Languages of the United Kingdom
Overview of the languages spoken in the United Kingdom / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Languages of the United Kingdom?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
English, in various dialects, is the most widely spoken language of the United Kingdom,[13] but a number of regional and migrant languages are also spoken. Regional indigenous languages are Scots and Ulster Scots and the Celtic languages, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and, as a revived language with few speakers, Cornish. British Sign Language is also used. There are also many languages spoken by immigrants who arrived recently to the United Kingdom, mainly within inner city areas; these languages are mainly from continental Europe and South Asia.[14]
Languages of the United Kingdom | |
---|---|
Main | English (98%;[1] national and de facto official)[a][2][3][4] |
Minority | Scots (2.5%),[5] Welsh (1.3%),[6] Cornish (<0.01% L2),[7][8][9] Scottish Gaelic, Irish,[a] Ulster Scots (0.05%),[10] Angloromani, Beurla Reagaird, Shelta |
Immigrant | Polish, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Arabic, French, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil[11] |
Signed | British Sign Language, (0.002%)[c][12] Irish Sign Language, Signed English, Northern Ireland Sign Language |
Keyboard layout | |
The de facto official language of the United Kingdom is English.[15][failed verification] Additionally, Welsh is an official language, under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, in Wales.[16][17] Welsh is spoken by 538,300 people in Wales according to the 2021 census.[18] Approximately 124,000 people speak Irish in Northern Ireland, which is an official language in Northern Ireland alongside English.[19]