1. Egyptian – 2690 BC (circa. 4700 years old)

The first know language   ever was a proto-language on the African continent, and the first known proto-writing system was created in Nigeria. 

So, it is perhaps no surprise that the oldest language   on this list is also from and used in Africa – Egyptian. The first known complete sentence in Ancient Egyptian was recorded in roughly 2690 BCE, making it over 4700 years old. 

While the Egyptian language by and large hasn’t been spoken by regular people since the nineteenth century (which is, sadly, why you don’t see a lot of hieroglyph keyboards for sale, as cool as that would be), it is technically still in use today. 

The language descended from Ancient Egyptian that survives today is called Coptic, and it’s primarily used as the liturgical language of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and the Coptic Catholic Church. 

But hey, that’s pretty remarkable, especially after over 4500 years!

2. Sanskrit – 1500 BC (circa. 3500 years old)

With its oldest texts dating back to around 1500 BCE, Sanskrit is probably the second oldest language in the world still being used today. 

Like Coptic, Sanskrit is largely used in religious texts and ceremonies that persist today, with a place in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism. 

However, Sanskrit words and phrases are also frequently used by bureaucratic institutions – from missile names to school mottos – in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and other parts of South and Southeast Asia. 

Interestingly, several thousand people report Sanskrit as their first language on India’s census each time it’s performed, though it’s believed no one speaks it as their first language today. 

3. Greek – 1450 BC (circa. 3500 years old)

Moving forward just a hair in time, Greek is probably the  oldest language still spoken  as a primary, day-to-day language. While Modern Greek has evolved significantly from the Greek spoken in ancient times, the language of Greece today is a definitive descendant of the language of Homer and those who came before him… way before him. 

The works of Homer are believed to have been composed between the seventh and eighth centuries BC. 

Mycenaean Greek, the first attested (meaning, essentially, confirmed by linguists) iteration of Greek first appeared in 1450 BCE, 700 or so years before The Odyssey hit the scene. And today, contemporary Greek has approximately 13.5 million native speakers. Not too shabby after almost 3,500 years. 

4. Chinese – 1250 BC (circa. 3300 years old)

Another competitor for both oldest written language  and oldest spoken language still in use today, Chinese is definitely both useful and backed by a long, rich history. 

The first attested Old Chinese goes back to a set of inscriptions on oracle bones dated to roughly 1250 BCE.

Of course, there are many different language varieties and dialects in China today, so Chinese is a fairly broad term here – but many of today’s most used varieties (including Mandarin and Cantonese) fall within the Sino-Tibetan language family and are descended from the Old Chinese we’re referencing here!

5. Aramaic – 1100 BC (circa. 3100 years old)

In the quest for the oldest living language in the world, those not versed in the culture of Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey might not expect Aramaic to appear on the list. However, Aramaic is quite ancient – the Aramaic alphabet was the precursor to both the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets. 

But Aramaic, the language spoken by Arameans in ancient Syria and first attested in 1100 BC, has survived well into its 4th millennium. In fact, among these oldest languages in use today, it’s actually more lively of a living language than Sanskrit or Coptic. There are somewhere between 800,000 and 1,000,000 speakers of Neo-Aramaic languages in the world today. Who knew?

6. Hebrew – 1000 BC (circa. 3000 years old)

Speaking of the Hebrew alphabet, Hebrew was first attested only around 100 years after Aramaic, in 1000 BCE. 

Hebrew is, perhaps, unique on this list as a language that ceased to be a common mother tongue for some time, but was eventually successfully revived as a living language. 

Hebrew was primarily used for religious texts, correspondence and communications between Jewish people who otherwise did not share a language from around the second century CE onwards. 

It was revived as a spoken language by activists in the nineteenth century, starting in Germany. Today, there are over nine million speakers of modern Hebrew, about five million of whom speak it as a first language. Pretty cool!

7. Farsi – 522 BC (circa. 2500 years old)

While not the  earliest know language  in the Indo-Iranian language family, Farsi is the longest surviving spoken language of the Iranian family of languages. It takes its roots from Old Persian, which was first attested somewhere between 522 and 486 BCE. 

According to the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at UNC Chapel Hill,

, there are roughly 70 million native Farsi speakers and 110 million speakers of the language total around the world today. There are communities of native Farsi speakers in Iran still today, but also in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – as well as in Persian diasporic communities worldwide.

8. Tamil – 300 BC (circa. 2300 years old)

One of the official languages of Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India, Tamil is another wonderful language with a long and storied history. 

It’s frequently cited as the language in India – if not the world – that has the most direct line back to its classical roots, in terms of how it has evolved over time. 

And, with over 75 million native speakers, it’s certainly no exaggeration to say it remains in use as a common first language.