Top 10 Fastest Spoken Languages In The World

Ever pay attention to how fast you talk? 

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, I’m going to take you on a tour of the fastest spoken languages in the world. If you’ve ever tried learning another language but felt lost trying to keep up with native speakers, this post is going to help.

That's because I’ll also show you how understanding language speed can actually help you become a better, more confident language learner. Let's get into it!

#10 Mandarin

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 don’t be fooled.  

It’s like cramming a novel into a postcard! 

And it’s all about how much information is in a single syllable. Turns out, we humans have a pretty amazing knack for getting our point across – 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 – that’s 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, that’s 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, it’s not just about speed, and Mandarin’s 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 – Mandarin’s tones change meanings instantly! 

So it’s not about word count, it’s about the amount of information being packed in.

Of course, it also depends on how fast someone’s speaking – or not.  

But Mandarin is proof that speed isn’t everything – it’s what you can squeeze into each sound. 

But don’t get too comfortable, we’re just getting started! 

#9 Vietnamese

There’s this really fascinating theory that our brains perceive a difference between machine-gun rhythmed languages and Morse code rhythmed languages. 

Yeah – that is actually what they called it. 

And Vietnamese definitely falls into the machine-gun category – It’s fast and relentless, especially with its 6 distinct tones.   

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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 you’ve ever wandered around a street market in Ho Chi Minh City, you’ll know what I mean.

Those sellers can fire off their chit-chat at breakneck speed. 

But you haven’t seen impressive yet, my friend! 

#8 English

Surprise! I wasn’t 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 – if you have 5 seconds to spare? 

Did you catch that? 

If you’re not a native English speaker, I promise this is not how we speak when you’re not looking! (Or is it?)

Truth is, English isn’t exactly known for its speed, but don’t underestimate it!

Try spending a week somewhere like New York –  you meet people who can switch gears like bad weather rolling in.

So what’s going on? Does English deserve a spot near the top, or is it just pretending to be faster than it really is?

Let’s check the magic speedometer – 6.19 syllables per second.

It looks like English makes the list fair and square. It’s tricky, though – English has a stress-timed rhythm – that Morse-code style I mentioned?

And it’s 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 you’re here because you’re still learning English, for goodness’ sake, please remember to breathe! 

#7 Hindi

Now we’re 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? 

India’s streets are incredibly vibrant and it’s a fast-paced life!

If you aren’t sure what Hindi is, it’s 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 – there’s 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 isn’t necessarily going to match natural speaking speed – that's a different thing altogether. 

While we can talk quickly, our eyes need more time to scan and process words we read. 

Your brain’s very busy taking in all the things – font size, text contrast. And your eyes? They’re deciding if they can even see the words or not!

So reading takes longer to process. Which is great, if you ask me – something more chilled you can do if you’re learning a language! And the core of my very own StoryLearning method.

#6 Turkish

Turkish might not seem like an obvious choice for speed, especially if you’ve never even watched a Turkish movie – and you really should! 

It’s not even a very hard language to learn, but it’s tough to use, and that’s 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 here’s the fun part: the action word of a Turkish sentence comes right at the end, so you’re left hanging until the last word!

Say you’re listening to a guy telling this story:

All you’re hearing is “ship” and “captain” and “storm”, meanwhile he’s telling you a whole crew just got rescued! 

See where I’m going with this? 

All that tension waiting for the punchline can make Turkish feel like you’re out of breath! 

Turkish also likes to stack small words together to make big ones – like German, but way more complicated.  

They’re saying a whole sentence, and you think they’re still on the first word! 

Now throw this in the pot: Turks use a tonne of Turkish idioms and expressions that don’t follow strict logic, and people are always making up new ones.  

It’s 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. 

There’s no slowing down the next one, though.  

#5 Portuguese 

Portuguese is like speaking to the beat of a song, and when I was living in Brazil, I really didn’t care that people spoke fast – I just got so swept up in the beautiful sounds and rhythms – samba, bossa nova, axé.

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 there’s 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 – in Rio and São Paulo, especially. But funny thing is, that’s 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 it’s all rhythm, Portugal can lay a strong claim to having the fastest speakers! 

Whatever you do, DO NOT ask people to speak slower – that won’t help.

#4 Italian

Italian sounds like lots of short bursts of words, and if you listen to native Italians speaking on the radio or a podcast, I won’t blame you at all for wondering what this ‘one insanely long word’ is they’re saying, but I promise you, they’re actually saying lots of words! 

So how fast is it? We’re talking 6.99 syllables per second – 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 – let that sink in. 

I don’t know about you, but to me, even at a breakneck pace, Italian still sounds like music to my ears.

It’s crystal clear – 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 – hands, tone, and syllables. 

But now I’m wondering: could all this extra stuff affect the speed of a language? 

What could possibly be faster than Italian? Glad you asked.  

#3 French

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 – French has lots of dialects. 

But as you’ve probably guessed, if you’ve been paying attention, there’s 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 it’s very important to them to sound articulate – especially when they’re speaking to each other. 

As for the rest of us, well, we try to keep up! 

Even a simple word like “please” turns into s’il vous plaît in French, and a lot of letters we don’t even pronounce. 

So here’s the interesting part.

French has an absolute tonne of something called elisions – that’s the way speakers blend their words together smoothly. 

Like, instead of saying le homme you would say l’homme. 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 – you can definitely learn French if you want to. It wouldn’t be so crazy popular if it was too hard, and if I could do it, so can you! 

I’ve made my share of incredibly embarrassing mistakes, and I didn’t 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, I’m 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 – we just need more evidence. And if you’re keen on investigating even further, there are 800 languages in Papua New Guinea that no-one has tested yet! 

I think you’re 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 – at 39 bits per second. 

Yeah, ‘bits’ – just go with it. All I know is, that’s twice the speed of morse code! 

#2 Spanish

Speeding into second place at 7.82 syllables per second is a language that doesn’t mess around – It's fast, passionate, and always moving! 

Native speakers are known for not holding back when the fire comes out.

It’s the perfect example of a machine-gun rhythmed language. It’s Spanish, of course! 

Weren’t you waiting for Spanish? 

Oh – 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 you’re not actually getting more information at that speed? 

Hold that thought! 

Yikes. Well, we’re getting to the good stuff here about why fast or slow doesn’t even matter, and it’s mostly in our heads. 

Estrada has lots of fast syllables, and “street” has one drawn-out syllable.

So even though “street” 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 – 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, you’ll soon realise that no language is on a sugar high. Mind you, I can’t speak for language number one.

#1 Japanese

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 what’s 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 – most are just a consonant followed by a vowel. 

This makes it sound smooth and predictable and super easy to glide quickly through sentences – 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 don’t 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 you’re learning Japanese, here’s a little win for you: Japanese has far fewer distinct syllables than English – about 1 Japanese syllable for every 11 in English. 

But the crazy thing is, you’re still getting the same amount of information! 

Speed vs. density, right?

But hey, we’ve already covered how that works, so let’s just celebrate our winner!

Or is it the winner? 

What if I told you there’s an ace up my sleeve that makes all the rest feel like baby talk? 

Fastest Spoken Languges FAQ

The Lightning-Fast Language You’ve Never Heard Of

It’s 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 isn’t just a fast language – it’s in a league of its own.

It doesn’t 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 doesn’t mean harder, do you want to know which languages are easiest or hardest to learn for English speakers?

Check out my posts on the hardest languages to learn and the easiest languages to learn.

And no matter whether you're learning one of the fastest spoken languages or not, you'll learn it fast and have fun with my Uncovered courses which teach you through stories, not rules. Find out more and claim your free 7-day trial of the course of your choice.

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® 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 preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.