What is the most widely spoken Language in New ZeaLand Other than English?

Answer 1

The answer to your question is - Maori.

According to the 2006 New Zealand census the following were the languages spoken in New Zealand in order of 'most widely spoken'. Note - not included here are the 196,224 people who did not state which language they spoke.

What I find intriguing, if not rather worrying, is that these statistics covered 4,027,947 people - does this mean that over 350,000 people 'usually resident' in New Zealand can't speak English??


English3,673,623
Mäori157,110
Samoan85,428
None (eg too young to talk)75,567
French53,757
Hindi44,589
Yue44,154
Northern Chinese41,391
Sinitic not further defined38,079
German37,509
Tongan29,496
Dutch26,982
Korean26,967
New Zealand Sign Language24,090
Spanish21,645
Afrikaans21,123
Japanese20,883
Gujarati15,870
Tagalog12,483
Panjabi10,713
Arabic9,852
Cook Islands Maori9,702
Italian8,514
Russian7,893
Malaysian6,750
Thai6,300
Serbo-Croatian6,111
Khmer6,039
Min5,733
Tamil5,634
Niuean5,481
Fijian4,974
Bahasa Indonesia4,773
Response Unidentifiable4,362
Vietnamese4,317
Persian4,305
Urdu4,248
Indo-Aryan not further defined3,933
Sinhala3,918
Response Outside Scope3,606
Portuguese3,381
Greek3,339
Telugu2,838
Tokelauan2,793
Polish2,592
Marathi2,562
Swedish2,406
Bantu, not elsewhere classified2,370
Bengali2,265
Danish2,229
Malayalam2,139
Somali1,878
Tuvaluan1,872
Romanian1,860
Assyrian1,854
West Germanic not elsewhere classified1,767
Hungarian1,476
Hebrew1,431
Lao1,326
Zulu1,134
Norwegian1,107
Swahili1,086
Welsh1,077
Czech1,050
Kiribati1,017
Pashto939
Turkish921
Kannada891
Romance not elsewhere classified888
Macedonian825
Hakka819
Pidgins and Creoles not further defined816
Bulgarian816
Kurdish807
Tieu-Chow729
Sign Language not further defined729
Ukrainian717
Irish696
Scottish Gaelic669
Amharic636
Nepalese612
Konkani591
Western Malayo-Polynesian not elsewhere classified576
Burmese570
Fiji Hindi522
Bisayan516
Finnish510
Cebuano492
Bislama459
Semitic not elsewhere classified450
Pidgin English408
Slavic not further defined393
Friesian381
Albanian363
Indo-Aryan not elsewhere classified360
Wu354
Slovak345
Australian297
Tahitian273
Latvian264
Ilokano261
Tigrinya258
Other Niger-Congo not elsewhere classified225
Slovene222
Rotuman213
Pidgins and Creoles not elsewhere classified210
Sinitic not elsewhere classified207
Central Pacific not elsewhere classified201
Scots195
Papuan195
Sindhi189
Creole177
Tok Pisin171
Mon-Khmer not elsewhere classified171
Cushitic not elsewhere classified171
Solomon Islands Languages (Non-Central-Pacific)153
Pukapukan150
Maltese147
Armenian147
Turko-Altaic not elsewhere classified144
Icelandic144
Solomon Islands Pidgin129
Lithuanian123
Esperanto123
Yoruba117
Bantu not further defined105
Estonian99
Tibeto-Lolo-Burman not elsewhere classified93
Catalan93
Nauruan87
Javanese87
Tai-Kadai not elsewhere classified81
Kashmiri81
Amerind75
Tibetan72
Vanuatu Languages69
Australian Sign Language66
Georgian60
Neo Melanesian57
Belorussian57
Nilo-Saharan54
Yiddish51
Slavic not elsewhere classified48
Oriya48
British Sign Language45
Hausa42
Azeri42
American Sign Language39
Micronesian not elsewhere classified33
Miaow-Yao33
Iranian not elsewhere classified33
Celtic not further defined30
Dravidian not further defined27
Signed English24
Romani24
Other Niger-Congo not further defined24
Other Miscellaneous Languages24
Basque24
North Germanic not elsewhere classified18
Western Malayo-Polynesian not further defined15
Fulani15
Shan12
Mauritian Creole12
Don't Know12
Central Pacific not further defined12
Celtic not elsewhere classified9
Uralic not elsewhere classified6
Hindi Bat6
French Creole6
Chadic not elsewhere classified6
Caucasian not elsewhere classified6
Viet-Muong not elsewhere classified3
Tibeto-Lolo-Burman not further defined3
Semitic not further defined3
Refused To Answer3
Language Isolates not elsewhere classified3
Dravidian not elsewhere classified3
Cushitic not further defined3
Chadic not further defined3
Caucasian not further defined3

And they say we are not a diverse country!! Enjoy.

Answer 2

I am NOT a Wikipedia basher but I have deep qoncerns over how you have used these figures. For starters, Cantonese is spoken by more people than English, so English is the second most spoken - although English is more WIDELY spoken. Next, there is the question of how many people who speak & understand English perfectly well, but have it as a second or 3rd language. So, is your question about the number of speakers =OR= the number of people who have it as a first language? I am guessing Wiki will be talking about people having it as a first language. This makes the totals harder to guage. And lastly, in answer to your question, remember that Spain was a major power 500 years ago and had many explorers seeking new lands and settling territories. Just as the English, French, Portuguese, Dutch, etc. Based on this it is not surprising to see its spread, especially into South America. Remember that only Brazil does not have Spanish as their main language. I would be guessing that Spanish would be the 3rd in your list of language commonality - for countries with Spanish as a first language. As an idea, look at the CIA Fact Book - it has some terriibly good and up-to-date info (though not laid out as well as it once was). The data is pretty accurate too.

Answer 3

Maori is the native language of NZ. Maori became an official language in 1987.

In April 2006, New Zealand became the first country to declare sign language ad an official language.

Other languages are taught in High School such as- Chinese
Cook Islands Maori
Indonesian
Japanese
Korean
Latin
French
German
Samoan
Spanish
Te Reo Rangatira or Te Reo Maori

Answer 4

Good on ya iansand!
English and Maori are the two official languages of New Zealand. While 95.9% of New Zealand's 4 million and something residents, the 2006 census showed that approx 157,000 people can hold a conversation in Maori.

Answer 5

Hmmm
Although Maori is an official language and signs are bicultural etc, I don't think there is a high proportion of maori speakers..even tho the Maori population is 14% or whatever, the actual proportion of natural speakers is abotu 5% I think.
I would personally think that chinese and korean would be pretty widely spoken as they are recent immigrants. Some Pacific languages would also be spoken/

Remember NZ has one of the lowest rates for speakers of other langages in the world!! I know its less than 10% that speak another language fluently.

Answer 6

G'day,

Thank you for your question.

The Maori are the largest non-European ethnic group in New Zealand accounting for 14.6% of the population. They have their own language which the most recent New Zealand census showed was spoken by 165,000 people. Maori is an official language of New Zealand and the second most widely spoken language.

I have attached sources for your reference.

Regards

Answer 7

Kia ora,
Yeah, I'll go along with Mareecia on this one.
Although Maori is an official language, it is not widely spoken in everyday life.
I speak it when I'm talking to someone whom I think should speak it, and the usual response is "duh".
Probably one of the Chinese languages (Cantonese or Mandarin) would be spoken more in everyday life than Maori.
In a formal situation, much mana is to be gained from speaking in Maori, but even if a kiwi can't talk in Maori, he/she should at least be able to understand it.
Pahau (Driver T)

Answer 8

Maori

Answer 9

It will probably be Maori.
Other languages are spoken in various ethnic communities. Chinese, Samoan etc

Answer 10

Rugby.