portugal can lay a strong claim to having the fastest speakers!
Whatever you do, DO NOT ask people to speak slower โ that wonโt help.
#4 Italian
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Italian sounds like lots of short bursts of words, and if you listen to native Italians speaking on the radio or a podcast, I wonโt blame you at all for wondering what this โone insanely long wordโ is theyโre saying, but I promise you, theyโre actually saying lots of words!
So how fast is it? Weโre talking 6.99 syllables per second โ almost 7.
But you should hear the Southern dialects. Some Italians have been recorded speaking naturally at nine syllables per second!
Germans only give 5-point-something โ let that sink in.
I donโt know about you, but to me, even at a breakneck pace, Italian still sounds like music to my ears.
Itโs crystal clear โ you hear all the vowels, pronunciation is predictable, and the rhythm is even more dramatic than Portuguese.
And yes, the hands are part of the conversation, too! Italian is a full-body language โ hands, tone, and syllables.
But now Iโm wondering: could all this extra stuff affect the speed of a language?
What could possibly be faster than Italian? Glad you asked.
#3 French
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Have you ever tried understanding native French speakers in Paris?
Looks like the challenge is on!
French averages 7.18 syllables per second, depending on the dialect โ French has lots of dialects.
But as youโve probably guessed, if youโve been paying attention, thereโs more to it than speed.
You might have heard that the French have a reputation for being sophisticated?
Well, this kind of thinking rubs off on the way they speak, and itโs very important to them to sound articulate โ especially when theyโre speaking to each other.
As for the rest of us, well, we try to keep up!
Even a simple word like โpleaseโ turns into sโil vous plaรฎt in French, and a lot of letters we donโt even pronounce.
So hereโs the interesting part.
French has an absolute tonne of something called elisions โ thatโs the way speakers blend their words together smoothly.
Like, instead of saying le homme you would say lโhomme. It makes a faster, more fluid sound.
Between the speed and elisions, you might think you need subtitles in real life!
I'm serious now though โ you can definitely learn French if you want to. It wouldnโt be so crazy popular if it was too hard, and if I could do it, so can you!
Iโve made my share of incredibly embarrassing mistakes, and I didnโt die. If you want to know more, check out the story of how I learnt eight languages.
Before we get to the speed freak language number 2, Iโm going to throw in two honourable mentions that I think deserve to be here.
Basque and Catalan can both be very fast, at 7.2 syllables per second each โ we just need more evidence. And if youโre keen on investigating even further, there are 800 languages in Papua New Guinea that no-one has tested yet!
I think youโre ready for this fascinating nugget of truth: all languages actually share the same amount of information in any given minute!
The University of Hong Kong measured this with a whole bunch of languages, and guess what?
Regardless of how fast we speak, or what our hands are doing, our brains process information at the same rate โ at 39 bits per second.
Yeah, โbitsโ โ just go with it. All I know is, thatโs twice the speed of morse code!
#2 Spanish
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Speeding into second place at 7.82 syllables per second is a language that doesnโt mess around โ It's fast, passionate, and always moving!
Native speakers are known for not holding back when the fire comes out.
Itโs the perfect example of a machine-gun rhythmed language. Itโs Spanish, of course!
Werenโt you waiting for Spanish?
Oh โ you thought it would be number one? Sorry.
Fun fact: Spanish is spoken 25% faster than English on average.
But what if I told you youโre not actually getting more information at that speed?
Hold that thought!
Yikes. Well, weโre getting to the good stuff here about why fast or slow doesnโt even matter, and itโs mostly in our heads.
Estrada has lots of fast syllables, and โstreetโ has one drawn-out syllable.
So even though โstreetโ is a shorter word, our brain hears the fast syllables and decides Spanish is faster.
Words in Spanish have a lot more vowels and syllables than English. Plus, the Spanish syllables are shorter, so you can say them quicker.
Speedy Gonzales himself could race through sentences, firing syllables quicker than a jackrabbit just to say the same thing!
But don't panic โ once you know enough words, your brain will keep up with Spanish.
And this is why I always recommend that you listen to the language you're learning every day, because you need to tune your ear in to the sounds.
Believe me, youโll soon realise that no language is on a sugar high. Mind you, I canโt speak for language number one.
#1 Japanese
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And the fastest of the fastest spoken languages is Japanese, a language where precision is highly valued, coming in at 7.84 syllables per second.
So whatโs different with Japanese?
Is it because of their three writing systems?
Not at all.
The beauty of Japanese is in how efficiently it uses its sounds.
Japanese has simple syllables โ most are just a consonant followed by a vowel.
This makes it sound smooth and predictable and super easy to glide quickly through sentences โ no need to pause or slow down!
But what really sets Japanese apart is how much meaning its speakers can pack into just a few words.
Japanese relies heavily on context, so Japanese speakers often donโt need many words to get their point across.
So Japanese sounds fast not only because of syllable speed, but because speakers leave out details that listeners just get.
No need to over-explain. Pretty efficient, right?
Oh, and if youโre learning Japanese, hereโs a little win for you: Japanese has far fewer distinct syllables than English โ about 1 Japanese syllable for every 11 in English.
But the crazy thing is, youโre still getting the same amount of information!
Speed vs. density, right?
But hey, weโve already covered how that works, so letโs just celebrate our winner!
Or is it the winner?
What if I told you thereโs an ace up my sleeve that makes all the rest feel like baby talk?
Fastest Spoken Languges FAQ
What languages talk the fastest?
Japanese and Spanish are among the fastest spoken languages, measured in syllables per second. They have a high syllabic rate, meaning speakers naturally pronounce more syllables in a short time compared to other languages.
What are the slowest spoken languages?
Mandarin Chinese and German tend to be spoken more slowly due to their complex tonal system (Mandarin) and longer, compound words (German). These languages often carry more meaning per syllable, requiring fewer syllables per second.
Is Spanish faster than other languages?
Yes, Spanish is one of the fastest spoken languages, with an average of about 7.8 syllables per second. However, its speed doesn't make it harder to understand, as its syllables tend to be simple and evenly timed.
Is English a fast spoken language?
English is considered a moderately fast language, with a variable speech rhythm. While it's not as fast as Spanish or Japanese, it compensates by packing more information into fewer syllables.
The Lightning-Fast Language Youโve Never Heard Of
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Itโs too fast for most people to even process, because your ears have to already know the difference between 80 click sounds. The wild card: Taa!
And it isnโt just a fast language โ itโs in a league of its own.
It doesnโt beat Japanese in terms of syllables per second, but Taa has over 80 different clicks, 164 consonants and 20 vowels, and each syllable is packed with so much meaning, it sounds like a language in hyperdrive!
Now that you know faster doesnโt mean harder, do you want to know which languages are easiest or hardest to learn for English speakers?
Join my email newsletter and get FREE access to your StoryLearning Kit โ discover how to learn languages through the power of story!
Olly Richards
Creator of the StoryLearningยฎ Method
Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearningยฎ method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.
Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.
When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preachesโhe speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.
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